Joel Dahmen was in shock. 

At the same event where he last won in 2021, the affable 37-year-old was on the brink of a wire-to-wire victory at the Corales Puntacana Championship (played opposite the RBC Heritage). 

With South African Garrick Higgo on his tail, Dahmen’s lead was cut to one with a bogey on the par-4 16th. Then, Dahmen inconceivably missed a 2-footer for par on the par-3 17th before a bogey on the last handed Higgo his first win since the Palmetto Championship at Congaree nearly four years ago. 

“It’s not how you win a golf tournament, I’ll tell you that,” Dahmen said afterward. “I don’t deserve to win it. Bogeying the last three is inexcusable. Middle of the fairway with an 8-iron on 16 to hit it where I hit it, you can’t get up and down over there. 

“I don’t know what happened on the short one on 17. I mean, I’m obviously nervous, but unfortunately, I’m prone to that at times. You can call it lapse in concentration. It’s not like a yippy thing, it’s not like one of those things, but bad time to do it.”

Dahmen’s loss, though, was Higgo’s gain. 

“Definitely a bit of a relief,” Higgo, 25, said. “But I’ve truly enjoyed the journey ... obviously it was definitely hard to take finishing 135 on the [FedExCup standings] last year, but like this is unbelievable and this is why I play the game. You know, the journey, like, ‘I’m going to go through a down again,’ everybody does, I’m going to have ups. I just truly enjoy the journey.”

That’s a feeling Dahmen knows all too well. Admitting he has struggled to manage expectations after Netflix’s Full Swing brought him unexpected stardom, Dahmen barely kept his card for this season, finishing No. 124 on last year’s FedExCup points list. A victory would have earned him a two-year exemption and a spot in the Tour’s remaining signature events. 

Now, his attention shifts to next week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where Dahmen will partner with Harry Higgs in the PGA Tour’s lone team event. 

But it’ll be hard to forget about what happened in Puntacana. 

“This one could take a while to get over,” Dahmen said. “It’s one of those things, you learn more in defeat, unfortunately. I don’t know what I'm going to do yet. Like I said, I still think I'm in a little bit of shock.”


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Joel Dahmen Loses Chance to Win in Brutal Fashion Including Missed 2-Footer.

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