Joel Dahmen opens after heartbreaking collapse: ‘I don’t understand
Joel Dahmen probably wanted to be anywhere else, and yet, there he was, standing in front of a microphone in another nation, having actually just blown a fantastic opportunity to win for the second time on the PGA Trip.
“I think I’m in a bit of shock, honestly,” Dahmen stated not long after leaving the scoring area Sunday afternoon at Puntacana Resort, where Dahmen bogeyed four of his last six holes and fell a shot shy of his second victory at the Corales Puntacana Champion.
“It’s not how you win a golf tournament, I’ll inform you that. I do not deserve to win it.”
Dahmen reached 16 under through 36 holes and was 17 under through 11 holes of his final round before his two-shot advantage imploded in strong winds.Even after a three-putt bogey at the par-4 13th hole, Dahmen still led with 3 holes to play. However he missed out on the green at the par-4 16th with a nervy, pull-hooked 8-iron and failed to get up and down. Then at the par-3 17th, he lipped out a 1-foot par save, of which Dahmen later on confessed, “Sadly, I’m prone to that sometimes.”
Lastly, with Garrick Higgo in your house at 14 under, Dahmen required to transform an 8-foot par putt to require extra holes, however he missed that, too.
“Suddenly, I awaken and I lost the golf tournament,” stated Dahmen, who closed in 4-over 76 to end up T-2 with Alejandro Tosti, Keith Mitchell, Jeremy Paul and Michael Thorbjornsen, the latter of whom likewise missed a brief par putt at the last.
“When you’re attempting to win a golf competition, it does unusual things to you, and I did not handle it well today,” Dahmen added.Dahmen admitted to
being nervous, however he also felt like he dealt with those nerves well, at least psychologically. He remained in a good head space, cool and calm; his body and golf swing just didn’t cooperate.That didn’t make the loss any
easier, however.”This one might take a while to get over,”Dahmen continued.”It’s one of those things, you discover more in defeat sadly. I do not understand what I’m going to do yet … “He went on to speak about next week’s Zurich Classic
in New Orleans, where he’ll team with friend Harry Higgs. It will be excellent, Dahmen states, to have another person to lean on. He was delighted for his partner, Lona, to be flying in for the week, too.Then he returned to this one.” Yeah, yeah, “Dahmen continued, “this one
‘s going to sting for a while.”