The Loop

PGA Tour caddie shares adorable letter—and poem—he wrote to Fred Couples as a kid

October 08, 2019

Joel Dahmen didn't hold back his excitement when he learned he'd be playing with Fred Couples the first two rounds of last month's Safeway Open. As the fellow Washington native told Golfweek, "He had his name on all the junior tournaments I wanted to get after." It turns out, though, the pairing may have meant even more to Dahmen's caddie, Geno Bonnalie.

Growing up in neighboring Idaho, