‘I got better at life’: Why Joel Dahmen trained with a Navy Seal

A two-under 70 and late final-round tee time earned Joel Dahmen a seat next to CBS reporter Amanda Balionis on Friday night at Torrey Pines.

Dahmen finished his third round birdie-par, which was good considering he bogeyed 14 and 15 to erase two birdies he had earlier. Still, it was a solid day, and he starts Saturday’s final round of the Farmers Insurance Open tied for fourth at five under and four shots behind 54-hole leader Harris English.

As Dahmen sat next to Balionis for a live TV hit on Friday, she reminded him of when they ran into each other back in October in San Diego.

“I’m here to get better at life,” he told her then.

A few months ago, Dahmen’s performance coach, Chris Bertram, had an idea for Dahmen (and caddie Geno Bonnalie) to spend a couple of days training with a Navy seal. Bertram’s had a Seal work with some of his other clients, and he thought it would be beneficial for Dahmen to experience it as well.

“He thought it was a good idea for me to maybe toughen me up in a mental way a little bit,” Dahmen said. “When you think of Navy Seals stuff you think of like crazy, physical stuff. But honestly it is more mental than anything.

“We did some water training,” he continued. “I’m not Michael Phelps in the pool, that’s for sure. So, I did, I got better at life for those days. Had Geno out here by my side as well which was really fun, some kind of more bonding stuff. But I don’t think I would have got through the fall if I didn’t have that training. I can dig deeper than I thought I could before and there’s more in there, so we’re just trying to tap into that more often.”

Dahmen spoke more about the experience to Golf Digest, adding he did things such as running on the beach and swimming around piers, swimming to open-water buoys and diving to the bottom of deep pools.

He ended his 2024 on a high note, shooting 64 in the final round of the RSM Classic to tie for 35th and narrowly keep his PGA Tour card. So far this season he’s missed the cut in his two starts, but now he’s in a spot for a potential big finish on Saturday.

Will his Seals training help?

“We are going to find out,” he told Balionis. “The way I played on Sunday in Sea Island [at the RSM Classic] it felt like a final round like trying to win a golf tournament, and I put myself in position if I can get off to a good start [Sunday]. I handled myself really well out there today. Nerves were limited and I was pretty comfortable, so I’m just looking forward to have a chance.”