But the mini tour based in Arizona did draw a handful of PGA Tour pros, a Golf Channel broadcaster and several outstanding local golfers for one last tournament before Christmas.
Joel Dahmen is among the Tour pros in the field. He’s paired with Brandon Harkins, while Max Homa is playing with new Golf Channel on-air personality and good buddy Shane Bacon.
Others in the field: Nate Lashley, Parker McLachlin, Alex Cejka, Sam Triplett, Dylan Wu, Charlie Beljan, University of Illinois and Scottsdale product Michael Feagles as well as Grand Canyon University men’s golf coach Jesse Mueller, who played at Arizona State after a strong amateur career.
The 18-hole outing is being played at Arrowhead Country Club in Glendale and is live on a Twitch livestream.
Dahmen and Lashley are no strangers to the mini-tours. They were among the Tour pros who played in the Scottsdale AZ Open in May during the Tour’s shutdown.
Also in May, Dahmen, while playing with a couple members of the Chicago Cubs, shot a course-record 58 at Mesa Country Club.
Tomorrow is the day the golf world forgets about Charlie Woods.
Oh what a field …
We have our own Charlie … Beljan and that guy @Joel_Dahmen.
LIVE GROUP COVERAGE of golf shots starts at 10:55CST.
Dahmen was practicing before Saturday’s round putting Happy Gilmore-style, with his hands split and his right hand sunk well below his left.
The always-entertaining Joel Dahmen is cruising along at this week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, which sits just outside Cancun.
Dahmen has broken 70 in all three rounds thus far at El Camaleon Golf Club, but that hasn’t stopped him from tinkering with his game.
His caddie, Geno Bonnalie, tweeted that Dahmen was practicing before Saturday’s round putting Happy Gilmore-style, with his hands split and his right hand sunk well below his left.
According to the tweet, Dahmen said he might try the grip on the course. What was the result?
A pair of birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 to finish the day.
2020 Mayakoba Rd. 3. No quote today, but a story instead: Before the round, Joel was messing around putting like Happy Gilmore. Split handed-right hand way down the grip. He was making EVERYTHING! He told me he was going to bust it out during the round. Did it on 17 and here: pic.twitter.com/ngWeiII3OE
Dahmen finished with a 68 and is 10 under for the event, just six shots behind leader Emiliano Grillo.
Considering that Dahmen entered the event at 118th on the Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting this season, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this method more often on Sunday.
Joel Dahmen took to Twitter looking for a money game in Boston this weekend after missing the cut at the Northern Trust.
Joel Dahmen’s weekend of golf is over after missing the cut at the Northern Trust at TPC Boston.
Or is it?
The 32-year-old shot a pair of 1-under 71’s in the opening rounds of the first of three FedEx Cup playoff events. Sitting at 2 under with a projected cut line at 3 under, Dahmen took to Twitter with an usual tactic: crowd sourcing a money game in the Boston area.
“This might be a bad idea, but im going to throw it out there. I have the weekend off and I’m looking for a money game tomorrow,” wrote Dahmen in the tweet. “I’d prefer it be close to Foxborough area. Want to play for enough money that it matters, but not enough to have to sell my house.”
This might be a bad idea, but im going to throw it out there. I have the weekend off and I’m looking for a money game tomorrow. I’d prefer it be close to Foxborough area. Want to play for enough money that it matters, but not enough to have to sell my house.
So, if you live near Boston, have deep pockets, a free weekend and you’re feeling good about your game, hit him up. What’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like he shot 58 earlier this year in Arizona or anything.
Neither Dahmen, who is No. 31 in Golfweek/Sagarin, nor Bezuidenhout, who is No. 75th, has won on the PGA Tour.
Dahmen said he fully expected to play well at TPC Southwind.
“I expect myself to be in the top 10,” he said. “This is a great golf course for me, you don’t have to be a bomber. Iron play is important out here, driving in the fairway and that’s what I do well. I expected to play well this week. This course fits everything I’m supposed to be good at.”
For Dahmen, this week has special meaning because it’s his first appearance in a World Golf Championships field.
“Well, first is nice, so that means a lot there,” said Dahmen, who earned his PGA Tour card in 2017. “World rankings points are huge. I’m only a couple good weeks away from the Tour Championship as well, so that means a lot. That’s all stuff you add up Sunday evening. Hopefully, I don’t think about it too much (Sunday), but yeah if I get off to a hot start, then all those things come with it, for sure.”
In May, during a friendly round of golf at Mesa Country Club in Arizona, Dahmen set the course record with a 58. He said Saturday’s 65 felt very similar.
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“I hit it the same way, I just made a ton of 4- to 10-footers all day,” Dahmen said. “I made a couple longer putts today, but kind of similar. When you get hot you just try to stay out of your own way at that point.”
Bezuidenhout, who plays on the European Tour, made seven birdies Saturday and one bogey. His final birdie came on the last hole of his round and came from 19 feet away from the cup.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
Social distancing? A dismissed exercise. Masks? About a ratio of 1 to 10 against. It’s as if the coronavirus never reached Sea Island.
Driving onto this island heaven in Lowcountry ahead of the RBC Heritage was a jolt to your quarantine senses.
Restaurants were teeming inside and out, bicyclists were swarming dedicated paths and side streets, hotels were running at or near capacity judging from the overflow parking lots, and Mom-and-Pop shops were bustling.
Upon further exploration, one came to see the famed Harbour Town Lighthouse casting a shadow over a populous marina and the numerous beaches packed beach towel to beach towel.
Social distancing? A dismissed exercise. Masks? About a ratio of 1 to 10 against.
It’s as if the coronavirus never reached these shores.
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Joel Dahmen said it was “wild out there,” and that was before the weekend crowds arrived. Justin Thomas said “they’re seeming to not take it very seriously. It’s an absolute zoo around here. There’s people everywhere.”
The congested landscape – it was more crowded than the top of the leaderboard as the players teed up another rousing tournament – was an eye-opener for players and all the others inside the “bubble” of safety the PGA Tour developed in consultation with infectious disease experts to reduce the risk of COVID-19.
After waking that day and having a few symptoms consistent with the virus, Watney, who ventured outside his rental home only to go to the course and once to the grocery store (and he was wearing a mask), met a physician and took another COVID-19 test.
Awaiting the result, he went to the course to get ready for his 12:21 p.m. tee time, as is allowed. Shortly into his warmup, however, he got word of his positive test. He and his caddie left the course and began to self-isolate.
But Watney, who is feeling better, had come into close contact with 11 people and the PGA Tour tested each of them – including his two playing partners from the first round. All 11 tested negative on an initial test and awaiting results on a secondary test.
Still, many players questioned why Watney was allowed on the course to await his test result despite having symptoms. As the Tour goes forward – it next heads to Connecticut for the Travelers Championship, the safety plan could be amended, which is what Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said would be the case if need be.
Other subtle changes will definitely be made. While players weren’t naïve to think they’d escape the virus when play resumed, seeing the bustling island and hearing about the first positive test since the Tour returned got their attention. And got them hoping next week’s landscape won’t be the same.
A bottle hand sanitizer at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links. Photo by Brian Spurlock/USA TODAY Sports
“It definitely got me thinking about kind of everything that I’ve done this week,” Webb Simpson said. “I’ve tried to be really careful, but I could probably be more careful. I hadn’t really gone out to dinner. I’ve gotten takeout every night. But in terms of even wearing the mask, any time I’m out of my comfort zone away from the golf course, I think it’s smart.
“And really, the six-foot rule I’ve been good about, but I probably could be better. So it definitely got me thinking.”
Added Ryan Palmer: “Everything you do, you’ve got to pay attention.”
This week, takeout and delivery were the top 2 choices for most of the players when dinner rolled around. A few players had their own chefs. Many cooked up their dishes themselves. Expect that approach to continue.
“We need to be more careful,” said Vaughn Taylor, who played with Watney in the first round. “I felt like coming in the last week everyone was super careful, and then we got here, and the vibe on the island is a little more relaxed. I feel like we might have gotten a little more relaxed too, complacent with being careful.
