29 March 2021: Joel Dahmen rolled in an 18-inch putt, jumped in the air, hugged his caddie Geno and wife Lona, and didn’t realize the tears would come as easily as they did.
But such is golf, and life, and finally breaking through on the PGA TOUR.
“I don’t know if our dreams were ever this big per se,” said Dahmen of his celebratory crew. “Making it five years on TOUR, getting a first win… it’s just pretty special.”
Dahmen’s 2-under 70 was enough for a one-shot victory at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship over Sam Ryder and Rafael Campos, whose birdie try on the 72nd hole caught the lip of the hole but didn’t fall. Campos was halfway through a fist-pump but ended up falling to his knees instead.
Michael Gligic and Graeme McDowell, the 2019 winner at Corales, finished a shot further back at 10-under. For Gligic it was his best-career TOUR finish.
Dahmen and his caddie, Bonnalie, were childhood friends in Washington. They’ve experienced the highs and lows of chasing a dream together for almost a decade and got to share a tear-filled embrace on the 72nd hole at Corales.
“I mean, two dudes growing up together who were golf dorks, like, somehow, winning on the PGA TOUR. I had planned (celebrating a TOUR victory) so many times in my head but it didn’t quite go as expected,” said Dahmen. “I couldn’t believe (Bonnalie) was crying, I thought he’d be the tough guy, but he’s put in a lot of time and effort and he’s believed in me when no one else did. He had an 8-month-old kid at home and started caddying for me on the (Korn Ferry Tour) and somehow his wife let him. It’s just special how much we’ve been through together, some lean times.
“I’m so lucky, he cares more about me than any golf shot I’ll ever hit. Just to be able to do that together was pretty darn cool.”
In an ironic twist, Dahmen – a fan favorite everywhere he goes – was having to hear from the pro-Campos crowd all day. They weren’t necessarily cheering against Dahmen, but they certainly weren’t cheering for him. Campos rolled in a birdie on the 18th hole Saturday to get into the final pairing with Dahmen on Sunday and he knew that would be a helpful scenario for both of them.
“It’s a lot better than playing with Tiger Woods,” said Dahmen, “I guarantee you that.”
Just because there weren’t that many on-site fans doesn’t mean there weren’t a ton cheering him from afar. Dahmen is one of the TOUR’s most popular follows on social media and the kudos came flying in after the final put dropped from TOUR winners J.T. Poston, Max Homa, and Nick Taylor – who Dahmen went to college with – to name a few.
“I’m just so happy for him. He’s so good and been through so much and to overcome it all is that much sweeter for him,” Taylor told PGATOUR.COM. “He was behind 18 at Pebble (Beach) when I won (in 2020) and he’s so supportive of his friends. Just wish I was there to celebrate with him.”
Dahmen admitted earlier in the week he was struggling with an equipment issue for most of 2021 and made only one cut this calendar year – finishing T60 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He said the start of 2021 was “pretty bleak” for him, a guy who prides himself on making a lot of cuts.
The victory locks up PGA TOUR status for Dahmen for the next two seasons plus a plethora of other perks. This was the 33-year-old’s 111th TOUR start.
Dahmen said he felt calm all week up until he rolled in a foot-long putt on the 71st hole and said he was “shaking pretty bad”. The 18th at Corales was playing the toughest of any hole all week and Dahmen said he couldn’t feel his driver swing on the 72nd hole. Laughing, he said he had no idea how his 4-iron approach shot even got onto the green.
“It was pretty wild. I mean, that’s why we practice, right? That’s why we put so many years and so much time into this and the sacrifices,” said Dahmen. “This is just a lot of validation. A lot of validation of people who have helped me.”
It’s been a long road for Dahmen, a cancer survivor and long-time grinder through professional golf’s ranks to the PGA TOUR. He was “lost” for a couple years, he said, through college and after the passing of his mother. His wife worked two jobs to pay rent. Lona, he said, gave up her dreams to help fulfill his.
And now that Dahmen is a PGA TOUR winner, that big dream has come true.
“You see it all the time, you’ve seen this every week. I’ve been at this for 111 events, so I mean, I was more than due,” said Dahmen with a big smie. “I’m hoping it’s the first of many more, but I’m going to celebrate like this will be the last one.”
PGA TOUR Content
