35 years ago: John Daly's PGA Championship victory still seems implausable

John Daly reacts after putting out to win the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Indiana.

Daly’s Cinderella story felt pulled straight from Bill Murray’s imagination in Caddyshack — only this version featured 285‑yard drives and towering irons struck without irony or exaggeration. His length reshaped the course; while much of the field hit long irons into greens, Daly attacked with wedges and short irons, especially on Crooked Stick’s four par‑5 holes, which he played in 12‑under par for the week.

A week before the tournament, Daly’s situation could not have been more uncertain. From his home in Memphis, he tracked withdrawals by phone. When Nick Price withdrew on Wednesday morning, Daly edged closer. When two more players bowed out, Daly found himself first alternate. At 5 p.m. the night before the championship, he gambled — loading his car and driving nearly eight hours through the night.

In the middle of the night, a blinking message light confirmed it: he was in.

“It was 12:30 in the morning when I got in and the message light was on,” said Daly, who was the qualifying medalist at the first – and only – Ben Hogan Tour qualifying school in January 1990. “That’s when I learned Bryant couldn’t make it and I was in. I got to sleep at 2 o’clock. I was fortunate because it was Nick Price’s spot and he had a 12:58 p.m. tee time on Thursday.”

Without ever seeing the course, Daly opened with rounds of 69‑67‑69‑71. He trailed by two after Thursday, led by one at the halfway point and carried a three‑shot advantage into the final round.

On the second and third days, he was the pudgy character people started noticing as he smashed the ball, tearing up the course Jack Nicklaus said after three practice rounds was the most difficult he had ever played.

As that tournament unfolded, a growing legion of awestruck and flabbergasted supporters lined each hole like a parade route. They roared and gave Daly ovations at every green.

Who was this guy, who looked like he could be a used-car salesman, a bookie, a jovial uncle, who was taking over this competition of elite, seasoned pros?

John Daly at the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana.

"He's treating Pete Dye's 7,280-yard monster like a pitch and putt course with his booming tee ball," columnist Robin Miller wrote in the Indianapolis Star.

Daly's 5-under 67 in the second round shot him to the top of the leaderboard, 8 under par for the tournament. It included one eagle, seven birdies and long-distance drives that left his competitors shaking their heads.

"It's unbelievable. I've never seen anyone hit the ball like that," said Wayne Grady, who entered play that week as the defending PGA champion, and played ahead of Daly all day. "I mean, it's amazing. He's hitting 8- and 9-irons into holes where we are hitting 2- and 3-irons."

Jeff "Squeaky" Medlin, Price's caddie, had never seen Daly until the first tee on the first day of the championship.

"John has shown me a side of golf I don't normally see," Medlin said at the time. "He hits the ball in places nobody else does and he was a little hard to club at first."

After Saturday’s round, television viewers called in alleging a rules violation involving Daly’s caddie and the flagstick. PGA officials halted the scoring process while reviewing video. After careful examination, no infraction was found, and Daly’s birdie stood.

The tournament was his to lose.

The night before the final round, Daly went to the Colts game versus Seattle at the Hoosier Dome, "and got a bigger cheer than did the Colts," according to the local paper.

On Sunday, Daly steadied himself. Birdies at Nos. 2, 5, 13 and 15 offset mistakes at 1 and 17. A late charge by Lietzke cut the margin, but Daly answered every challenge. Even a three‑putt double bogey on 17 wasn’t enough to derail him.

With one hole to play, Daly’s cushion held. Moments later, his place in history was secure.

A day after the championship had closed in Carmel, IndyStar's Wayne Fuson called Daly "perhaps the most unlikely winner of a major tournament since World War II."

Before Sunday's $230,000 payoff, Daly had made $166,000 on the tour for the entire year. Few had ever heard of him. And then they fell in love, Fuson wrote.

"John Daly is different. He's the kind of a kid gray-haired groupies want to adopt, the kind of a guy younger gals in the gallery want to take home for their own," said Fuson. "And, he's the kind of buddy guys down at the neighborhood watering hole would want to join for a few brewskies."

After he hoisted the trophy, Daly talked about his unlikely rise to golf's elite title.

"I can tell you one thing, I've done this my way," said Daly. "I don't have anybody to blame for this win but me, and I love it."

John Daly is all smiles after winning the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Indiana.

Though no longer guaranteed a Ryder Cup spot, Daly acknowledged where his ambitions were headed.

“I would love to play in the Ryder Cup,” he said. “I think it’s time for Americans to start winning big tournaments again.”

At Crooked Stick, John Daly didn’t just win a major. He announced himself — loudly, improbably and forever.

Golfweek alum Ron Balicki and Dana Hunsinger Benbow of the Indianapolis Star contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: John Daly's 1991 PGA Championship win