Golfer John Daly Shares Grim Health Update as He Says 'Waking Up Is a Win for Me'

Months after emergency hand surgery and amid his ongoing health struggles, John Daly says he’s not ready to give up golf — despite a plus-27, last-place finish over the weekend.

"I’m like Lazarus, I keep coming back from the dead," Daly told The Associated Press this week. "Waking up is a win for me."

The 59-year-old golfer — who plays on the PGA Tour Champions — struggled at the Insperity Invitational in Texas last weekend amid his recovery from the January surgery to his left hand.

And while he won’t take advantage of his lifetime exemption to play the PGA Championship next weekend (he won the tournament in 1991), he will tee it up at the senior golf tour’s Regions Tradition, which is scheduled for the same dates, he told AP.

“I can go there and miss the cut and get $6,000,” Daly said of the PGA Championship. “But I’m playing Birmingham. I love Regions. They’re a great sponsor. But why are they scheduling Regions the same week as the PGA Championship, where I can see Brooks [Koepka] and all the guys?”

The iconic golfer, who has won five PGA events, including two majors, is known for his unconventional attire and cigarette-chomping demeanor while on the course. 

And giving up is seemingly not in his DNA.

In a September 2020 interview with the Golf Channel, he vowed to keep playing after sharing his bladder cancer diagnosis.

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"I'm cutting way, way back on the Diet Coke and counting minutes before I can have a cigarette,” he said at the time. “I'm trying to quit smoking. The doctors aren't saying it's too late.”

Daly shared that his cancer had been in remission for four years in a Feb. 19 episode of the Like a Farmer podcast.