“Everyone has kind of ratcheted it up a little bit. Not hanging out with too many people, hanging with too many guys, stay out of restaurants and bars and those things. I think, if we do that, we should be safe. We’ve all got to keep that in the back of our mind and just be smart.
“It would be nice if we just had the ability to get tested whenever we like. Some guys want to get tested more. Some guys are comfortable with the way it is. I think it’s still a learning curve. I feel good that the Tour is going to get everything worked out.”
Carson Roberts stormed to the top of the leaderboard at the Scottsdale AZ Open with a 61, which included eight birdies and an eagle.
Carson Roberts stormed to the top of the leaderboard at the Scottsdale AZ Open on Wednesday with a 61, snagging the lead away from PGA Tour player and pre-tournament Vegas favorite Joel Dahmen.
Roberts started his round with a bogey but bounced back with an eagle on the second. From there, he birdied eight of the last 16 holes, including four out of five on the back nine. He is 13 under, with his 61 backing up a first-round 66.
The 2017 Arkansas state amateur champ and former Washburn Ichabod finished sixth at the 2019 PGA Tour Canada Q School but has yet to taste professional victory.
To do so, he’ll need to hold off Dahmen and others on Thursday.
Dahmen, who shot a second-round 63, joked before the start of the mini-tour event in Arizona about being the top dog.
“This is such a new territory. … I’m usually like the 15th guy on the list at 100-to-1,” Dahmen said on the practice range on Monday. His last professional win was at this tournament in 2017. He came into the event fresh off a 58 at nearby Mesa Country Club.
He is a shot off the lead. Zach Smith is third at 10 under.
Roberts, Dahmen and Smith will be in the final group, each driving his own golf cart, starting at 9:42 a.m. on Thursday.
The recently retired Colt Knost is among three golfers at T-4 at 9 under including Brad Hopfinger and Matthew Liringis, who also shot a 61 on Wednesday, tying Roberts for low round of the week so far.
Mark Anguiano and Steven Kupcho are T-7 at 8 under.
In the group of eight golfers at 7 under is Nate Lashley, who shot a 62 in Tuesday’s first round. He posted a 1-over 71 in the second round, which included a triple-bogey eight on the second hole. He had eagled the hole the day before.
He’s tied at 7 under with fellow PGA Tour golfer Kevin Streelman.
The cut was 1 under, with Kirk Triplett and Scott Harrington among those getting through to Thursday’s final round.
Alex Cejka, however, is not moving on. Two weeks ago he rallied from six down with six to go in a Parker, Arizona, mini-tour event.
The Scottsdale AZ Open is a 54-hole stroke play event that started with a field of 162 players. The low 50 players and ties have advanced to the final round. The total purse is $130,000 with $20,000 going to the winner.
Nate Lashley, who won the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit last year, fired a 62 on the North Course at Talking Stick Golf Club in Scottsdale. He eagled the second hole and also had six birdies and no bogeys and has a one-shot lead.
Zach Smith shot a 63 after posting seven birdies in his round. He is a shot back. Steven Kupcho, brother of rising LPGA star Jennifer Kupcho, shot a 6-under 64 and is solo third.
The eight-way tie for fourth at 5-under includes the PGA Tour’s Joel Dahmen, Scott Harrington and Kevin Streelman as well as the recently retired Colt Knost. They all shot 65s, as did the Korn Ferry Tour’s Brandon Wu, Kevin Lucas and Andre Metzger. Also at 5 under is Brady Calkins.
Brian Urlacher, Michael Phelps and Nate Lashley on the first tee box prior to the pro-am for the 2020 Scottsdale AZ Open at Talking Stick Golf Club in Arizona. Photo by Golfweek
Another PGA Tour player, JJ Spaun, shot a 2-under 68 and is T-26, tied with Sam Triplett, who is the son of PGA Tour Champions player Kirk Triplett. Let the record show that on this day, son beat father by two shots.
Dahmen won the tournament in 2017, his last professional win, and actually came into this event as the favorite.
“Vegas says I’m favored,” Dahmen said before his pro-am round on Monday. “This is such a new territory. … I’m usually like the 15th guy on the list at 100-to-1.”
