The Loop
Joel Dahmen has already won the 'Spring Break' portion of the Valspar Championship with this nickname
Last month, the Valspar Championship announced that the tournament would be introducing fan-friendly "Spring Break" initiatives at Innisbrook. Among those initiatives included player superlatives, music during the pro-am and player-selected honorary observers to walk with pros during tournament rounds. Also, in a page straight out of the MLB's "Players Weekend" book, the tour would allow pros to use nicknames on the back of their caddie's bibs.
It's not everybody's cup of tea, especially the old schoolers, but a few naysayers may change their minds when they see the nickname that Joel Dahmen slapped on caddie Geno Bonnalie's back for the week:
Dahmen's "Leaping Cougar" nickname was apparently given to him as a kid while he was in the boy scouts. Little did he know he'd go on to play in college for the Washington Huskies, the arch rival of the Washington State Cougars. But that clearly did not deter the 31-year-old from keeping the nickname all this time. Judging by his opening round at Innisbrook, he may have to chang his last name entirely:
Dahmen has a long way to go to notch his first tour victory, but he's already won the Spring Break portion of the Valspar Championship. If he does win, don't be surprised if he shows up to his next tournament as "Joel Leaping Cougar."