Professional golfer John Daly strongly supported Donald Trump in an interview on Tuesday, when he boldly argued that the former president should return to the White House next year for the sake of the United States.
Daly, 57, a former PGA Tour fanatic who now plays primarily on the senior tour, has known the former president for more than three decades and even described 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.
“I think all of us on tour want Daddy Trump back,” he told former FOX host Tucker Carlson in a sit-down interview on Tuesday evening.
Trump, who is known as an avid golf fan and owns several golf courses, was recently a prominent figure at LIV golf tournaments, where he was warmly welcomed by the likes of Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.
Professional golfer John Daly strongly backed Donald Trump to win the 2024 election
Daly claimed that he and his fellow professionals support Trump's return to the White House
The two-time major winner has known Trump since the 1990s and has played golf with him
When asked if he believed Trump could win next year's election, Daly revealed he prayed he would prevail.
“He has to win, I pray to God he wins,” he insisted. “Just for the satisfaction of bringing our country back together and bringing common sense back in here.”
“Look what he did: how great was our country in the four years he was in power? Now look at it. No safe boundaries. I mean, what the hell happened? Where did it go? I enjoyed the four years that Papa Trump was in office. And within two to three years it all went to hell.”
The two-time major winner praised not only Trump, whom he described as an “incredible, smart individual,” but also the entire former First Family.
He then boldly and bizarrely claimed that some of the biggest international conflicts of recent years would have been avoided if the 45th president had secured a second term in November 2020, pointing to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and most recently to the ongoing Israeli invasion. -Hamas war this year.
“I'll support him until I die,” Daly said. 'He's one of the greatest people I've ever met. The family is wonderful. Once you get to know them, they are just good-hearted people. He only wants to help Americans and protect our country.
“I don't think Putin would have invaded Ukraine and I don't think Hamas would have attacked Israel the way they did if Trump was in power.”
Daly, who won five times on the PGA Tour, revealed that Trump had predicted his own presidency in the 1990s during a conversation with the professional golfer at a pro-am.
Daly spoke with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson about his support for the former president
Daly is pictured in the Oval Office with his family and 'great friend' Trump in 2017
Daly described Trump as a “great friend” in his caption for the 2017 Instagram post
“We were playing a pro-am, we went outside and talked a little bit, and when he got up he said, 'Mark my word, one day I'm going to be president of the United States.' This was in '92, '93, '94 maybe,” Daly claimed to a stunned Carlson, adding that he believed the then real businessman.
Daly went on to criticize President Joe Biden, claiming that more criminals and terrorists had entered the country during his administration than that of any other president.
He claimed that the motive behind allowing immigrants into the United States was to win more votes, as he claimed that Biden “gave them voter cards as they came in.”
“Why else would Democrats want all these people to come in freely?” he asked. “I've got a guy playing on the senior tour who's been here forever, won majors and couldn't get a visa. Yet you let all these illegals come in and give them whatever they want. I do not feel like it.'
Daly also took aim at another former president, criticizing Bill Clinton's golf and accusing him of cheating on the course.
“Bill took the club back and said, 'Oh shit, 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 thought of Clinton's game, Daily simply replied, “He should play tennis.” He's terrible.'
But while Clinton was a terrible golfer in Daly's eyes, Trump seems to have the perfect game and can chip like Tiger Woods – if he lets Daly coach him.
The PGA Tour winner attacked President Joe Biden over his immigration policies
He also accused former President Bill Clinton of cheating while playing golf
“I have to work on his chipping a little bit,” Daly said of Trump. “But he's hitting it well, he's putting it well. We just need to work on his chipping. If I don't see him for a while, he falls back into that bad habit. He chips it like Tiger or Phil (when I coach him).”
Daly briefly turned his attention from golf to the sports landscape at large, delivering a scathing assessment of the NFL players who took a 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 “give a kiss,” but agreed when Carlson suggested sports figures were used.
“You see how far strength athletes can go, I don't know if it's so left-wing or so stupid,” he said, before emphasizing that golfers were never under pressure to speak out against the United States. 'Not without boys. We believe in the American flag. We believe in our freedoms.'