Corales Puntacana: Joel Dahmen gets first career PGA Tour win
There are a few weeks every season where the PGA Tour has an alternate event happening. This week was one of them, while most were focused on the WGC-Match Play event, there was another happening down in the Dominican Republic as the Corales Puntacana was going on. So you may have missed Joel Dahmen earning his first career win.
Joel Dahmen has been through a lot in his career, including grinding away on minor league Tours to battling Cancer. The emotion and relief were evident on the face of the 33-year-old when he knocked in that final putt, earning his first career win in his 111th start on Tour.
He ended up winning the tournament at -12 by a single stroke over Sam Ryder and Rafael Campos.
At the turn, it sure didn’t seem like it was going to be that close for Joel Dahmen.
After nine holes, Dahmen was at -14, with a two-shot lead on Campos, a five-shot lead on Ryder, in large part due to the hot start that Joel Dahmen had gotten off to in his final round. He made four birdies over the first seven holes, highlighted by back-to-back birdies on the 3rd and 4th holes.
It started to get tight after he bogeyed both the 11th and 14th, dropping back to -12. He was now tied with Campos with four holes left, with Ryder inching closer. After a birdie on 16, Ryder was within a shot of the leaders and needed them both to falter to catch them.
Campos would do just that, bogeying the 17th hole, and falling into a tie for second place with Ryder, leaving Dahmen alone at the top at -12.
As Dahmen made his way down the final hole, the pressure was apparent, but it didn’t faze him, at least in his play. His par putt was a definite knee-knocker, but he would make the two-footer to finish at -12, and more importantly, alone at -12.
Although it wasn’t the main event on Tour, there are still a handful of incredible benefits to Joel Dahmen’s first win. He earns a two-year exemption on Tour, $540,000, and 300 FedEx Cup points, which vaulted him from fighting for a playoff spot to 59th.
Next. WGC-Match Play: Winners and Losers from Austin. dark
Congratulations go out to Joel Dahmen, one of the greatest guys on Tour.