Joel Dahmen is calling it quits ahead of Friday’s second round of the Shriners Children’s Open.
He decided to withdraw a little before 10 a.m. PT—roughly one hour before play began. A lengthy wind delay halted play until then.
The day before, the PGA Tour assessed Dahmen with a four-stroke penalty. He had an extra 4-iron in his bag, which violated the 14-club maximum rule. Dahmen noticed it on the 4th hole and called the penalty on himself.
“We didn’t see it in there. It was an extra 4-iron, so I had two 4-irons in the bag,” Dahmen said after Thursday’s round.
“Why, I don’t know. I don’t know how it got there. It sucks. It sucks at the spot I’m in as well. Yeah, we got to the 4th tee, and I grabbed a water. I walked over to my bag, and I saw a 4-iron that was in the wrong spot, and our stuff is always in the right spot. It wasn’t in the right spot.”
Dahmen did not condemn his caddie, Geno Bommalie, who doubles as his best friend.
“It was one of those moments where you want to lose it, and you want to get mad, be mad at yourself, be mad at Geno, be mad at the world. But you look around, and people are donating a bunch of money to our foundation, and life is not that bad. It’s a mistake. It’s going to happen. Unfortunately, it happened at this moment in time,” Dahmen added.
“I’d like to blame Geno. That would be the easy thing to do. It’s not his fault, either… One of those where you live and learn. Geno feels terrible. I feel terrible.”
Unfortunately, Dahmen has a lot on the line in the coming weeks. To secure his PGA Tour card for 2025 and earn full status, he must finish the FedEx Cup Fall ranked among the top 125. He arrived in Las Vegas this week sitting at 124th in the standings, right on the bubble. But his withdrawal drops him back to 128th, a nerve-wracking position to be in with only four events left on the fall schedule.
He tied for 40th at last week’s Black Desert Championship in Utah. The week before, he missed the cut at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
More missed cuts in the coming weeks will do Dahmen no good. He must play well over the next month to keep his job next year. Carrying an extra club does not help that cause, either.
“Shot 1-over if you take the penalties away, which is not very good out here today,” Dahmen said of his first round on Thursday.
“Frustrating, disappointing, but if you play golf long enough, weird stuff will happen out here.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
