When John Daly confessed to being inferior to Tiger Woods in reading greens

The veteran golfer John Daly once shared how Tiger Woods was comparatively way superior in feeling the greens. Both golfers have maintained two different personalities and lifestyles throughout their successful careers and share a relationship filled with mutual respect.

In 2017, Daly won the Insperity Invitational, a title that finally ended the 13-year-long drought for a Tour victory in his professional career. Later, he appeared on the Dan Patrick Show and made some revelations about his comparison with Tiger Woods.

In the show, Daly was questioned about his tactics against the then 14-time major champion. According to John Daly, he and the Cypress Native were on the same level in terms of natural abilities, which has been instrumental in their success.

While talking about his similarity with Tiger Woods, Daly was quick to admit that there is one area where he couldn't overpower Woods. As per his statement on the Dan Patrick Show, it was Woods' ability to read the greens. Daly said (quoted by bunkered):

"I think we’re really close on that [natural talent]. But his feel around the greens when he was winning all of those tournaments was better than anybody. You could almost say it was better than Nicklaus. I think Tiger was almost one, two, three, four steps ahead of me in this game."

Daly had a decent set of results that year, comprised of several top 10s, especially a T4 at the 2017 Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club. Tiger Woods was still healing from the series of back surgeries he had between 2014 to 2017.

From August 2015 to 2018, the Cypress native played in only one tournament, which caused a significant drop in his rankings. However, two years after this interview, at the age of 43 years, Woods went on to win the 2019 Masters at Augusta National. It was his 15th major championship title.

When Tiger Woods shared a hilarious John Daly story

John Daly's 2016 Hit It Hard documentary showcased the golfer's extreme obsession with Diet Cokes. However, this was not a publicity stunt, as confirmed by none other than the legendary golfer, Tiger Woods.

In May 2022, Tiger Woods caught up with Golf Digest from Southern Hills, a venue where he won the 2007 PGA Championship. He reminisced about a story of John Daly from 2007. Talking about the scorching Tulsa heat that year, Woods said (quoted by Golf Digest):

"It was not cold that week. I remember playing behind JD [John Daly] the first day, which was awesome. It was, what, 109 [degrees] I think that first day? And I asked JD how many waters he drank out there, he said, 'No, I had 13 Diet Cokes.'"

Woods and Daly had a few moments of rivalry, especially during both of their career peaks. In the 2007 PGA Championship, Daly finished 14 shots behind Woods, tying for the 32nd spot on the major leaderboard.