ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – With a 6-foot par putt with his job for next year on the line, Joel Dahmen knew he was going to make it.
“I’d come too far, I’d done too much today to 3-putt the last,” he said.
But there was still the matter of making the putt with so much at stake. “Yeah, I was still nervous, still felt like I was going to poop in my pants.”
He buried the putt to cap off a final-round bogey-free 6-under 64 at Sea Island Resort’s Seaside Course to finish T-35 in the 2024 RSM Classic, but earn enough FedEx Cup points to finish No. 124 in the season-long points race and among the top 125 that earn full-exempt status for 2025.
That was the second knee-knocker that Dahmen had made this week that felt as if it was life or death. On Friday, he sank a putt just to make the cut and keep his hopes alive of finishing in the top 125. But an even-par 70 on Saturday, including a costly double bogey at the par-5 seventh, meant his chances were bleak. The drive with his wife, Lona, to pick up their child at daycare was a quiet one, allowing him to as he put it, “grieve.”
“She was letting me just be in my own head,” he said, calling his mood “somber, say, funereal effect.”
Later that evening, Lona, broke the silence and said her peace. “She’s like, well, you can still play golf tomorrow, right? It’s not over. And that was kind of one of those things, like the switch flipped. It was about two hours after the round probably when the switch flipped for me to be able to kind of pull myself back up for today,” Dahmen said.
Dahmen’s caddie, Geno Bonnalie, said they had a giant mountain to climb but he believed his boss could do it. Dahmen, who started the day T-61 and on the back nine, holed out from 113 yards with a 55-degree wedge on the par-4 13th for eagle. Bonnalie said they had done some TrackMan work with the club earlier in the week and 113 yards was the max his 55-degree would fly.
“When you make something like that, you think I only hole out 3-4 times a year. What are the odds it would happen today?” Dahmen said.
That proved to be a spark and Dahmen reeled off three straight birdies beginning at 15 to turn in 30. He tacked on another birdie at the second hole and then the nerves hit.
“I had to make a great par putt on 4. Then 6 I hit a terrible golf shot, hit a great chip shot,” he said. “On 7, now we have three holes into the wind. Typically they’re easy holes. I have not played par 5s well this week. Like if you get through the tee shot on 7, don’t hit in the water, you can kind of survive. Yeah, I would say 7 tee I started to really feel it like I’ve never felt it before.”
Dahmen got it to the house, crediting his caddie with “the greatest performance he ever put on. Like he was so chill.”
After Dahmen had signed his scorecard and he was told he was a lock to keep his card, Bonnalie smiled and yelled to his boos, “Did you ever doubt it?”
Dahmen had survived but this quote sums up how he felt about the whole week: “I don’t want to ever go through this again,” he said.
Who moved into the top 125?
Two players moved into the top 125
- Daniel Berger, who jumped from No. 127 to No. 100, after finishing T-2
- Henrik Norlander, who finished T-17, climbing from No. 126 to No. 120
Norlander stood 1-over par after 27 holes before playing the next nine in 2 under to make the cut on the number. He carded a 7-under 63 on Saturday and 2-under 68 on Sunday, and didn’t make a bogey over the final 45 holes.
“I was in the same boat last year last three events, just inside 125, and I felt like I learned a lot last year. I didn’t play great in Mexico or Bermuda, but I made those cuts and made a 12-footer on Friday to make the cut on the number and had an unbelievable weekend,” Norlander said. “Today was really hard. I never felt this tight on a golf course before.”
Who finished in the 125 spot?
Sam Ryder, who missed the cut on Friday, hung on to No. 125.
Meanwhile, rookie Hayden Springer was projected into the top 125 heading into the final round but made four bogeys in his round of even-par 70 and fell short of full-exempt status for next season.
“I just needed to be a little more consistent today,” said Springer, who finished No. 127. “It’s only going to make me better. I think I learned a lot and will come out the other side better no matter what.”
Who moved out of the top 125?
Two players moving into the top 125 also means that two players had to drop out:
- Zac Blair, who missed the cut, slipped from No. 123 to 126
- Wesley Bryan, who missed the cut, fell from No. 125 to 128
The PGA Tour’s 2025 season-opening event is Jan. 2-5 at The Sentry.
Source: Golfweek
