Joel Dahmen enjoys a 3-eagle round, and the timing could not have been more critical to his career

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SAN DIEGO — At a time just before Christmas last year, the anxiety grew for Joel Dahmen. He was happy to be home in Arizona with his wife, Lona, and their two boys, the youngest having been born in November. But the popular, one-time PGA Tour winner was staring at an upcoming calendar filled with uncertainty, the result of Dahmen having lost his full-time playing privileges by finishing outside the top 100 on the 2025 FedEx Cup points list.

“Just the unknown,” Dahmen explained on Friday at Torrey Pines. “For 10 years out here, I’ve kind of got to pick my schedule mostly, and it’s been great. And I would say there’s a part in mid-December where I wasn’t doing a lot and hanging out with the family, and at times you’d be like, ‘I wonder if I’m only gonna get into 12, 15 events.’”

Then, only a week ago, the concern reached its most “nerve-wracking” when Dahmen, who is in the conditional  checked the entries for the Farmers Insurance Open—one of his favorite events on tour—and saw that he was the fifth alternate. After many field sizes were trimmed by the tour for this season, Torrey Pines and its two courses were set for an original field of 145 players—down from 156, buy still larger than many.

If Dahmen couldn’t even get into that field, what could the 38-year-old hope for the rest of the year? And how was he supposed to build on the momentum of a T-38 finish last week in The American Express?

Thankfully, for him, two spots were added to the Farmers field as part of Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour, and when Patton Kizzire and Michael Kim became the fifth and sixth players to withdraw on Monday, Dahmen secured his 240th career tour start.

The opportunity is only meaningful if you seize upon it, and Dahmen has strangled the heck of this chance so far, following up an opening 70 on the South Course with a nine-under-par 63 on Friday on the North Course. At 11 under, he’s tied for third with Max McGreevy, and they are six shots back of leader Justin Rose, who set the tournament’s 36-hole scoring record at 17 under. Irishman Seamus Power stands at 13 under.

“I expected to play well, but you never expect to make three eagles,” Dahmen said with a grin.

Indeed, his charge was punctuated by a feat very rare on tour—three eagles in a round, with the trio coming at the North’s 10th—his first hole of the day—along with the sixth and ninth. He said he hit a 5-iron into the 10th and made a 40-foot putt, “chased” a hybrid onto the back of the fifth to give himself a four-footer, and got a huge break at the ninth when he flared his ball into the wind and got a great kick to 12 feet for a round-closing eagle.

This wasn’t the first time Dahmen made three eagles, though it was his first time in tour competition. He recalled doing it in high school “on a much different golf course than Torrey Pines.” And then he said he “might have” pulled it off when he shot 58 in a casual round in 2020 at Mesa (Ariz.) Country Club.

“I drove it unbelievable both days,” Dahmen said of giving himself such strong opportunities.

“I think I hit 16 greens yesterday on the South, which is really good. Not quite as many today [15], but I was always in the right spot. And then, god forbid, I make a few putts on time.”

At first glance, the Farmers Open wouldn’t seem like a prime spot for Dahmen, considering he’s among the shorter hitters on tour. But in seven starts he has two T-9 finishes, including last year. Like most Arizonans, Dahmen says he likes San Diego for its ocean views, and it was here a few years ago that he trained with Navy SEALS in a bid to get mentally stronger.

As for the tournament, he contends that Torrey’s reputation as a bomber’s paradise is wrong, considering the premium put on keeping your ball out of the near-major-like rough.

“You have to hit in the fairway, and I do that really well. You gotta control your ball,” Dahmen said. “So when it’s nice and firm, it plays a lot betterum, when it’s nice out and it’s firm, yeah, it plays a lot better in the short guys’ hands.

“I mean, you can hit it 40 [yards] past me,” he continued, “but if you’re in the rough and I’m in the fairway, I’m having the advantage.”

It can’t be understated what a strong finish could mean this week to Dahmen, who was already popular for his comical social media game before being one of the unlikely stars in the first season of Netflix’s “Full Swing.” With two rounds to play, his current standing of T-3 would put him into 12th in the early FedEx Cup standings, giving him a fighting chance to play his way back into signature events. He already has a sponsor’s exemption into next week’s WM Phoenix Open.

Dahmen looks at the talent that seems to get younger and deeper by the season, and he knows he can’t slip up in his approach or preparation, or he’ll get lapped. There are tournaments in the past, he admits, that he may have been too tired or disinterested to give it his all. But in his current position, Dahmen sounds energized by creating something special out of uncertainty.

“You’re more appreciative of the starts you get and you’re thankful for the opportunity,” he said. “So you just get up and try to do your best on those and you’re preparing a little better and you’re excited to play.”

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com