‘Waking up is a win’ – John Daly, 59, releases worrying health update after 16th surgery as he skips PGA Championship

THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS – MAY 03: John Daly of the United States plays his shot from the 18th tee during the continuation of round one on day two of the Insperity Invitational 2025 at The Woodlands Golf Club on May 03, 2025 in The Woodlands, Texas. (Photo by Raj Mehta/Getty Images)

JOHN Daly will miss next week’s PGA Championship as he recovers from his sixteenth surgery.

The 59-year-old was hospitalised after a health scare in January where he had to have emergency surgery on his left hand.

Two-time major champion Daly is not back to his best yet and has chosen instead to play in the Regions Tradition – the first of five majors on the PGA Tour Champions, only for players 50 and older.

Daly has also battled bladder cancer and said to AP News: “I’m like Lazarus — I keep coming back from the dead.

“Waking up is a win for me.”

His health problems have taken a toll after his cancer diagnosis in 2020, after which he vowed to stop smoking and improve his lifestyle.

Since his comeback in March after the most recent surgery he has been far from his best.

His 2025 results so far are: tied 56th, tied 75th, tied 50th and 77th.

Most recently he finished at 27-over par at the Insperity Invitational – a far cry from his winning result in 2017 and runner-up place in 2020.

Daly questioned the schedule clash of the PGA Championship, to which he holds a lifetime exemption, and the Regions Tradition.

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He said: “Why are they scheduling Regions the same week as the PGA Championship where I can see Brooks [Koepka] and all the guys?

“I can go [to the PGA Championship] and miss the cut and get $6,000, but I’m playing Birmingham. I love Regions.”

The American is not the only big name to be missing from Quail Hollow as Tiger Woods is also out, after recovering from surgery on his left achilles tendon.