{"id":380744,"date":"2026-01-01T00:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/380744\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T00:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:45:10","slug":"john-daly-says-tiger-woods-at-75-health-would-still-dominate-pga-tour-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/380744\/","title":{"rendered":"John Daly says Tiger Woods at 75% health would still dominate PGA Tour Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Daly has thrown down a very public warning to the rest of the golfing world \u2013 and it\u2019s aimed straight at anyone thinking Tiger Woods is done.<\/p>\n

According to Daly, 15-time major champion Woods<\/a> doesn\u2019t need to be fully fit, pain-free or anywhere near his physical peak to start winning again. He just needs to be upright.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Hard Rock Bet, two-time major champion Daly delivered a brutally simple verdict on what would happen if Woods shows up on the PGA Tour Champions in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t doubting that man,\u201d Daly said. \u201cHe\u2019s too good, and the thing about him\u2014he only needs to be about 75% healthy to pretty much kick everybody\u2019s ass out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woods turned 50 on 30 December 2025, officially unlocking the door to the over-50s circuit \u2013 and the PGA Tour Champions wasted no time stirring the pot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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A cryptic birthday post featuring a bold \u2018Tiger 50\u2019 graphic was captioned: \u201cFrom one era to the next \ud83d\udc05.\u201d<\/p>\n

Message received.<\/p>\n

Tiger hasn\u2019t teed it up competitively since missing the cut at The Open at Royal Troon in July 2024 and endured a nightmare 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He ruptured his left Achilles tendon in March, wiping out his season, before undergoing the seventh back surgery of his career in October.<\/p>\n

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Most players would be finished, but Daly isn\u2019t buying it for a second.<\/p>\n

The pair go way back \u2013 long before Woods became the most feared golfer on the planet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just always respected him,\u201d Daly told Hard Rock Bet<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 21 when I first met him\u2014he was 12. We were playing the Big Insurance Youth Classic at Texarkana Country Club, and he shot 72. I think I shot 69.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, I think it was a Ben Hogan event back then. Then it became a Nike, and now it\u2019s Korn Ferry. But I just knew this kid had something special.\u201d<\/p>\n

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They might not be regular dinner companions, but the connection is still there.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we haven\u2019t gone out to dinner all the time and all that, but we text a lot,\u201d Daly added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI always ask him how his health is and how he\u2019s doing. Hopefully we\u2019ll see him on the Champions Tour a few times this coming year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daly is convinced Woods will tee it up in several Champions Tour events in 2026 \u2013 and if his body holds together, maybe even all four majors too.<\/p>\n

\"Tiger <\/p>\n

Tiger Woods [Sun Day Red]<\/p>\n

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And then there\u2019s the great unanswered question of Tiger\u2019s career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With 82 PGA Tour wins \u2013 tied with Sam Snead \u2013 many believe injuries robbed Woods of obliterating every record Jack Nicklaus ever set.<\/p>\n

Daly certainly does.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if he could just get healthy, Tiger probably would have broken all of Jack\u2019s records,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Woods will never reach full fitness again, that’s fairly evident, especially after a near-fatal car crash in Los Angeles in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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But if Daly is right, the terrifying truth for the rest of the Champions Tour is this: a 75% Woods might still be more than enough.<\/p>\n

I think we’d all love to see that in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Daly has thrown down a very public warning to the rest of the golfing world \u2013 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-380744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}