‘I Was a Part of His Death’: Despite ‘Rolling in Debt,’ John Daly Donated A Part of His Winnings From 1991 PGA Championship for a Noble Cause

John Daly is known for a lot of things. His incredible achievements, his two major wins, and his long drive. But what many don’t know about Daly, is his humility and generosity. While he’s frequently in the spotlight for his daring outfit choices and on-course antics, few people know about Long John’s soft side.

The legendary golfer once even gave away part of his first big check to a good cause despite having racked up a debt.

John Daly receives a surprising message from the past

In a 2015 interview with Golf Digest, John Daly mentioned a heartwarming story. Daly spoke of his first major championship, the PGA Championship win in 1991. Unfortunately, that same week, there was a huge storm that hit Indiana.

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Long John went on to narrate how one of the spectators, Tom Weaver, was struck by lightning and killed in the storm. Daly had read about the incident, and after his win, he decided to help out. He went on and donated $30,000 of his winnings towards the college education of Weaver’s two daughters. Until 2015, the big-hearted long-distance driver didn’t give the incident much thought.

Daly didn’t reach out to them and didn’t even know their names. He said, “I felt if I did get in touch with them, then it might just bring up memories of that day when their dad got killed.” In 2015, though, one of them reached out to John. He said that they tried to get in touch with him because one of the girls was graduating and going to medical school. “It was nice,” he said.

Daly was in debt when he made the donation

John wasn’t exactly financially stable when he helped the girls. He claimed that he was “rolling in debt.” Daly said that the championship win was his “first big check.” He had won $230,000 for winning the major and owed a lot of that money. He explained, “I owed $175,000 on my house in Memphis.” We owed some on my wife Bettye’s car.”

But his debt wasn’t on his mind that day. “I won a major, but we lost a human being while I was doing it, and I almost felt like I was part of his death,” he said. And when he saw a chance to do good for Weaver’s daughters, he could not just ignore it. He said, “I just felt it was the thing to do, and it felt good.”

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Daly went on to describe the money as a good investment. He stated that he would get in touch with the girls too since they had reached out to him. The incident shows what a big heart John had. He had changed their lives, and they had changed his.