John Daly to make his first start of 2017 at the Allianz Championship

John Daly is a PGA Tour Champions player, but doesn't see himself as an over-50 guy.

"I'm only 18 with 32 years of experience the way I look at it," Daly said Wednesday during a break from practice for this weekend's Allianz Championship on The Old Course at Broken Sound in Boca Raton.

Daly, who will turn 51 on April 28, made 15 starts on the PGA Tour Champions circuit in 2016, had five top 25 finishes and earned $193,661. Daly said the competition is tough among the 50 and over bunch.

"It's very competitive and the golf courses are in such great shape everywhere we go that the scores are so low," Daly said. "For me, if I get a late afternoon (tee) time in the first round, you look up and you see somebody is 8, 9 10-under par and I tend to push a little harder. I think we all do a little bit.

"So it's just a matter of you have to shoot 5-under a round, at least 5-under every day, to even have a chance to win golf tournaments out here."

Daly said playing with golfers he came up with in the 1990s makes it that much more fun.

"I know them all and it's great," he said. "We all were kind of friends back in the '90s. We wanted to beat the (heck) out of each other like we still do, but we'll sit down and have a beer together, or we will go out and eat together.

"Kind of like the old-school system."

Daly will be in the second group off the No. 1 tee in Friday's first round at 10:15 a.m. with David Toms and Paul McGinley. The featured group Friday at 11:15 a.m. includes three-time defending Charles Schwab Cup champion Bernhard Langer, defending Allianz champion Esteban Toledo and Fred Couples, who is making his first start at the Boca Raton event.

Tickets for the three-day tournament are $20 per day, with those over 70 or under 17 admitted free. For more information call 561-241-4653.

This article is written by Mike Graham from Treasure Coast Newspapers, Stuart, Fla. and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network.