Joel Dahmen left it late to secure his full PGA Tour card for the 2025 season, but he came through a nerve-wracking final round of the RSM Classic to finish just two places above the cut-off in the Fed Ex Cup standings, at 124th.
Dahmen produced an excellent final round of 64 to finish T35, which left him a relieved man as it ensures he can look forward to next season with considerably more than the conditional PGA Tour status he would have had if he’d finished 126th or lower.
The Full Swing star struggled throughout much of 2024 as his world ranking dropped from 167th at the start of the year to 228th. As a result, that left his full PGA Tour status in some jeopardy heading into the season closer at Sea Island, and he admitted afterwards that the situation had left him appreciative of his status.
Here are five things we learned from his post-tournament press conference about what it means to keep a PGA Tour card.
The Emotion Of The Moment
Dahmen admitted that the close call helped put keeping his card into perspective. He said: "I'm just thankful for the opportunity to have another full card out here is really special.
"This is my eighth year out here, I probably made it longer than I ever thought I would. You take it for granted a little bit. It's been relatively easy, cruise between 50 and 90 on the FedExCup every year and enjoy it, and our best friends are out here."
The Impact On His Family
Dahmen admitted that one of the biggest advantages of a PGA Tour card is the ability to raise his family on the circuit.
He explained: “I think one of the coolest things is raising your kids on the PGA Tour. It takes a village out here. Our best friends, we all have kids now and it is one of the coolest things. Like we get to go to like camp every week out here 25 weeks a year.
“We rent houses together, we stay together, our kids are playing together, they're all the same age. I didn't want to miss out on that as much as playing golf for a living is really cool and making a bunch of money's really cool, but this has been our life.
This is - we want to raise our kid out here really, there's no better place. So I thought a lot about not being able to do that as much and that would stink.”
The Influence Of His Wife
Dahmen also explained that he had been in a bad place after his third round of 70, which included a costly double bogey at the 17th, had left him with an uphill battle to retain his full PGA Tour status.
He said that his wife Lona had helped give him the focus he needed to get over the line in the final round. He explained: “She was like, are you OK? I'm like, ‘No, I'm not OK, I want this to happen.’ 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.”
The Perspective From His Loved Ones
The American also said that unwavering support from loved ones and fellow pros had helped him keep his precarious position in the standings in perspective.
“I had so many amazing texts this week from so many amazing people, other players, family members, like telling me like we love you no matter what type of thing,” he explained.
"Like I've always said golf is not like who I am, it's just kind of what I do and it's a cool thing to do, but you kind of start to wonder like is your name really, like are you really just attached to this type of thing, and I don't want that to happen.
“It was really cool to have all of the love and support on the outside this week. Basically whether you finish 126 or 125, we don't really care, so that was great.”
The Calming Influence Of His Caddie
Dahmen’s relationship with caddie Geno Bonallie is one of the closest on the Tour, and he was full of praise for his handling of the situation as the drama unfolded in the final round.
He said: “Geno was unbelievable today. I'll be the first to say there are days that Geno's not the greatest guy in the world, and not from numbers, whatever. I love Gene to death. Today he couldn't have been - this was the greatest performance he ever put on.
“He was acting so calm and so like we're out finishing 35th in the golf tournament. Like he was so chill that I was thinking I could almost make bogey at the last the way that he was maybe relaying information to me or maybe some clubs to pull was maybe a little more conservative than I would tend to be and that type of thing.”
