John Daly Is Back To Hanging With Hooters Girls, Smoking Cigs & Crushing Vodka Iced Teas After Full Knee Replacement Surgery

Less than two weeks after a full knee replacement surgery, John Daly spent Monday entertaining fans and the Hooters Girls at a Jacksonville golf event.

If you thought knee replacement surgery would have this elite athlete down for the count this winter, you're out of your damn mind. John Daly is such a peak athlete that he was on his feet posing for photos with the Hooters Girls at the Hair of the Dawg Golf Classic at San Jose Country Club where participants raised money for the Heart of a Lion foundation which supports veterans, children, and first responders.

There was Daly, 56, with his pack of Marlboro cigs, Good Boy Vodkas and a smile that tells us everything we need to know about how he's feeling after the knee surgery.

Your boy IS BACK!

John Daly was all smiles just hours after having his left knee replaced on December 21. / Instagram

“I’m getting my knee replacement done Wednesday, full knee replacement,” John Daly told reporters in December at the PNC Championship where Big John and his son, Little JD, finished in second, two strokes behind Vijay Singh and his son. “So I’ll be out for a while.”

Clearly, Big John was talking about professional competitions. Simple knee surgery wasn't going to keep him from the 19th hole. What's this guy going to do on Jan. 2, sit around and watch Purdue get its ass kicked in the Citrus Bowl?

He can do that from the 19th hole.

And talk to Hooters Girls.

When will this guy return to playing on the Senior Tour? It might not be as long as you're thinking -- this isn't like your great aunt having her knee replaced and she's hobbling around for months -- because JD can use a cart to get from point A to point B.

“I’m not embarrassed to take a cart,” Daly said during an interview with Golf.com. “It’s not helping my golf game by any means. I would rather walk and play golf because then you have time to settle down on a good hole or a bad hole and you’re walking instead of just getting in the cart and going up and hitting the shot. It’s actually a big disadvantage. But if I could walk, I’d definitely do it.”

According to a National Institute of Health study, most full knee replacement surgery patients can return to playing golf "at an average of 5.3 ± 3.1 months from surgery. The average postoperative KOOS was 74.6 ± 12.5 in patients able to RTP compared with 64.4 ± 9.5 in those who were not (P < 0.05). Knee pain during golf significantly improved from 6.4 ± 2.1 to 1.8 ± 2.2 (P < 0.01). There were no significant differences in pain, performance, or stability between the CR and PS patients."

Translation: John Daly will be crushing his driver again in no time.

For now, he's left holding court at the 19th hole, but that's not the worst thing ever, especially for the Internet.

Good to have you back, Big John.