Dahmen came in as hot as any player, having shot a 58 at nearby Mesa Country Club last week.
The Scottsdale AZ Open is a 54-hole stroke play event with a field of 162 players. After 36 holes, there will be a cut to the low 50 players and ties. The total purse is $130,000 with $20,000 going to the winner.
Kevin Streelman provided an interesting piece of information regarding the return of the PGA Tour.
SCOTTSDALE – Kevin Streelman provided an interesting piece of information regarding the return of the PGA Tour.
On Monday at the Scottsdale AZ Open pro-am, Streelman said the Tour plans to charter planes to transport players and caddies between events. Streelman is one of a handful of Tour pros, along with fellow Scottsdale resident and PGA Tour Champions player Kirk Triplett, competing in the mini-tour event this week.
Nate Lashley, who won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit last season, is also in the field, along with Tour veterans Joel Dahmen, J.J. Spaun and recently-retired Colt Knost.
The PGA Tour season is scheduled to resume June 11-14 at the Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Country Club in Ft. Worth, Texas.
Streelman, who is from Chicago but nowadays lives in Scottsdale, just up the road from Talking Stick Golf Club, site for the Scottsdale AZ Open, talked about getting to that first event in a month.
“There will probably be four, five, six of us who will split a plane to get to Colonial,” Streelman said. “The Tour has chartered planes, like big ones, for all the players and caddies in between events, trying to keep our bubble nice and tight.”
The 2020 Scottsdale AZ Open at Talking Stick Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Photo by Golfweek
Following the Schwab is the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, South Carolina, June 18-21. Then the Tour is off to TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, June 25-28, for the Travelers. Then it’s the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit July 2-5.
Those first four events back, for now, will be staged without fans.
“It’s going to be different for sure,” said Streelman about PGA Tour golf without spectators on site. “It’s necessary and the priority is getting good competition, have a nice TV product for our fans, that’s definitely the priority.
“But, the leaders are going to miss that excitement. My favorite memories are being in the heat, seeing what you got, hearing that electricity roll around a PGA Tour event on Sunday afternoons, as we know here (at the Waste Management Phoenix Open), the craziness. … to me, that’s part of what do it for.”
Dahmen won the Scottsdale AZ Open in 2017, which he says was his last professional win.
“I kind of laugh at that one,” Dahmen says. “I really don’t have any fans anyways. I have my wife out there, a couple of stragglers.
“Koepka was like ‘Without fans, who’s going to find our golf ball?’ and I was like ‘Welcome to everybody else’s world’. So we’ll see how it all shakes out.”
Dahmen said it’ll be especially weird celebrating a winning putt without the roar of the crowd.
The 2020 Scottsdale AZ Open at Talking Stick Golf Club in Scottsdale. Photo by Golfweek
“You kind of feed off the crowd when you’re playing well. … I know there’s a lot of moving parts,” he said in regards to getting the PGA Tour back online.
He said the players have been told a few things about the return, including that they will all be tested at each tournament. He’s hoping the test is not like the one seen in those viral videos, where a long Q-tip goes deep into someone’s head.
“I think it’s going to be a saliva test,” Dahman said, who then joked: “There might be a lot of guys who don’t play if we’re sticking that down our nose three or four times a week.”
Triplett, whose last competitive round came at the Hoag Classic in Newport Beach, California, on March 8, says it’s a tough call as to when pro golf should come back.
“I don’t have an answer. I’m not here playing this week to make some big statement,” Triplett said, who noted that his son is also in the Scottsdale AZ Open field.
“I respect both sides. I respect the people that are out of work and want to get back to work and make a few bucks. I respect the people that are afraid of what this disease could do to them or their family.”
So can golf help lead the charge back to a world with pro sports?
“I think so. We play outside. That’s one. We social distance as it is. If you’re six feet away, you’re probably too close anyway,” Dahmen joked. “If we get proper testing and we know everyone is negative. … golf is in good position to lead the charge back and sports is, I think, is important for American culture.”
