John Daly II makes Korn Ferry Tour debut in Oklahoma

Editor's note: John Daly II shot a 4-over 76 in Round 1 of the Compliance Solutions Championship.

John Daly II has spent his life around the game of golf, learning “what to do and what not to do,” he joked Tuesday.

This week, he’ll apply those learnings for the first time in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event. Daly II, son of two-time major champion John Daly, will compete at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Compliance Solutions Championship on a sponsor exemption. His dad can’t be there; he’s competing at PGA TOUR Champions’ DICK’S Open on a course (En-Joie GC) where he won the TOUR’s 1992 B.C. Open. But he’ll be supporting from afar.

The elder Daly encouraged his son to “grip it and rip it" this week in Norman, Oklahoma, and although Daly II utilizes a different playing style than his dad – one of pro golf’s most colorful characters for the last three decades – that fatherly wisdom will serve him well inside the ropes in his Korn Ferry Tour debut.

“I’ve learned basically everything about the game of golf through him,” Daly II said this week. “He just told me to treat it like a normal tournament. I wouldn’t say I’m nervous, but it’s definitely a different environment and something I’m looking forward to getting used to.

“I would say he’s definitely a little more aggressive than I am on the course. I think I kind of play a little safer, boring golf.”

Daly II plays collegiately at the University of Arkansas, his dad’s alma mater. The younger Daly was a freshman in 2021-22; he redshirted in 2022-23 but found success as a redshirt sophomore in 2023-24, posting a 71.78 scoring average across 23 rounds. He carded top-20 finishes in the season’s first six events, the only Razorback to do so, as he established himself as a steady contributor in the lineup. He arrived in Oklahoma fresh off a solid tie for 12th at the Florida Amateur, and he’ll now see how his game translates against a Korn Ferry Tour field – knowing low scores will be required to compete and contend.

Aside from his dad, Daly II admires world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler for his perspective on the game – “it’s like he doesn’t really worry about what he shoots, what he doesn’t shoot, just blessed to be able to play the game of golf,” he said of Scheffler. Daly II describes his personality as “normal, boring” – phrases rarely ascribed to his dad. He’s his own person, but he’s similarly consumed with the game; his non-golf hobbies, he said, are watching golf and being outside. In his final two years of college, he intends to hone his game and make it pro-ready. This week will offer valuable education to that end.

“I just like playing golf,” he said of what motivates him. “I grew up around it, basically born into it. Played a lot of sports growing up, but I think golf was the one that I was always going to play.”

Team Daly has competed in eight editions of the PNC Championship, the two-person scramble event that pairs an accomplished TOUR pro with a family member. John Daly and John Daly II won the 2021 event, and they’ve also recorded a pair of runner-up finishes. The younger Daly has thrived in that spotlight alongside his dad. This week, he makes it his own.