Tag: Brandon Harkins

PGA Tour pro Joel Dahmen is carrying a bag at the Korn Ferry Tour Finals: ‘It’s hard work’

“He doesn’t need me to really do more than just to clean his ball and tell him a joke or two.”

Joel Dahmen played in 26 events during the 2021-22 season, including last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of three playoff events, and collected three top 10s. He wasn’t able to secure a spot in Delaware this week at the BMW Championship, so he had some free time on his hands.

Instead of playing golf, he’s carrying someone’s bag.

Brandon Harkins is playing in the first Korn Ferry Tour playoff event this week, the Albertsons Boise Open, and has enlisted Dahmen for his services.

Harkins fired an opening-round 2-under 69 Thursday. Dahmen sat down with The Caddie Network and discussed his experience so far.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on but stuff and then by the time you’re out there five hours and he at home and you have lunch and you finally lay down. I was just out. It’s hard work,” Dahmen said. “I always knew caddies work hard and it’s hard work carrying that bag but it’s just there’s a lot of stuff going on and you’re always thinking about the next shot and what you can do to help and what to say and what not to say, more importantly sometimes.”

Regarding their friendship, Harkins and Dahmen live near each other in Wisconsin and have been close for over a decade.

“He needed a change,” Dahmen said. “I was done with my year and he called me on Sunday and he’s like, hey, do you have any interest in doing this? I could use a friend for the week.

“He’s one of the best golfers in the world. He’ll be back on Tour. It’s just a matter of time, so he doesn’t need me to really do more than just to clean his ball and tell him a joke or two.”

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Brandon Harkins earns first title in 134 starts at Korn Ferry Tour’s Bahamas Great Abaco Classic

Harkins also had one of the best rounds of 2021 after a 28 on the back nine at Pebble Beach.

The opening two events of the new Korn Ferry Tour season each took place in the Bahamas and each featured a first-time winner. The first was last week’s crowning of 19-year-old champion Akshay Bhatia. The second? A win 12 years in the making.

Brandon Harkins turned professional in 2010 and 134 starts later has his first official win under his belt after claiming the 2022 Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club via a two-hole playoff with Zecheng Dou.

Dou, who held the 54-hole lead, shot a 3-under 69 but opened the door for a playoff with costly bogeys on Nos. 16 and 18. The pair played the par-5 18th twice in the playoff, with each making par on the first hole. Harkins eliminated Dou with a par on the second.

While the win is the first official victory for Harkins, the 35-year-old signed for one of the best rounds of 2021 after a 28 on the back nine at famed Pebble Beach Golf Links in the 2021 TaylorMade Pebble Beach Invitational, an unofficial event where he beat fellow pros Alex Čejka and Harry Hall by two.

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A 28 at Pebble Beach! This tour pro may have shot the best nine-hole score of the year that no one is talking about.

We repeat: 20-frigging-eight! He did this by reeling off eight straight birdies.

Brandon Harkins may have shot one of the least-talked about best nines of golf of the year.

The 35-year-old Northern California native shot 28 on the back nine at famed Pebble Beach Golf Links in the Pebble Beach Invitational on Thursday. We repeat: 20-frigging-eight! He did so by reeling off eight straight birdies beginning at No. 11. Now, that is golfing your ball.

On a cold, windy day, Harkins got up and down for a ho-hum par at No. 10, his first hole of the 72-hole tournament, before the fireworks began. As he described it, he made a couple birdies and then a couple more.

“The amateur team in my group was like, ‘That’s four in a row.’ I was thinking, ‘Yeah, I guess you’re right.’ Then I made a couple more and they said, ‘Jeez, that’s six in a row.’ Then they stopped talking about it,” Harkins recalled in a phone interview. “When we made the turn, I could hear them whispering, ‘That’s eight in a row.’ I was like, ‘Guys, you can talk all you want. That doesn’t bother me.’ ”

Harkins missed a 10-foot birdie at No. 1, his 10th hole of the day. When he birdied the par-5 second, he was 9-under through 11 holes and dreams of 59 entered his head. “I was like, ‘I’ve still got the easy holes coming up,’ ” he said. “But then I became a human being again and started making pars.”

He “settled” for shooting 9-under 63, sticking a few approaches into tap-in range, but also holing a handful of 15-20 footers, some of which were breaking four feet.

“There was a couple-hour stretch where I couldn’t miss,” he said.

Harkins played the PGA Tour in 2018-19, but fell outside the top 150 and was demoted to the Korn Ferry Tour, where he’ll be playing again in the upcoming season after finishing 48th on the 2020-21 money list.

Harkins is no stranger to the Pebble Beach Invitational. He earned an exemption his first time playing the tournament for winning the Monterey Open at Del Monte Golf Course, and has been invited to compete since he moved up the golf ranks.

The Pebble Beach Invitational celebrated its 50th edition last week. Played over three courses – The Links at Spanish Bay and Spyglass Hill Golf Course were the others – it featured a unique field with ladies such as Brittany Lincicome, Gerina Piller and Juli Inkster playing from the forward tees, seniors such as Kirk Triplett, Billy Andrade and Brandel Chamblee, who ended up withdrawing in the second round, playing from a combo of white and blue markers, and up-and-coming pros such as Justin Suh (4th), Isaiah Salinda (T-5) and Austin Eckroat (T-5), playing from the tips.

Harkins, who was born in Lafayette, Calif., raised in the Bay Area suburb of Walnut Creek and played his college golf at Chico State, knows the rotation of courses in the tournament well from taking lessons from Laird Small, Pebble Beach Academy’s director of instruction, and finished T-15 in the 2017 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

He followed up his opening-round 63 with rounds of 67 at the Spanish Bay, 71 at Spyglass and a 66 at Pebble to shoot 21-under 267 and win the title by two strokes over Alex Cejka and Harry Hall. Harkins wasn’t even sure how much he won, but however much it was — he figured $50,000-$70,000 — it paled in comparison to being able to say he had won a tournament at Pebble Beach.

“Growing up in the area and getting a win there,” he said, “it’s pretty sweet.”

As is shooting 28 and making eight birdies in a row at one of golf’s great cathedrals.

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