The Scottsdale AZ Open is a 54-hole stroke play event with a field of 162 players. After 36 holes, there will be a cut to the low 50 players and ties. The total purse is $130,000 with $20,000 going to the winner.
Starting on the 7th hole, Joel Dahmen wrote down 3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-2-3-3 on his scorecard at Mesa Country Club.
Joel Dahmen joined the 58 club on Friday.
Dahmen was playing with some friends at the Mesa Country Club in Mesa, Arizona, for a friendly round of golf and proceeded to set a course record.
Dahmen, who calls Scottsdale home, opened with a birdie on the par-5 1st. He also birdied the par-5 5th hole. After a par on the par-4 6th, things got crazy good. Dahmen went 12 under on the next 12 holes, with three eagles and six birdies.
In fact, starting on No. 7, Dahmen wrote down: 3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-2-3-3, finishing with a birdie-birdie-eagle flurry. Note that that’s a 26 on the back nine.
A mere birdie on 18 would’ve give him the cherished 59 but he went ahead and eagled the par-5 hole for a 58. Ho-hum.
Nick Taylor wins the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am by going “grease mode” according to PGA Tour pro and college roommate Joel Dahmen.
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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – On Sunday at iconic Pebble Beach Golf Links, with the wind whipping and five-time major champion Phil Mickelson nipping at his heels, Nick Taylor went into “grease mode” en route to winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
At least, that’s what Taylor’s former college teammates from University of Washington like to call it. PGA Tour pro Joel Dahmen, who roomed with Taylor during their days playing for the Huskies back when Taylor climbed to World No. 1 in the amateur rankings, waited behind the 18th green to congratulate his pal. All afternoon, he and six of his former teammates, including former Tour member Richard H. Lee and college coach, Matt Thurmond, took part in a group text chain that was chock full of NSFW images that reflected how Taylor kept coming up big under pressure. Or, as Dahmen kept saying, he’s always been greasy.
“He’s got massive stones,” Dahmen said of Taylor, who holed a bunker shot for eagle at the par-5, sixth hole and chipped in from 40 feet at 15 for birdie. “He’s chipped in so many times on so many people whether it’s for a Gatorade or a couple of bucks, or the time he hooped it out of the water and the team advanced out of (NCAA) regionals. He does stuff like that all the time.”
But doing it in the final round when paired with Mickelson for the first time and you haven’t won since your rookie season at the opposite-field Sanderson Farms Championship 146 starts ago and the winner’s check is for $1.404 million and two more years of job security, well, that just might be the definition of greasy.
Color NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young impressed. The San Francisco 49er great turned ESPN NFL commentator has played in some hostile environments and had a ringside seat as Mickelson’s amateur partner in Sunday’s final pairing with Taylor.
“Honestly, if the fans could’ve booed Nick, they might’ve,” Young said. “They are so emotionally tied to Phil. You could feel that. So, Nick had to be nails and he was all day long. You just have to tip your cap and say, way to go, Nick.”
Taylor built a commanding five-stroke lead at the turn, but Pebble bit back and the wind even blew Taylor’s hat from his head while he was playing the 14th hole. He made double bogey there and his lead was trimmed to two strokes. Longtime fans of this annual rite of February at Pebble were beginning to wonder whether Taylor would go down in tournament lore for channeling the intestinal fortitude of Ted Potter Jr., who outlasted Dustin Johnson in 2018, or be remembered as a modern-day Matt Gogel, who blew a seven-stroke lead with nine holes to go to Tiger Woods in 2000. Time for Taylor to get greasy.
“The chip in on 15 is classic Nick,” Dahmen said. “He’s always pulled it off when he’s needed to, no matter how big or small.”
Even his wife, Andie, who recalled that she was working her final shift as a full-time social worker at Abbotsford Regional Hospital back home in Canada when her husband won his first title, agreed. “He always clutches up,” she said.
On Sunday at Pebble Beach, Taylor out-Mickelson-ed Mickelson using an array of hole-outs and clutch putting to go wire-to-wire and become the first Canadian to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this doesn’t open up the floodgates for him,” Dahmen predicted.
You know what they say? The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
