As the sun sets on the Monday following Easter, John Daly, the golf legend with a penchant for comebacks, feels the familiar twinge in his back. “My back,” he mutters, grimacing slightly.
Unfortunately for Daly, the 59-year-old is just beginning what promises to be a demanding week at Top Dawg Tavern, a lively bar near Augusta’s Washington Road, where he has set up his base in anticipation of the Masters. On a brighter note, it seems this enduring figure of golf might be orchestrating yet another remarkable comeback.
Though it’s been two decades since Daly last competed for a Green Jacket, he continues to captivate the golfing world, making his appearances a cherished ritual during Masters week.
Concerns arose about Daly’s traditional visit, yet this is a man who’s faced down alcoholism, fought cancer, survived a spider bite-induced sepsis, undergone over a dozen surgeries in the last ten years, and is seldom seen without a cigarette. As Daly famously quipped, “I’m like Lazarus, I just keep coming back from the f***ing dead.”
When Hooters transformed into a nondescript patio—now a parking lot for the Masters—Daly merely relocated to another expansive retail area. This new venue features more modestly dressed waitstaff but, importantly, still serves his beloved wings.
Golf legend John Daly organized a meet with fans at the Top Dawg Tavern before the Masters
The two-time major champion was selling caps and shirts and other customized merchandise
For years, Daly met with fans across the road at the Hooters branch of Augusta, Georgia
We are still barely a mile from the perma-green fairways of Augusta National and a line has formed at the Top Dawg Tavern. Daly, his fiancee, Anna, and his former caddie, Lance Odom, are flogging a vast catalogue of customized merchandise.
Among the items on offer? T-shirts ($40), caps ($40), lighters (two for $10), books ($20), golf gloves ($20) and guitar plectrums ($20). Almost everything carries Daly’s face or name or one of his catchphrases such as ‘grip it & rip it.’ By the time it’s paid for, everything carries his signature.
It is a fairly chaotic setup: out on the patio, mementos are piled high on tables as Daly – fueled by cans of his Good Boy Vodka iced tea and lemonade – hobbles between a makeshift cash register and center stage.
By now, though, his small team has built a slick operation: Anna – Daly’s partner of two decades – helps fans pick out their favorites, Daly signs it and then flashes a smile – everyone who buys something gets a photo with the golf legend; Odom is resident photographer.
Daly arrived in Augusta on Saturday and he will be here every day for a week. He has a giant RV in the parking lot and his supplies include a packet of Marlboro Red, a Hooters lighter and a Hooters cooler that includes rolls of spare receipts.
They burn through hundreds an hour while TVs show silent press conferences from up the road and, inside, a man plays his guitar and harmonica. Daly took his chance to sing karaoke over the weekend.
His hours are loosely 9-5 but the line rarely dies down. Fans are young, old, local and international and they have all come to see a 59-year-old whose hair curls around his ears and down towards a long-white beard. On Thursday and Friday evening, Daly will be at Topgolf – a few miles from here – to mingle with more supporters.
Who can blame him for commercializing his lifestyle and his legend? They do a roaring trade – $20,000 an hour, apparently – and over a couple of hours on Monday, Daly pauses the conveyor belt only for a bathroom break and a brief chat with the Daily Mail.
The 59-year-old never won the Masters and has not competed at Augusta since 2006
Daly’s two major wins came at the 1991 PGA Championship and the 1995 Open Championship
Guitar plectrums carrying Daly’s face were on offer for $20 at the Top Dawg Tavern this week
‘It’s awesome, I love it,’ Daly says. ‘It’s good to have the fans on your side. You just have to be honest with them.’
How else to explain why they still turn up, 20 years on from his last trip around Augusta National? Why else would drivers holler and honk as they head down Washington Road?
‘I just never lied to them – when I screw up, I tell them I screw up, and I take the blame. And when I do things good, they love it,’ he explains. This is one of Daly’s favorite weeks of the year.
‘Especially when I played,’ he said. ‘I love Augusta, I love the people. The Masters is a tournament that never leaves its home. It’s the only major that stays at home.’
Last March, Hooters filed for bankruptcy after accumulating nearly $400million in debt. The restaurant chain sold all its restaurants to a franchise group backed by the Hooters founders and Daly says: ‘We’re coming back… I don’t know if we’re going to come here. But I love Hooters.’ He is grateful to Top Dawg Tavern for having him, too.
Among the priciest items at this Augusta pop-up are $100 flags commemorating his victories at the 1995 Open Championship and the 1991 PGA Championship, when – as an unknown 25-year-old – he snuck into the field as the ninth alternate and won.
On Monday afternoon, however, few people wanted to talk about those trips around Crooked Stick or St Andrews. Daly’s appeal never could be illustrated on a scorecard or leaderboard.
Daly, seen here smoking at the 2023 Open Championship, remains one of golf’s cult heroes
The 59-year-old wore Hooters-themed trousers during the second round at Royal Liverpool
Fans fell in love with his overswing, his booming drives, his garish outfits, his easy charm and his disdain for the often stuffy, sanitized traditions of professional golf. The ‘Daly Vibe,’ as his signs and merchandise call it.
An observer once claimed that over 18 holes, Daly put away 21 cigarettes, 12 Diet Cokes and six packets of M&Ms. ‘I cannot stand drinking water,’ the 59-year-old previously claimed. He has long preferred a beer and a smoke and a bet.
Around a decade ago, Daly said he was ‘shocked’ to discover that between 1992 and 2007 he had lost around $55m gambling.
At Top Dawg Tavern, he is recouping some of that money, one cap and jet torch refillable lighter at a time. A small trailer beside their pop-up contains box after box of merchandise.
Odom claims they sold out last year. At Hooters during the 2024 Masters, he flogged around $780,000 of gear and, over a couple of hours on Monday, his fiancee is forced to make several trips to restock.
Some might wonder what Daly could have won had he shown such breathless dedication to his day job.
‘So John, do you sleep for a week after this?’ one older fan asks. Impossible, Daly points out. He has the Senior PGA Championship next weekend in Florida. His 22-year-old son, John II, recently made his PGA Tour debut.
Today, Daly Snr is wearing a gold necklace and a gold bracelet and every few seconds he pops the lid of a gold marker pen to sign something bought by another happy punter.
The golf legend was selling signed gloves and customized cups on his table in Augusta
‘When I screw up, I tell [fans] I screw up… when I do things good, they love it,’ Daly told us
In previous years, they have gifted him onions, cheese, and a painting. On Monday, the crowd includes one fan from Australia and another from Manchester, England. ‘We drink a lot – just not as much as John!’ the Brit says. That draws a chuckle from the golf legend, who turns down a tip and hands over another plectrum instead.
It is tiring, thirsty work and every now and then, a waitress arrives armed with another bucket of cans. Before long, a couple of hours have passed and the line isn’t showing any sign of shrinking.
So how does his body cope? After all these years and all those scrapes, how does Daly have the energy to keep signing and smiling? The answer, Odom suggests, is simple: ‘Drinking and smoking, baby!’
At one point, Daly takes a huge glug from his can, chucks it in the trash before popping his pen lid once more. He later turns to his former caddie with a question about their bucket of refreshments. ‘You going to have one?’ Daly asks. ‘Or what you going to do? Be a p****y?’
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