John Daly still drives behind the T-shirt and wheel after all those years.

FARMINGDALE, NY – John Daly arrived at the tenth hole on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park behind the wheel from Club Cart 107 just before 1 pm & # 39; noon on Thursday.

He had a large McDonald & # 39; s cup in the holder, four Coke cans under the dashboard and his right hand on a steering wheel that was covered with a blue sign with a disability. The golfer welcomed an applause from the crowded gallery. He stretched out his left hand to greet everyone who mentioned his name with fists.

"Break it out of neutral!" Said a fan.

"Do a donut!" Called another.

Daly, 53, demurred. Granted an exemption to be the second golfer who ever used a cart to move in a major championship, due to arthritis, he showed unusual reluctance during the P.G.A. The opening round of the championship. Only when he reached the fairway on his third hole did he light his first cigarette. He took a drag between shots when he bogeyed four of his first nine holes. He finished five in the afternoon, 12 shots next to the lead and finished in 112th place for 155 golfers.

"The man is amazing," said Steven Fedoris, who was wearing a black T-shirt with the image of Daly smoking a cigarette and "Rip it and Sip it" on the front. "If someone could drive the car, it would be him."

It was a return to relevance for Daly, who resumed his role as the public champion on the public highway who described himself as "The People & # 39; s" Country Club. "

Ranked number 1,848 in the world, he was eligible to play the event because he won the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club. For that tournament, he was the ninth substitute. He won the British Open in 1995, but has not won a tour since the Buick Open in 2004 because his parties took its toll, and Daly's past has also been covered with domestic violence and drug abuse issues, and since 2016 he has played on the PGA Tour Champions circuit for players is 50 years and older and allows carts

"It's not far from the senior tour," Daly said of the rules he played on Thursday. "Only a few provisions."

Daly has at the PGA of America for a cart under the Americans With Disabilities Act, noting that he had recently removed the meniscus from his right knee, he moved with a noticeable limp during Thursday's lap, while he was well uphill ep, he had trouble going down. To traverse the 7,459-yard track, where carts are typically prohibited, he steered his way along the sides of the track while his caddy, Peter Van Der Riet, was walking and carrying his bag all the time. The crowd congratulated Daly from start to finish Thursday as he wore a pair of shades and pinstripe pants with a variety of New York Yankees logos.

Daly's waiver did not come without controversy. Earlier, Casey Martin, who has a degenerative state in his right leg, was the only player who used a cart during a big one. Martin was born with a circulatory disorder and doctors advised him against running golf courses. He appealed to the PGA Tour policy that professionals do not use carts; after legal fights, Martin was allowed to participate in two United States Opens while driving a cart. He ended up stuck for the 23rd in 1998 and missed the cut in 2012. Both US Opens were held at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

When he was asked at a press conference Tuesday about the decision to give Daly permission to use a cart, Tiger Woods said, "Regarding taking a cart, JD, I ran with a broken leg, So."

Woods won the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines with a tension fracture in his left shin and a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Two days after his victory, Woods announced that he was reconstructive A.C.L. surgery. He didn't play again until the WGC Match Play Championship in February 2009.

Daly played a clean second half of his round until he bogeyed the seventh hole.

"It just sucks," Daly said about his need for a cart. "It just hurts."

Afterwards, when he tried to put his day in perspective, he expressed frustration with his putting game. He lit another Marlboro Red and pulled up his leg to show his swollen knee, which he compared with a softball before sighing.

"The greens will be fresh tomorrow," he said. "Fight the battle, honey."