It’s hard to win on the PGA Tour. Justin Thomas discovered that during his nearly three-year drought, which ended Sunday at the RBC Heritage.
Joel Dahmen got a blunt reminder of his own during the final round of the Corales Puntacana Championship at Puntacana Resort & Club in Puerto Rico.
Dahmen, who won the event in 2021, entered the final round with the lead, hoping to return to the winner’s circle and turn around a year that has seen him miss five cuts in 10 starts.
The 37-year-old held a one-shot lead with three holes to play when the wheels started to wobble. He made a sloppy bogey from the middle of the fairway on No. 16 and missed a putt inside two feet for another bogey at 17.
Another bogey at 18 after a poor approach saw Dahmen finish at 13 under, one shot behind Garrick Higgo, who claimed his second career PGA Tour win.
After the round, a shocked Dahmen offered an emotional and cutting assessment of how everything came undone for him in Puerto Rico.
“I think I’m in a little bit of shock, honestly,” Dahmen said after finishing in a tie for second. “It’s not how you win a golf tournament, I’ll tell you that. I don’t deserve to win it.
“You know, 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 a lapse in concentration. It’s not like a yippee thing, it’s not like one of those things. But bad time to do it. And then 18’s just a really hard hole. We had 220 [to the] pin and wind surfed on it and hit a very average chip. I hit a good putt. I actually thought it was a straight putt and broke a little left on me. All of a sudden, I wake up and I lost the golf tournament.”
Dahmen was quick to point out that while the three closing bogeys led to the loss, he had plenty of other opportunities during the weekend to close the deal.
The veteran noted he was “fighting his swing” on 16 when he hit a “pull hook” that led to the first of the three consecutive bogeys.
Dahmen, who had just one top-10 finish last season, already has three in 2025. His game feels like it’s trending, but the devastation of Sunday will sit with him for some time.
“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. Felt like I was in a good head space. I was in a good head space but sometimes your body doesn’t cooperate.”
Dahmen noted how nervous he was as he tried to close out the golf tournament.
He entered the weekend at 16 under and knew the tournament was his if he could stay in the moment and trust his game.
That’s easier said than done.
Dahmen said he tried to embrace the nerves and adrenaline on Sunday. In the past, he has tried to suppress those feelings. He hoped the change in mentality would allow his body to harness the nerves and use them to his benefit as long as he could stay in control.
The first 15 holes were shaky Sunday, but Dahmen still stood on the 16th tee with the lead and his second career win there for the taking.
Then, it all fell apart.
“Obviously, you have to control your breathing a little bit and try to control your heart rate,” Dahmen said. “But at the same time, you’re attacking and playing offense. I try to stay aggressive with my golf swings. I did, but just didn’t work out. Sucks”
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