Christmas gifts and diapers. Idiocy. A mention of doing OK ‘socially,’ though not in reference to himself. And an interruption to yell something about margaritas. All in four minutes.
Joel Dahmen had himself a Sunday, and he played golf well, too.
But enough of our words. Here are Dahmen’s, after a 64, good for both the low during the RSM Classic’s final round, and a tie for fifth, his third-straight top 10. Pair all that with one of golf’s most friendly players, who has a Friendsgiving, a wedding, a trip to the Bahamas, and a baby on tap, along with the fact that the PGA Tour is putting its clubs into storage until January, and you get a little something like the following, all of which came during his post-round press conference.
“Is that going to make Thanksgiving dinner taste better?”
To note, Dahmen started Saturday’s third round one stroke out of the lead, then went out and carded just one birdie, against three bogeys and 14 pars.
“Yeah, I was pretty sour after yesterday,” Dahmen said. “It was nice to finish strong today. Yeah, I made the putt on 18, looked at Geno [Bonnalie, hs caddie], said Christmas presents for everyone. So it’ll pay for some diapers as well.”
“What was the key today?”
“I don’t know, not being an idiot.”
“Were you an idiot yesterday?”
“I was an idiot yesterday. I wasn’t patient on the first hole, and I hit it over the green and made bogey. And then after that, I was just like there’s like no more stupid mistakes today, don’t be super aggressive at some pins, there’s birdies out here, there’s plenty of them. So just kind of hung in there and played great on the back.”
“How often do you think you are an idiot over the course of a year?”
“Far too often, far too often for having a great caddie. I have to be a smarter player because I don’t hit it as far, and my ball-striking is really good. So I should be able to be more patient, and, at times, I’m not patient, which is just super frustrating. And like right after you hit it, you know that it’s not proper, so it’s frustrating.”
Later, there was one more question on the idiot subject. We’ll try to describe the response as best we can.
“Outside of being an idiot, is there anything else that kind of comes to your mind?”
“I improved chipping a ton this fall,” Dahmen said. “Finally, for years, we were — it literally just clicked. Like it’s not that hard, all the good chippers do it, it’s simple.”
He then smiled.
He then turned back and to his left.
He then laughed again.
“Clarified margaritas,” he then shouted.
