Unlike Tiger Woods, Joe Daley is unlikely to be a household name among golf fans having never won on the PGA Tour or even making the cut in a major championship.
Of course, the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach will be remembered for Tiger Woods‘ performance. Woods won by 15 shots as he secured the first leg of what would become the Tiger Slam.
Who is the biggest winner if Tiger Woods never existed?
But it was also a significant week in the career of Joe Daley as he made his major championship debut at one of the most iconic golfing venues on the planet.
Joe Daley joined Tiger Woods in an exclusive club at the 2000 US Open
Daley – who had won once on the Nationwide Tour – had not played a full season on the PGA Tour since 1998. His best finish that year came at the BellSouth Classic where he ended up tied for 27th.
Funnily enough, that tournament was won by Tiger Woods.
Unfortunately for Daley, he was unable to make it beyond the halfway stage at the 2000 US Open. He did, however, manage to post one bogey-free round in a week where just one player was able to finish under par.
In fact, there were just three rounds all week that saw a player not drop a shot.
Two of those rounds came from Tiger Woods.
Daley’s hopes of making the cut were largely dashed after he shot an 83 in the first round. He was able to restore some pride with a blemish-free 69, but still fell three shots short of making it into Saturday’s third round.
Just two players could match Daley’s second round score.
One of those was Tiger Woods, with Dave Eichelberger also managing to break 70.
The most infamous shot of Joe Daley’s career came at PGA Tour Q-School later that same year
Even if you have not heard of Daley before, there is a good chance that you would have seen one particular shot from his career.
Later on in 2000, he entered Q-School in the hope of regaining his PGA Tour card for the 2001 season.
Unfortunately, Daley missed out by one shot. And that made what happened during the fourth round all the more agonising.
Daley was faced with a five-foot putt. He made a good stroke and the ball looked destined to hit the back of the cup at a perfect pace.
However, the ball somehow managed to bounce back out of the front, leaving Daley in disbelief. He launched his cap at the ground and moved backwards in complete shock as if he had witnessed some form of witchcraft.
Daley’s greatest win was yet to come on PGA Tour Champions
Daley would go on to play in just one more major, the 2007 US Open, once again missing the cut. He would also play in that year’s Sony Open in Hawaii.
His greatest triumph on the golf course came in 2012 when he won a senior major title at the Constellation Senior Players Championship.
His most recent PGA Tour appearance came at The Players Championship in 2013.
Funnily enough, that event was won by Tiger Woods.
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