“I walked with a broken leg" - Tiger Woods was once not very keen on John Daly riding a cart at PGA Championship
John Daly rode in a golf cart for the PGA Championship in 2019, but Tiger Woods was not very supportive of that decision. Daly had a variety of lower leg issues at the time and just couldn't handle the stress of walking all the holes. He reportedly had arthritis in his right knee, which according to the golfer, prevented him from walking for more than six holes at a time.
This prompted a short response from Woods, but it was biting. Via Yahoo!, the legendary golfer said:
“I walked with a broken leg, so."
Tiger Woods was met with tons of laughter, but his opinion was made clear. It was a reference to the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines that he won in an 18-hole playoff over Rocco Mediate while battling injury himself.
Daly at the time wasn't competing in a lot of tournaments, especially not on the PGA Tour or in the Majors. He did use the cart frequently on the Champions Tour, but that was more acceptable there than in a Major tournament like the PGA Championship.
Daly knew he'd likely be maligned for his decision and said at the time:
“I hope I don't get a lot of grief from the fans. My knee is screwed. I had the meniscus cut out. I have osteoarthritis so bad ... I can walk up a hill, I just can't walk down one," he lamented.
The fan-favorite golfer became the first player to use a cart in a situation like that since Casey Martin, who had circulation problems in his legs, at the 1998 and 2012 U.S. Opens.
Tiger Woods paid $100 million for loyalty
Tiger Woods has been loyal to the PGA Tour since 1996 when he turned pro. There weren't many tests of that loyalty until LIV Golf came in and offered him reportedly upwards of $700 million to jump ship. It was allegedly a short conversation.
The PGA Tour doled out their equity stakes in the Enterprise to golfers who remained loyal. It's their effort to compensate those who turned down massive contracts to come to LIV. It was largely based on how impactful the golfer's career had been on the tour, which made Woods extremely valuable despite not doing much for it since LIV was formed.
Woods hasn't been a regular competitor on tour since the pre-LIV days, but he has had an outstanding career building up on the Tour. Since the equity stakes were built on a Career Points metric, Woods stood to gain the most.
Phil Mickelson, thanks to his long and illustrious career, would have been right behind him, but he was excluded for being a member of the rebel tour. That left a gap in Woods' reported $100 million payment and the next largest.
That ended up being Rory McIlroy, who reportedly saw his stake come in valued at $50 million. He's also had quite a career, but it's not as long nor as illustrious as Woods was, so he didn't make as much.