AUGUSTA, Georgia. On Monday, when Augusta National was closed to visitors due to bad weather, golf fans still found a legendary place to celebrate golf history.
Just a mile from Augusta`s famous Magnolia Lane, people of all ages and backgrounds waited in the rain to pay their respects. As the saying goes, they all came looking for a piece of America.
It`s officially Masters week in Augusta. But as you leave I-20, head east on Washington Road towards Augusta National Golf Club, you are first greeted by another unique tradition.
`COME SEE JOHN DALY TODAY,` reads a sign outside Hooters. Since 1997, this larger-than-life legend, known for his love of peanut M&Ms and Diet Coke, has been setting up shop here every week. He sells merchandise and takes photos with fans, always with a Marlboro Red cigarette in hand, above his distinctive beard.
`John Daly is my hero,` says Bret Bowen, a resident of Augusta. `He`s the greatest, most fun-loving golfer ever.`
Daly, who hasn`t played in the Masters since 2006, still comes back every year, offering a sharp contrast to the formality of the world`s most famous golf course down the street. Inside Augusta National, phones, cameras, and certainly cigarettes are prohibited. But at Hooters, there`s another side of Augusta, a place where fans can get close to a relatable icon who can be himself.
`Eat good food, smoke, sell some stuff,` Daly explains.
And he sells a lot of stuff. Last year, Daly`s team reported sales of about $780,000 on the Hooters patio. This year, he might exceed that number due to Monday`s rain and the long lines. Hats featuring Daly`s face or slogans like `grip it and rip it` sell for $40 and are popular all day. Boxes of his `Short Game` cigars, described as having `cinnamon, earth, and floral notes,` sell for $250 and were sold out by Wednesday morning.
He is the king of the alternative Augusta. According to AirDNA, which tracks short-term rental data, daily rental prices in the city average $656 during Masters week with nearly 4,000 listings, compared to $219 with about 1,500 listings the rest of the year. On the Friday of last year`s tournament, 292 private jets arrived at Augusta Regional Airport. Although most of Daly`s fans are not billionaires, they are dedicated, and many bring gifts. Behind his merchandise tables, there was a box of Vidalia onions, a famous sweet Georgia variety, a gift from `Dale from Vidalia` for the past ten years. A fan from the Midwest also brought him their state`s famous cheese.
`My Wisconsin guy always brings cheese,` Daly says. `I love cheese and onions. Vidalia onions are the best, no matter who you are.`
Another Wisconsinite, Larry Stelow, a retired pet portrait artist, brought Daly a 16×20 inch acrylic painting of him with a dog.
`That`s awesome,` Daly said, taking a photo with Stelow.
`All I wanted was to be in a photo with John and the painting,` Stelow said. `It was special for me.`
Daly sells signed golf balls for $10 (`$1 for the ball, $9 for the signature,` according to one of his staff), along with photos, shirts, and replica pin flags from his 1991 PGA Championship win at Crooked Stick, Indiana, for $100. He signs anything fans buy and takes photos with them.
And he also fulfilled Bowen`s dream.
`John Daly gave me a cigarette!` he exclaimed.
Daly`s legend began at Crooked Stick in 1991 when the unknown 25-year-old, a former University of Arkansas golfer, entered the PGA Championship as the ninth alternate and won, despite never having seen the course before.
Everyday golfers were amazed by his `grip it and rip it` style. He was the first player to average over 300 yards off the tee in 1997 and led the PGA Tour in driving distance 11 times between 1991 and 2002. He also won a second major, the Open Championship, at St. Andrews in 1995. It was a revolution for the sport.
Off the course, Daly was more like Jack Black than Jack Nicklaus, an eccentric character with a mullet who smoked, drank beer, ate at Hooters (his favorite restaurant), and never took himself too seriously. On the course, he pushed the boundaries of golf fashion from traditional to unconventional.
Rebecca Gaines from Athens, Georgia, said she has taken time off work to see Daly for the past five years, admiring his style, which often includes neon, skulls, the American flag, paint splatters, or a combination of these.
Legendary golf writer Dan Jenkins once described Daly`s pants at an Open Championship as: `A Motel 6 called from the states – they want their shower curtain back.`
However, Gaines disagrees. `He`s my favorite because of his clothes,` she says. `That`s why I was drawn to him.`
Daly`s caddie, Lance Odom, met him a few years ago while caddying for David Duval on the Champions Tour. They clicked, and Odom, who helps manage the lines and takes photos with fans, says he`s never seen anything like the attention Daly gets, especially compared to other golfers.
