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Last week I was fortunate enough to play in the John Daly Pro-Am at Thundering Waters.  It was a hell of a day and I hope they do it again next year.  First and foremost, it wasn’t an actual Pro-Am, it was just a scramble format golf tournament with no pros playing in the groups.  Almost every hole had a pro, celebrity or professional athlete at the tee but that was about it.  There were a lot of former Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo TV and Radio personalities in attendance but no pros playing with the players offering tips and advice.
Either way, it was a really fun day.  I was paired with 2 young guys I didn’t know, who turned out to be a lot of fun (I have to write that because they will be reading this). Both were decent golfers and I was playing some good golf (for a change). We ended up at 9 under, well back of first place who ended up at 17 under.  First prize was a full set of new John Daly Clubs and professional golf bag for each of the 4 people – Not bad at all.
The day started with a breakfast sponsored by McDonalds, then John showed up and gave a nice speech welcoming everyone and spoke about his charity, Kids R King, which helps under privileged children.  We then headed out to the course for an 8:30 shot gun.  The day finished up with an amazing dinner at Noir 17, a fancy restaurant located at the Fallsview Casino.
So what about John?  He was positioned at a joint tee-box.  One direction was the Par 3 - 8^th hole and the other the Par 5 – 16^th.  As groups came through, you either got to challenge John on the Par 3 or try to out-drive him from the 16^th.  To be fair, he drove from the “John Daly” tees while everyone else hit from the White Tees – a difference of 131 yards!  First of all, I was shocked at his size.  He isn’t as tall as I thought he was and he was probably the slimmest he has been in a while (which isn’t saying too much I guess) but he looks weathered as hell.  You can see the lifestyle has taken its toll on him but he greeted us and everyone else with a handshake and a big smile. 
Now for the story…we teed up against Big John on the Par 3, although we did hang around to see his hit a drive…WOW, not only is it impressive how far he hits the dame thing, it is crazy how long his backswing is…I have no idea how me manages to return the club to square.  When we arrived at the tee we heard his last few shots weren’t his best so we decided we would trash talk him.  He took it for a few minutes then proceeded to grab his iron, put his cigarette down, smiled at us and proceeded to just miss a hole in one, leaving the ball 2 feet from the hole.  It was funny as hell.  I got the whole thing on video…the quality isn’t great but it is all I got.. Click HERE to check it out.
For the record, I hit my tee shot to 10 feet and nailed the birdie putt.