When John Daly skipped talking to a former US President to pose for a photo: "It didn't take me long"

In his pro golf career, John Daly has won two major championships: the 1991 PGA Championship and the 1995 Open Championship. In his book, John Daly: My Life In and Out of the Rough (published in 2006), Daly narrated an incredible story involving the then-President of the USA following his 1995 Open Championship win.

After winning the 1995 Open Championship at the St.Andrews Old Course, the then President of the United States, Bill Clinton, wanted to talk to Daly.

"My first thought is, holy shit, the President of the United States wants to talk to me. But then Bud pointed out that Wilson and Reebok were putting about $4 million a year in my pocket, and all Clinton was doing was taking 40 percent of that away, and that the sun was just about to sink behind the Old Course Hotel."

"It was now or never for the commemorative photo. So, talk to Clinton or pose for the photo? It didn't take me long to figure out what to do: 'Hit it, Bud,'" Daly recalled.

Daly skipped talking to the President and decided to pose for the picture. However, later that night, when they got back to their rooms, he received a bunch of messages, including one that asked him to call the president of the United States.

Even though the two-time Major championship winner was a bit skeptical about talking to his agent, Bud forced him and said:

"'He's the president, John. You've got to talk to him. Please! Do it now'," Bud told Daly. So I'm like, okay, okay, get him on the horn, only that turned out to take a lot of back-and-forths, one guy talking to another guy who told me to hold on, all this even though he'd been the one to call me in the first place. But finally, a guy came on and said, 'John, this is President Clinton,'" Daly wrote.

"Thanks for calling. Sorry, it took me a while to get back to you," Daly apologised before the two went on to discuss various things, including their old memory of playing together.

John Daly once skipped talking to the President of the United States. Source: Imagn

John Daly said he played golf with Bill Clinton while he was a governor. However, he did not have a good time as President Clinton hit multiple shots from the same spot even after hitting a good shot. He said Clinton never played golf to win but played just because he enjoyed the game.

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A look back at John Daly's performance at the 1995 Open Championship

John Daly had an incredible outing at the 1995 Open Championship, where he registered his second Major championship win of his career. He carded 71 on the final day to remain at 282 and was looking all set to win the tournament at the end of 72 holes.

However, Italian golfer Costantino Rocca had other plans as he drained a 65-foot putt to tie Daly at the top of the leaderboard and forced a playoff.

The sudden death playoff lasted four holes as Rocco took three strokes to get out of the Road Hole Bunker, giving John Daly a win by five strokes.

Here's the leaderboard of the 1995 Open Championship (Top 20):

• T1. John Daly – 282
• T1. Costantino Rocca – 282
• T3. Mark Brooks – 283
• T3. Steven Bottomley – 283
• T3. Michael Campbell – 283
• T6. Steve Elkington – 284
• T6. Vijay Singh – 284
• T8. Corey Pavin – 285
• T8. Bob Estes – 285
• T8. Mark James – 285
• T11. Sam Torrance – 286
• T11. Payne Stewart – 286
• T11. Ernie Els – 286
• T11. Brett Ogle – 286
• T15. Robert Allenby – 287
• T15. Per-Ulrik Johansson – 287
• T15. Brad Faxon – 287
• T15. Greg Norman – 287
• T15. Ben Crenshaw – 287
• T20. Peter Mitchell – 288
• T20. David Duval – 288
• T20. Barry Lane – 288
• T20. Andrew Coltart – 288