`People come here and it`s like their first trip to Disneyland with him,` Odom says. `Every person has a story. It`s like being with Michael Jordan. You can`t go to a gas station without people approaching you.`
And they all have their reasons.
Scott Grennell from Hinesville, Georgia, isn`t here for golf. He`s on his lunch break and wanted to make it worthwhile.
`Growing up, I had two heroes: Pete Rose and John Daly,` he said. `And today I met one of them.`
Ed Burns, an Englishman from Liverpool living in Toronto, admires the populism and Americana that Daly brought to the formal sport.
`He was one of those guys who changed it, an ordinary guy like that,` Burns said. `He won the Open. The guy has my respect.`
Jason Gamble and his friends, part of a large golf group on WhatsApp, stopped by on Wednesday before heading to the Masters.
`He`s like the guy in your golf group, just much better,` Gamble said, standing with his friend Malik Davis from Augusta. `We`re all former athletes, football, basketball, but it doesn`t always translate to golf. So when you see someone make the game look as easy as John does, it`s easy to appreciate that talent, and he`s just an ordinary guy. He`s the guy you want in your foursome.`
For them, Daly is a role model.
`John resonates with us. See DBT?` he says, pointing to his hat. `That`s the name of our golf group: Drunk By the Turn. John is our mascot. I love what he represents. He`s just a relaxed, free guy. Smoking, drinking, and playing golf.`
And in some cases, he even saved what could have been a Masters week disaster.
Pam Duvall took time off work, booked an Airbnb, and drove three hours to meet a friend who promised her passes. But in Augusta, the friend was nowhere to be found.
`It was as expensive as you can imagine,` she said. `Unbelievable.`
But she had a backup plan.
`We decided to go to Hooters, and if we could see John Daly and take a picture with him, it would make it all worthwhile,` Duvall said. `My kids ordered Masters souvenirs. I got them signed merchandise from John Daly. That will make everything better.`
Daly has faced health challenges in recent years. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer in September 2020. His treatment included surgery, one of about 16 he estimates he`s had in the last eight years, including on his feet, knees, shoulder, elbow, and wrist.
`I have more metal in me than the bionic man Lee Majors,` he joked. `But I`m still alive, man. I`m like Lazarus, constantly coming back from the dead.`
Daly hopes to continue appearing at Hooters every year as long as they`ll have him. He doesn`t get an appearance fee, but it`s a mutually beneficial arrangement for both parties, who also have a business partnership. Daly`s son, John Daly II, is a golfer at his father`s alma mater, the University of Arkansas, and recently won his first college tournament at the Columbia Spring Invitational. His proud father boasted about `Little John`s` resilience.
`How cool is that?` Daly said. `Birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, birdie finish and into a playoff at 1-under. That`s how tough the course was.`
But don`t expect to see Little John, who also has a NIL deal with Hooters, selling T-shirts anytime soon.
`He`s going to focus on golf,` Daly said.
The atmosphere has changed for Daly in Augusta in the last couple of years. Initially, he would arrive in a bus or RV and spend the week there, with people knocking on his door at all hours. Odom recalls an incident a couple of years ago when someone knocked, and it turned out to be Michael Phelps, who just wanted to hang out.
The tent in the parking lot, which became a big party spot, is gone now because Augusta National bought the strip mall where Hooters is located and uses it for fan parking. But he`s happy with his patio on the side, his own little kingdom where fans can eat, smoke, and buy merchandise.
`I may never get into the Hall of Fame, but you know what? It seems like I`ll always have the fans,` Daly said. `I love them, and they know it. We just connect. Blue-collar people are meant to connect.`
Alexis Davis, an Augusta resident and Hooters waitress, says it`s her favorite week of the year because of the diverse crowd Daly attracts.
`Golf fans bring a different kind of energy,` she said. `They are excited, ready for the Masters, or coming back from the Masters and sharing their stories.`
She believes Daly perfectly bridges the gap between the fun-loving and formal aspects of golf. And his famous friends also drop by: Ken Griffey Jr., Matt Damon, and Joey Fatone from NSYNC mingled with the Wednesday crowds.
`You can have both,` she said. `You can have golf, proper Masters attire, but you can also relax and enjoy yourself.`
Or, as another Daly fan, Karson Angell, put it:
`If you`re going to the Masters and you don`t come to Hooters afterward, where are you really at?`
