John Daly II’s argument is a sign of the future. But not the one you think

It’s fitting that John Daly II speaks like a pro golfer – short, to the point, I just have to keep doing what I’m doing – because he is competing in a professional event. The 22-year-old is free from sponsors at this week’s Puerto Rico Open.

But it’s also fitting that he’s doing it this week in particular, alongside a number of other young up-and-comers … in a field that includes a lot coming out Members of the PGA Tour. This is the final week before the future of the PGA Tour begins to shine in a public way.

The Puerto Rico Open, which is played at the same time as this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, a Signature Event, is the type of tournament that could enter the second tier of the PGA Tour. Where the top draftees go to find their game, and where the best players of the next generation graduate when their college days are over.

Daly II is the top ranked player in Arkansas and the 54th ranked amateur in the world. He’s working through a tough spring at the moment, but he won two meaningful rookie events in 2025, not to mention his T5 finish at the US Amateur. It’s not just a name – he wouldn’t get a sponsor’s release if he didn’t have at least a little game to back it up. And through 54 holes, he pays us a strong reminder: nine under and three shots behind leader Ricky Castillo.

Daly II called his third round of 70 “solid,” as a 10-year pro would, before he clashed with the genre ho-hum, nothing-to-see-here answer that the pros usually spit out: “Stick to it, hit good shots. Yeah, I’m glad I made my first bogey in 18. Hit a good second shot, just let the wind go up in the air. Oh, it was a good day.”

The point here is nothing new: these kids are reaching the professional ranks and you have to squint hard to see the “(a)” next to their names on the leaderboards. This one, in particular, has a lot, and if more of these kids are ready to compete, then more of them it should have a place in the field. At least tournament director Matt Truax seems to think so. Daly II is one of 14 donors released in Puerto Rico, most of which have been spent on youth.

There’s 18-year-old Blades Brown, two out of Daly, who already has one be professional for about two years. He has been released from sponsorship, but now has a fourth chance to go into Sunday’s final round. Another release found 17-year-old Miles Russell in the field. He has played eight PGA Tour or Korn Ferry Tour events before this one. Beating a bunch of Tour pros, like he did this week, is old hat for him now and he’s not even out of high school.

Between Brown and Russell is BYU freshman Kihei Akina, who is tied for 13 all-time. He ranks eighth on last year’s Ryder Cupper Rasmus Hojgaard, if we count one top-50 player on the board.

What the young people are doing here is to shout together that there should be a defined area in the future, a plan with carved sections, too. It comes at a good time, just before the conference and NCAA tournaments, when we will see them play a lot on TV. But also as Tiger Woods, the chairman of the Tour’s Future Competitions Committee, lobbied them in relation to the coordinated plan his committee members are trying to create.

“We’re trying to create opportunities for that benefit from the PGA Tour [University],” Woods said at the Genesis Invitational last month.

How many young people will be included? That answer has yet to come. But this weekend suggests the price should be much higher.