John Daly sang ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ at golf event days after collapsed lung
If nothing else, John Daly has an appreciation for irony … and being alive.
After he suffered a collapsed lung during a Mississippi golf tournament and needing to receive CPR after he stopped breathing for three minutes, Daly returned to the course the next day to finish the event after receiving his walking papers from a local hospital.
On Tuesday night in Myrtle Beach, Daly’s “I’m Still Alive” tour continued at the World Amateur Handicap Championship – an event in the Grand Strand in which almost 4,000 golfers come into town for a 72-hole, handicap-weighted golf tournament – as he performed on stage at what’s billed as the world’s largest 19th hole (where you go after the round to, you know, drink and eat) with Hootie and the Blowfish member Mark Bryan.
The song? Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” which is a staple in the two-time major winner’s guitar repertoire. Of course, the timing is appropriate.
Daly also did his SiriusXM radio show, “Hit It Hard,” from Myrtle Beach with co-hosts John Maginnes and Brian Katrek. He talked about the incident at length.
“I probably overexerted myself trying to change things up so I could hit some drives and hit a few irons in there,” Daly said, according to a Golfweek transcription. “I’ve had fractured ribs since I was 7 and unfortunately I was probably leaning too much on my right side, my guys were in a little trouble on 18 so I tried to hit a drive for them, a little one-handed powder puff out there. Didn’t really feel anything and I’m walking off with my buddy Will and next thing I know – it’s like kinda one of those buddy-buddy things, you’ve got your arm around him – and next thing I know he just told me I just fell straight over. Next thing I knew a nurse was talking to me. They did mouth-to-mouth and everything. I was probably gone for at least, I don’t know how long. … They put me on a bunch of IVs and I ended up being in the hospital. I kind of looked at the doctor kind of deranged and I go, ‘What happened?’”
He was told the initial diagnosis on the 18th hole, where he collapsed last Saturday, was a heart attack. But Daly knew the docs were wrong.
“They thought I had a heart attack,” Daly said. “But I only smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, not three, so I’ll be all right.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
