Joel Dahmen came up just short at the Wells Fargo Championship on Sunday — but he still took away plenty from the weekend. That included a check for the better part of a million dollars as the 31-year-old finished solo second at Quail Hollow.
Was Dahmen thinking about that money down the stretch? “Yes, of course,” he said afterwards. “I had four or five feet for 5 on 16, I’m solo second, I’m aware where that is.”
He made the putt on 16, and he made a tough up-and-down at 17. At 18, he got aggressive with his approach shot — and barely stayed out of the water.
“On 18 my caddie wanted me to play it safe, but I thought if I snuck a 3 in there and Max hit it in the lake, I could come back around,” Dahmen said. Maybe he should have listened to his caddie; his second shot from 210 yards wound up actually on the wrong side of the greenside creek.
Dahmen ended up hitting his chip to about a foot, leaving a kick-in par. Had his ball found the water, it would have cost him roughly half his paycheck. Rickie Fowler, by comparison, finished two shots worse at T4 and made $311,062. The sequence served as a reminder of the slim margins and huge money involved on Sunday afternoons in contention on Tour.
“[My caddie] is over here laughing at me. I had such a huge break, and actually it’s a pretty easy chip there, but I was certainly aware of what was at stake, absolutely. I mean this was my biggest paycheck by $500,000 maybe. I mean, it’s ridiculous what I just won today, absolutely ridiculous.”
That ridiculous sum? $853,200. Not bad for solo second.
Last year, Dahmen finished T2 at the John Deere and made $382,800, his previous career high. This year, he finished T12 at the Players and cashed in $253,125. At the time, he talked about the result doubling his net worth. Sunday, he nearly did so again.
The runner-up finish gives Dahmen plenty of positives coming out of Charlotte. “I love trophies, don’t get me wrong. They just come if you keep doing the right thing. So I’m doing the right things, I’m on the right track. This weekend was huge for me,” he said.
Dahmen jumped from 125 to 80 in the world, as well as into 29th in the FedEx Cup. He’ll look to add to both those totals at the PGA Championship in two weeks. Until then, he’s going to enjoy some down time.
“I have a well-deserved week off next week enjoying my family and my dog and new backyard. So we’re going to hang out and do that.”
