Two-time major champion John Daly still likes to refer to his 22-year-old son, John Daly II, as L’il John.
He was raised in the game, a regular at PGA Tour daycare facilities, or as L’il John put it, “if they had a putting green, I would (practice there).”
“I mean, it was very easy to get into golf growing up (going to) daycare and watching him play all the time, being homeschooled throughout – right before middle school. So I just fell in love with it at young age and, yeah, just been going at it since,” Daly II added.
His love of the game isn’t the only thing L’il John got from his dad. Apparently, they share a similar fashion sense, rocking some colorful, garish outfits, including showing up for this year’s PNC Championship player dinner in a trademark eye-catching suit. (The Dalys always are easy to pick out in the annual class pictures.)
The tradition continues. Family golf at its finest. pic.twitter.com/dcYRFgRtJp
— PNC Championship (@PNCchampionship) December 19, 2025
Team Daly is making its eighth appearance in the PNC Championship this week, and the pair won the event in 2021 and finished runner-up in 2018 and 2022. On Saturday, they teamed to shoot 13-under 59 at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando. The Dalys are tied for second and sit two strokes off the pace set by Matt and Cameron Kuchar.
L’il John hit an 8-iron from 190 yards to 10-12 feet at the last and rolled in the eagle putt, which impressed his dear-old dad, 59, who made grip it and rip it his personal brand. When a reporter asked him whether he remembered the days of nearly 200 yard 8-irons, Daly said, “Long way away. They’re gone, Bub. You know that.”
Daly II is starting to come into his own, garnering medalist honors at the Columbia Spring Invitational to earn SEC co-Golfer of the Week honors as a junior and leading the Arkansas Razorbacks, his father’s alma mater, in scoring average at 72.21. He won the Southern Amateur this summer and reached the quarterfinal of the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Asked to name the biggest difference in his game from a year ago, he said, “Just my attitude has gotten a little better and just not really caring. Just going out there and having fun. At the end of the day golf doesn’t define me. Just happy to be able to play every day and go out there and have fun.”
The apple didn’t fall far from the tree with L’il John.
On a heater 🔥🔥
pic.twitter.com/c6ouoMnNTK— PNC Championship (@PNCchampionship) December 20, 2025
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: John Daly II teams up with John Daly at PNC Championship in style
