PGA Championship: John Daly withdraws before second round after rough start, thumb injury

After a rough opening day at Valhalla Golf Club, John Daly called it on Friday morning.

Daly withdrew from the PGA Championship ahead of his second round on Friday due to a thumb injury. It’s unclear how severe that injury is, or if Daly injured his thumb while playing on Thursday.

Daly struggled on Thursday at Valhalla. He opened with three straight bogeys and went 7-over on his front nine. He finished with an 11-over 82, which dropped him almost to the bottom of the leaderboard completely.

In true Daly fashion, though, he was enjoying himself out on the course.

Daly, 58, now largely plays on the PGA Tour Champions and rides in a cart due to injuries. He won five times in his career on the PGA Tour, including at both the 1991 PGA Championship and the British Open in 1995.

Daly has one PGA Tour Champions win to his name, back at the Insperity Invitational in 2017. He’s made seven appearances on that circuit this season, but he’s not finished better than 65th.

Daly has not made a cut at a major championship since 2018.

Daly would had to mount an incredible comeback on Friday in order to make the cut this week. Xander Schauffele put up a course record 62 on Thursday, which gave him a three-shot lead over the field at 9-under. Play was delayed on Friday morning by about 90 minutes after a fatal accident outside of the course. Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler was arrested in a separate but related incident, too, though he was released and returned in time to tee off in the second round.