John Daly Critical Of Tee Boxes After Withdrawing From Senior PGA Championship

The 57-year-old has criticised the state of the tee boxes at Fields Ranch East for the Senior PGA Championship

John Daly takes a shot at the 2023 Insperity Invitational
John Daly has criticised the state of the tee boxes at the Senior PGA Championship in Texas
(Image credit: Getty Images)

John Daly has criticised the condition of some of its tee boxes following his withdrawal from the Senior PGA Championship.

The 57-year-old completed 13 holes in the first round of the second senior Major of the year at Fields Ranch East in Texas. However, it was later confirmed that Daly had withdrawn due to injury. 

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Following the setback, the 1991 PGA Champion appeared to cite the condition of the tee boxes at the course as his reason for withdrawing.

Accompanied by an image of his legs and feet, which appeared swollen, Daly wrote on Twitter: “So hard to play tee boxes that are down grade. Golf course is great but I wish they would make their tee boxes level!  We are not young anymore!!  Some guys are ADA and we can not follow through on down hill tee boxes!! I’m sorry @PGA you are going the wrong way in golf but I love y’all.  But you are making holes really really long.. St Andrews never had a downhill tee box. Quit while your NOT ahead…. Thank you.”

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Daly is familiar with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act 1990), because, in 2018, he was refused a cart in the US Seniors Open, despite attorneys telling him he would be able to use one thanks to the act. He later vowed never to play a USGA tournament again.

Daly would have been eager to complete this year’s tournament after withdrawing from last week’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill due to injury. That was the latest in a series of health issues that have afflicted the two-time Major winner in recent years.

He underwent surgery after being diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2020, and has had both knees replaced since then. That didn’t stop Daly putting off the second of those operations so that he could take part in the PNC Championship with his son, in December, though he confirmed at the time his surgery would take place the following week.

Daly was back in action in March, and completed the first senior Major of the year, the Regions Tradition, earlier in the month, where he finished tied for 65th. 

Mike Hall
Writer

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 


He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 


Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 


Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.