Extra club in bag costs Joel Dahmen four-stroke penalty

Joel Dahmen sits 131st out of 132 players after the first day of the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas on Thursday, but not all of the struggles were due to his play at TPC Summerlin.

The 36-year-old University of Washington product self-reported having too many clubs in his bag and was assessed a four-stroke penalty. Following the sanction, he ended the day with a 5-over-par 76.

The penalty might end up impacting Dahmen’s playing status for next year. He is currently No. 124 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings, and the top 125 players at the end of the fall circuit will retain full status on tour for 2025.

As a result of the penalty, Dahmen’s pars at Nos. 1 and 2 became double bogeys.

Dahmen realized he was carrying 15 clubs instead of the allowed 14. He said he and most other pros travel with 15 or 16 clubs, but never previously had he forgotten to pare the count ahead of a tournament.

“I’d like to blame (caddie) Geno (Bonnalie). That would be the easy thing to do. It’s not his fault either,” Dahmen said. “I played Tuesday and Wednesday out here. We didn’t see it in there. It was an extra 4-iron, so I had two 4-irons in the bag.

“Why, I don’t know. I don’t know how it got there. It sucks. It sucks at the spot I’m in as well. Yeah, we got to (No.) 4 tee and I grabbed a water and I walked over to my bag and I saw a 4-iron that was in the wrong spot, and our stuff is always in the right spot. It wasn’t in the right spot.”

He added, “One of those where you live and learn. Geno feels terrible. I feel terrible. We’ll tee it up tomorrow morning and try to make a bunch of birdies.”

Dahmen tested a new 4-iron in early October at Jackson, Miss., but he emphasized that he was mystified how it wound up in his bag on Thursday.

“It’s one of those weird ones,” he said. “I have a Clif Bar that’s probably two months old in there. Like there is probably a banana that is rotting in that golf bag. There is all sorts of (junk). It’s pretty easy to typically find an extra club, and unfortunately we didn’t do it today.”

Dahmen, who was featured on the Netflix documentary series “Full Swing,” owns one career PGA Tour win, at the 2021 Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship. He is currently No. 229 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

-Field Level Media