Professional golfer John Daly strongly supported Donald Trump in an interview Tuesday as he boldly claimed the former president needs to return to the White House next year for the sake of the United States.
Daly, 57, a former PGA Tour stalwart who now primarily plays on the senior tour, has known the former president for over three decades, even describing him as a ‘great friend’ in a 2017 Instagram post.
And with the 2024 Presidential election less than a year away, Daly claimed he and his fellow professionals are backing Trump to return to the White House.
‘Think all of us on the tours want Daddy Trump back,’ he told former FOX host Tucker Carlson in a sit-down interview Tuesday night.
Trump, who is known to be an avid golf fan and owns several courses, has most recently been a prominent figure at LIV Golf tournaments, where he has been warmly welcomed by the likes of Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.
Professional golfer John Daly strongly supported Donald Trump to win the 2024 election
Daly claimed he and his fellow professionals are backing Trump to return to the White House
The two-time major winner has known Trump since the 1990s and has played golf with him
When asked whether he believed Trump could win next year’s election, Daly revealed he was praying for him to be triumphant.
‘He needs to win, I pray to God he wins,’ he insisted. ‘Just for the satisfaction of bringing our country back together and get common sense going in here again.
‘Look what he did, how great was our country for the four years he was in office? Now look at it. No secure borders. I mean what the hell happened? Where did it go? I was loving the four years Daddy Trump was in. And it’s all gone to hell in two to three years.’
The two-time major winner went on to not only praise Trump, who he described as an ‘unbelievable, smart individual’ but also the entire former First Family.
He then boldly, and bizarrely, claimed that some of the biggest international conflicts in recent years would have been avoided if the 45th President had secured a second term back in November 2020, referencing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and most recently the crisis in Israel this year.
‘I’ll have his back till I die,’ Daly said. ‘He’s one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever met. The family is awesome. Once you get to know them, they’re just good-hearted people. He only wants to help Americans and protect our country.
‘I think Putin never would’ve invaded Ukraine and I don’t Hamas would’ve attacked Israel like they did if Trump was in office.’
Daly, who won five times on the PGA Tour, revealed that Trump had predicted his own presidency back in the 1990s during a conversation with the professional golfer at a pro-am.
Daly spoke to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on his support of the former president
Daly is pictured with his family and ‘great friend’ Trump in the Oval Office in 2017
Daly described Trump as a ‘great friend’ in his caption to the 2017 Instagram post
‘We played a pro-am, we went out back and talked a bit and when he stood up, he says, “Mark my word, I’ll be President of the United States one day.” This was back in ’92, ’93, ’94 maybe,’ Daly claimed to a stunned Carlson, adding that he believed the then-real businessman.
Daly proceeded to slam President Joe Biden, claiming more felons and terrorists had been found to have entered the country during his administration than any other president’s.
He alleged the motive behind allowing immigrants into the United States was to win more votes as he claimed Biden was ‘giving them voter cards when they come in’.
‘Why else would democrats want all these people to come in free?’ he asked. ‘I’ve got a guy who plays on the senior tour, been here forever, won majors and couldn’t get a visa. But yet, you’re letting all these illegals come in, giving them whatever they want. Makes no sense to me.’
Daly also took aim at another former president, blasting Bill Clinton’s golf game and accusing him of cheating on the course.
‘Bill would take the club back and say, “Oh s**t, give me another ball,” before he even hit the first one,’ he said. ‘He’d throw another one down. He never kept score.’
When asked what he made of Clinton’s game, Daily simply responded: ‘He needs to take up tennis. He’s horrible.’
But, while Clinton was a horrible golfer in Daly’s eyes, Trump seemingly has the perfect game and can chip like Tiger Woods – when he has Daly coaching him.
The winner on the PGA Tour hit out at President Joe Biden for his immigration policy
He also accused former president Bill Clinton of cheating while playing golf
‘I’ve got to work with his chipping a little bit,’ Daly said of Trump. ‘But he hits it good, he putts it good. We’ve just got to work on his chipping. If I don’t see him for a while, he goes back to that bad habit. He chips it like Tiger or Phil [when I’m coaching him].’
Daly briefly turned his attention away from golf to the sport landscape in general, delivering a scathing opinion of the NFL players who took the knee during the national anthem, led by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
He claimed the athletes’ protests were a way of telling America to go ‘kiss its a**’ but agreed when Carlson suggested sports figures were being used.
‘You see how much power athletes to be able to go, I don’t if it’s that left or that stupid,’ he said, before insisting golfers were never under pressure to speak out against the United States, ‘Not with out guys. We believe in the American flag. We believe in our freedoms.’