By now, everyone is aware of John Daly and his drinking habits. You’d be living under a rock to not know that. But there was a time when Daly was consistently trying to get rid of it. In fact, before his infamous fallout at the 1997 Players Championship, he had been in rehabilitation twice.

In an interview with GOLF’s Subpar, former ESPN host Trey Wingo shared the story from the 1998 Players Championship. Daly was again trying to fix his drinking habit. Before he teed off, Daly received the coin, aka the sobriety coin, that signifies how long a person has been sober. “So, I’m writing this lead and thinking, ‘This is going to be the greatest thing in the world,'” Wingo says.

“So I wrote this sentence right before he teed off: John Daly received his coin signifying one, six months, whatever, of alcohol-free living. Right? So, it’s the dumbest way to say it, right? That’s just clumsy.” Wingo laughs, then adds, “I swear to God, as I’m reading it on camera, I don’t know why it came out of my mouth. He received a coin signifying one year, six months of free alcohol.”

After the show went to highlights, the producer asked Wingo to fix that in the re-air. And Wingo? All he could think was, as he admits now in the interview, “Yeah, yeah. I thought I was done. I thought I had blown it. Six months of free alcohol.”

But as hilarious as the story is, it did happen at a pretty precarious time. Just a year before, at the 1997 Players Championship, even before Daly teed off for his first round, the ‘Wild Thing’ went on a drinking spree and trashed his hotel room. He even split up with his wife soon after. Needless to say, Wingo could’ve been a little more cautious.

But let bygones be bygones, because Daly has certainly returned to his old ways. Some 27 years after the Bay Hill disaster (18 strokes on a par-5 hole), the pro, sponsored by Good Boy Vodka, shot the highest single-hole score on the Champions Tour. 19 strokes to finish the par-5 12th hole at the 2025 Sanford International. Certainly not what he wanted.

The incident’s cause was never confirmed, but many assume it might’ve had something to do with a few too many drinks. But as hilarious as this story is, it’s definitely not a match for the story Daly shared of his wild moment with Tiger Woods.

John Daly, Tiger Woods, and the greatest drinking story

John Daly and Tiger Woods have been friends for years, and their friendship has led to some wild adventures. During an interview with Clutch Points last month, Daly shared one of his craziest stories with Woods. It all went down at Sherwood during the Target World Challenge. Daly and his friends were having a post-golf drink fest, and Woods, being the fitness enthusiast, decided to join them.

“I asked him to come have a drink with us—I had a bottle of Crown on the table. My buddy was drinking vodka, and I said, ‘We just finished playing, looks like we’re paired again tomorrow.’ Tiger goes, ‘Yeah, I can’t have one right now. I’m gonna go hit some balls,’” Daly admitted.

He asked Woods again. This time, the major champ agreed. Just not in the way Daly expected out of him.

“I’m still in my same slacks and shirt, got crap all over them from the round. Then Tiger comes back, he’s in a tuxedo. I ask, ‘Where you going?’ and he says, ‘We’re in the ballroom in 10 minutes. Where’s your tuxedo?’ I go, ‘What tuxedo?’ I didn’t even know we had a dinner to go to.” Pretty hilarious!

But Daly admits Woods and he had a pretty fun night. Daly’s rendition of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” earned him a standing ovation, and he even tipped the sound guy with a bottle of Crown.

The next morning, Daly’s caddy brought him a bottle of Crown on the first tee, and he shot a blistering 65 – beating Woods’ 72. “He was a little p*****, but we had a blast,” Daly jokes now. Undoubtedly,  it’d be nice to see the two of them together again. Unfortunately, their health have kept them sidelined, but we’ll hope to see them together soon. Pretty soon!