Tiger Woods and John Daly couldn’t be any more opposite in their approaches to how the game of golf should be played.
On one hand, you have the metronomic way in which Woods has gone about his career. Practice, commitment, and a non-stop desire to keep improving and winning.
On the flipside, John Daly is a man who very much lives for today. Yes, he has two major championships to his name and is one of the most talented golfers of all-time. But in terms of being like Woods, Daly is the complete opposite.
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Still, when it came to being on the tee at the same time as each other, Daly versus Woods was always going to be box office.
And interestingly, that takes us back to the 2005 WGC Match Play Championship, when Woods met Daly in a playoff.
Who won when Tiger Woods played John Daly at the WGC American Express Championship
Heading into round four, Daly actually held a two-shot lead over Woods and looked set to battle it out with Colin Montgomerie for the win.
However, Woods being Woods, he shot a final round 67 to eat into the leaders and with Daly only managing a 69, a playoff was set to decide the victor.
The opening playoff hole on 18 found nothing to separate the pair as they both comfortably made par to take it to a second playoff hole, the 16th.
It was here, though, on what was a short par four at just 336 yards, that Daly came unstuck.
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With Woods in for birdie, Daly had what looked like the easiest of tasks to make a two-footer for birdie and force a third hole.
Remarkably though, Daly rolled his putt to the side of the cup and saw it agonisingly lip out to hand Woods the win.
Woods’ face at the time said it all, as he looked visibly shocked at what Daly had just managed.
How Tiger Woods and John Daly reacted to their playoff
Daly’s missed putt here is the stuff of nightmares. The American has made countless putts of similar distance over his career and this was simply brutal.
For Woods, the victory was sweet in a way but still, he wasn’t overly happy with how it ended.
“That’s not how you are supposed to win a golf tournament. We’re in a playoff, we’re battling, and J.D. played beautifully all week. It shouldn’t end like that,” Woods said at the time.
Daly echoed those sentiments too.
“I really thought I was going to make the (birdie) putt. You know, what do you do? I know Tiger didn’t want to win that way, and I certainly didn’t want to lose that way.”
Still, it was great to see two of golf’s biggest characters do the business and in the end, it just about summed up how Woods battled his way to 82 victories on the PGA Tour.
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