John Daly has been very much a divisive figure amongst his fellow professional golfers throughout his career.

With that in mind, it is interesting to take a look back at what the greatest of all time, Jack Nicklaus, once said about the mercurial, long-hitting Daly.

The 59-year-old possessed real talent and despite his well-documented problems away from the golf course, he still won two major championships throughout his career.

Daly was a real fan favorite because he was so easy to relate to.

He was obviously nowhere near as successful as someone like Nicklaus, but the way he went about his business meant that he endeared himself to golf fans as soon as he won the PGA Championship in 1991.

Daly hit the ball enormous distances and he played with pure natural ability.

In fact, his natural talent was right up there with the likes of Nicklaus himself, Tiger Woods and any other great name who has played the game.

Jack Nicklaus shared his honest opinion of John Daly as a golfer

Back in 1996, Nicklaus spoke about Daly during the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.

Tom Watson won the tournament by two strokes over David Duval.

Meanwhile, Daly finished in a tie for 73rd after shooting rounds of 70, 74, 73 and 79.

Nicklaus was asked to give his honest opinion of the long-hitting PGA Tour star.

“John Daly doesn’t care what his golf clubs are,“ Nicklaus said back in 1996.

“That kid picks up anything and goes hits it. Hits it great.

“He is a tremendous talent. He never worried about that. Watch what he does. You ask him, what is it. He says, ‘I don’t know, they just gave it to me’.

“I like it. Maybe he is far better off that way. Everybody else knows to the half of degree of everything, I mean, you know, he doesn’t know any of that stuff.

“He doesn’t care. Just goes and hits it. Pretty good way to be, actually.“

John Daly once received a ban and a fine from the PGA Tour for fighting

Back in 1994, Daly was involved in a physical altercation with another player’s father in Akron, Ohio.

After the final round of the NEC World Series of Golf, Daly became embroiled in a fist fight with the father of one of his competitors, Jeff Roth.

It was claimed that The two-time major champion was hitting into the group in front of him regularly throughout the day.

Roth was in the group in front of Daly, and his father continually heckled the two-time major winner throughout the round in retaliation.

Daly was approached by Roth’s father from behind in the parking lot, and a fist fight ensued between the two.

The pair ended up rolling around on the ground before fans intervened to break up the fight, and both parties went their separate ways.

Daly received a $20,000 fine for his troubles and was banned for the remainder of the 1994 season.

By Daly’s standards, that was a normal occurrence at the time.

Judging by what Nicklaus said about the talent that Daly possessed, it’s such a shame that he didn’t knuckle down and put all of his focus into playing golf.