"I was shocked" - When John Daly lost $55,000,000 to gambling

John Daly has won five PGA Tours and two Major championship trophies. Despite this underwhelming performance, he is well known among golf fans for his unorthodox way of looking not just at golf but towards life. The 58-year-old golfer is often seen smoking cigarettes or cigars while wearing bright-colored clothes on the golf course.

Along with smoking, Daly loves to gamble, and once said that he has lost around $55 million in gambling. During his interview with Graham Bensinger in 2014, the host enquired about the amount Daly lost in gambling and asked how that was even possible.

"Stupidity," Daly said. "But when we did the book, me and Glenn Waggoner, we looked and we went through all my tax records to find out because I really didn't know. And it just came out to that." [at 07:20]

John Daly was shocked to see the amount, while Glenn Waggoner, who wrote a book on Daly in 2007, couldn't believe it either.

"He couldn't believe it and I was shocked. I thought it might have been 20 25. But I had no idea it was 55 to 57 million. It's crazy."

"I'm not going to sit here, people going to say I should say I regret it, but I did it, you know, I move on from it. I had a lot of fun doing it. That's over from probably '91 to 2007, 16 years. Just a little over four-five million a year," the 58-year-old golfer added.

The host further questioned the golfer about what he likes about gambling, to which Daly said:

"I love the action. I love the adrenaline going in there. When I was playing a lot of blackjack you could play seven hands at any amount you wanted."

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Look back at John Daly's golfing career

John Daly at PGA: The Open Championship - First Round - Source: Imagn

John Daly joined the PGA Tour in 1991 and has won $10,270,681 in official money. He had a promising start to his career as he won the 1991 PGA Championship and the Open Championship in 1995. Apart from two Majors, he won two PGA Tour events in 1992 and 1994.

However, after these successful five years, Daly struggled to perform as he missed plenty of cuts and did not win a single tournament until 2004. He had plenty of off-the-field issues that impacted his game on the golf course.

The 58-year-old golfer now competes on the PGA Tour Champions, the senior tour, and is not part of the regular PGA Tour anymore. Interestingly, his son John Daly II has started his journey towards becoming a professional golfer and currently represents the Arkansas Razorbacks in collegiate golf.