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Senior year hits differently when you’re leading your team’s scoring average and trying to squeeze in every last campus memory before graduation. John Daly Jr. knows that balance well.

The University of Arkansas senior sat down with GM__Golf on December 4, 2025, and delivered a refreshingly honest take on his final college season. Speaking during the YouTube video “Can this duo break 60?” at Mystic Creek Golf Course, Daly Jr. didn’t sugarcoat the reality of managing competitive golf alongside the social side of campus life.

“Yeah, I mean, last year was, I mean, it’s been the same this year. Just obviously work hard and just try to enjoy myself as much as I can before we graduate in May,” Daly Jr. said during the 7:27–8:01 segment of the video.

His approach reveals something college athletes rarely admit out loud. The push and pull between ambition and experience doesn’t stop just because you’re holding the team’s top scoring average.

“Do a little bit of everything,” he added.

That philosophy carried him through a dominant fall semester. Daly Jr. posted a 68.05 adjusted scoring average for the Razorbacks, the best mark on the team. He won the 54-hole Blessings Collegiate Invitational and finished runner-up at the Bearcat Invitational. The SEC named him Golfer of the Week during the fall campaign.

But when asked about his position on the team, Daly Jr. shifted the spotlight.

“I would say throughout the fall I was probably like number one with scoring average,” he said. “But I mean, we had Cam Cam play really good in some events. Uh, Jerry’s playing good. Everyone’s playing good. I mean, we got a good team this year.”

Teammates Cam Smith and Gerardo Gómez both carried 72.67 scoring averages through early November. Smith tied for third at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational. Gómez fired a final-round 5-under 67 at the same event to finish tied for fifth.

Daly Jr. joined Arkansas in fall 2021 as a freshman, following in his father John Daly‘s footsteps through the same program. The two-time major champion played for the Razorbacks from 1984 to 1987. The father-son duo captured the PNC Championship together in 2021.

The younger Daly’s college trajectory didn’t follow a straight line.

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John Daly Jr.’s college career built toward this senior-year surge

He competed in just one event as a freshman, posting a 76.33 scoring average. He redshirted the 2022-23 season. Then something clicked. As a redshirt sophomore during the 2023-24 campaign, Daly Jr. led the team with a 71.78 scoring average over 23 rounds. He became the only Razorback to post top-20 finishes in the first six events of that season.

Summer 2025 pushed him into another tier entirely. Daly Jr. won the Southern Amateur Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, finishing 10-under par with a five-stroke lead. He placed third at the Northeast Amateur and reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur. His father celebrated the U.S. Amateur qualification on Instagram, writing, “One Proud Daddy!!!”

That amateur success carried straight into his fall collegiate dominance. His 68.05 scoring average represented a massive improvement from the previous season’s 71.78 mark. Arkansas entered the fall ranked as high as No. 5 nationally. The team sat at No. 9 in November 2025. Daly Jr.’s individual scoring leadership anchored a roster built for team success in the competitive SEC.

His professional aspirations remain clear. Summer amateur results improved his world amateur and PGA Tour University rankings significantly. He made his Korn Ferry Tour debut in June 2024, though he missed the cut with rounds of 76-72.

But Daly Jr.’s focus during that December GM__Golf conversation stayed rooted in the present. He emphasized team strength over individual achievement. He spoke like someone who understood the finite nature of the college experience.

The spring semester looms with the SEC Championship in April and the NCAA Regional and Championship in May. Daly Jr. will carry his team-leading scoring average into those events along with the knowledge that these rounds represent his final college competitions.

Senior year hits different when you’re aware it’s ending. Daly Jr. seems determined to make the most of both sides of that equation.