It was the sixth hole at Bay Hill in 1998 that turned a standard Sunday afternoon into a permanent fixture of golf’s blooper reel.
The par-five curves aggressively around a massive lake, daring long hitters to bite off as much of the water as they can stomach. John Daly, never one to shy away from a dare or a driver, decided to take the most direct route possible toward the green.
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What followed was a repetitive cycle of splash after splash that left the gallery in a state of stunned silence. Each failed attempt to clear the hazard seemed to encourage Daly not to give up on this feat.
By the time he finally found dry land and putted out, his scorecard bore a staggering 18. It was a moment of pure Daly theatre, showcasing the thin line between his legendary aggression and competitive collapse.
4 Dec 1998: John Daly in action during the JCPenney Classic in Westin Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Laforet /Allsport
John Daly said he had courage but no wisdom when shooting an 18 on one hole
In fairness to Daly, he didn’t hide from the disaster when the round finally ended, offering a candid look into his headspace during the meltdown.
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“It wasn’t that I didn’t care, but I guess after 32 holes I lost my patience,” Daly admitted afterward.
“I had the courage to keep going for it, but I didn’t have the wisdom to bail out right.”
Daly admitted that he did try to bail out somewhat, aiming further and further right by each attempted drive. But he just couldn’t help but try to sneak some extra yards.
He continued, “I kept aiming farther and farther right, but the more right I aimed, the more I hooked it left.”
It was a classic case of a big miss getting worse as the golfer tried to overcompensate for the hazard. But Daly wouldn’t be Daly if he gave up on this tee shot. After his third shot went into the water, he probably stopped caring about his scorecard anyway.
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The highest score on a single PGA Tour hole
The record for the highest score on a single hole on the PGA Tour is officially a 19. While fans often point to John Daly’s infamous 18 at Bay Hill as the ultimate meltdown, three other golfers have actually waded deeper into double-digit disaster.
The trio sharing this unwanted record includes Ray Ainsley (1938 U.S. Open), Hans Merrell (1959 Bing Crosby Pro-Am), and Dale Douglass (1963 Bing Crosby Pro-Am).
Ainsley’s 19 is perhaps the most legendary. At Cherry Hills, he hit his ball into a creek and misunderstood the rules to mean he had to play it as it lay, spent half an hour swatting at the submerged ball while the current carried it further away.
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More recently, in September 2025, John Daly managed to one-up his own personal catastrophe by carding a 19 during a PGA Tour Champions event at the Sanford International.
But while the PGA Tour record books cite 19, the unofficial record belongs to Tommy Armour. During the 1927 Shawnee Open, the Hall of Famer reportedly carded a 23 on a single par-five.
But since there are conflicting reports as to how he achieved this score, it isn’t officially recognized by the tour.
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