John Daly reveals just how much he makes at Augusta’s Hooters during Masters week

Turns out that John Daly’s week in Hooters is worth quite a lot to the two-time major champion…

Among the billboards that sell Rolex watches and Mercedes cars and the bright yellow demand for tickets from various touts, one sign on Washington Road stands out more than others.

It’s relatively nondescript. A black and white movie theatre-style plaque with four simple words. If it wasn’t towering over Augusta’s branch of Hooters, just a few hundred yards from one of the world’s most famous golf courses.    

“COME MEET JOHN DALY!”

The two-time major champion sets himself up in the sports bar – which Google rather drolly describes as “famous for chicken wings served by waitresses in short shorts” – for the entire Masters week.

Daly has always been a man of the people.

“Blue-collar people are supposed to connect,” he told ESPN. “I may never get in the Hall of Fame, but you know what? It seems like I’ll always have the fans,” Daly said. “I love them, and they know that. We just connect.”

But there’s more than to Daly’s madness than just meeting his fans. And it’s not golf – he hasn’t played in the Masters since 2006.

“Eat some good food, smoke, sell some s**t,” he explains.

And there it is. Sell, sell, sell.

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Among his haul is a $250 box of Daly’s “short game” cigars, which are, according to the packaging, “full of cinnamon earth and elegant floral notes”. There are also $40 hats, most notably with his name plastered across the front in that upside-down, back-to-front style that’s become so popular.

But the real money maker? Autographs and photos. Daly flogs those at $10 a pop, and when you see the queues snaking their way through the Hooters car park and spilling onto Washington Road, it all quickly adds up.   

But how much does it all add up to?

Well, last year, Daly made $780,000 sitting on the Hooters patio, according to the Wild Thing’s team.

And he’s expected to make much more this year – especially after Monday’s weather washout at Augusta saw the patrons flock to meet their hero.

And while it’s still some way off the Masters merchandise shop, if Daly makes the same amount this year, he’ll take home more than all but the top-five finishers in the tournament.

Something to think about, isn’t it?