Golf legend John Daly says his ‘heart is truly broken’ after the death of country singer Toby Keith at the age of 62, following a three-year battle with stomach cancer.

News of the singer’s death was announced on his social media, saying: ‘Toby Keith passed peacefully last night on February 5th, surrounded by his family. He fought his fight with grace and courage. Please respect the privacy of his family at this time.’

Golf legend Daly, who himself was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2020, shared the announcement with an emotional message of his own.

‘My heart is truly broken,’ Daly wrote. ‘One of my best friends gone by this disease! RIP Big Dawg… #f***cancer.’

Earlier this month, Keith opened up about his stomach cancer battle in an interview with 9News. The Should’ve Been a Cowboy singer was first diagnosed in 2021.

Country singer Toby Keith has died at the age of 62 after a three-year stomach cancer battle

Golf legend John Daly paid tribute to the singer, who he called ‘one of my best friends’

‘I was going through all the chemo, radiation, surgery, and I got to the point where I was comfortable with whatever happened. I had my brain wrapped around it, and I was in a good spot either way,’ Keith said.

In December 2023, he performed his final shows, a three date stint in Las Vegas. Afterwards, he even teased that he was planning a US tour saying he was ‘getting the trucks and buses fired up.’

The 57-year-old Daly, meanwhile, said in 2022 his cancer is benign but he needs check-ups every six months.

‘The bladder cancer’s benign right now,’ he said to The Golf Channel in March 2022. ‘I go back in May and I’ve got to do once every six months now instead of three, but I’ve still got to do it for five years.’

‘Some days I feel like Superman, some days I feel like Jimmy Hoffa 6 feet under.’

The two-time major winner Daly is fondly known across the sporting world for his cavalier approach to his diet – he claims he vomits if he eats vegetables and that the only water he drinks is through the ice in his diet coke.

Such is the fascination that CBS sports reporter Will Brinson once tweeted his hawkeye findings of Daly’s diet, taking ‘meticulous notes every time he reached for his golf bag, took a bite or a sip or a puff’ during the 2008 Wyndham Championship.

‘The final tally of literally everything he put into his body over a full 18 holes: 21 cigs, 12 Diet Cokes, 6 packs of Peanut M&M’s, 0.0 ounces of water,’ Brinson tweeted.

Keith was first diagnosed with the disease in 2021 but had hoped to get back to touring

Daly himself was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2020 and has check-ups every six months

‘Rich Beam calls me ‘camel’ cos I never drink water. I drink diet coke, I like to have ice which to me is water so I get plenty of water in my diet coke,’ Daly said in an interview with Graham Bensinger in 2016 – wearing a stars and stripes blazer.

‘I don’t drink water. I hate water. I cannot stand to drink water. I used to drink 12-20 diet cokes a day, I’d go to McDonald’s three or four times a day. To me they always had the best fountain drink.

‘I drink about five gallons a week of whole milk. I like mixing Hershey’s in my vitamin D milk,’ he said, before being quizzed on his love for McDonald’s and Burger King.

‘Burger King, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, I love them. I used to be able to eat two Big Macs, two or three cheeseburgers, chocolate shake and regular coke back then, sitting pretty easily.’