John Daly opens Champions tour event with record-high 19 on hole

Sep 12, 2025, 09:01 PM ET

SIOUX CITY, S.D. — John Daly made it into the PGA Tour Champions record book Friday for the wrong reason. He took a 19 on the par-5 12th hole at the Sanford International.

He also broke his personal record by one shot. Daly took an 18 on the par-5 sixth hole in the 1998 Bay Hill Invitational when he hit 3-wood into the water six straight times.

Details were a little unclear from Minnehaha Country Club, where the PGA Tour Champions does not have a laser system to record shots.

Daly did not immediately respond to a phone call and text from the AP.

According to the shot-by-shot details, he hit his tee shot into the rough, and then hit the next seven shots into the hazard. He finally cleared the water into more rough, his 17th shot on the collar of the green and got up-and-down for his 19.

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It broke by three shots the previous high score for a hole on the PGA Tour Champions by three players, most recently Bruce Crampton in 1996 at the Greater Grand Rapids Open.

Unlike his previous high score at Bay Hill — Daly made a birdie 2 on his next hole — he had to settle for a par on his 13th hole at Minnehaha.

Daly wound up with an 88.

His high score on the PGA Tour was a 90 in the second round of the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook in 2014, when he was battling the yips and had a 12 on the 16th hole when he hit three in the water, shanked a 7-iron and took three chips to reach the green.

Daly was playing with Stephen Ames and double major winner Ángel Cabrera. The Argentine was 24 shots better and leading the tournament with a 64 while celebrating his 56th birthday.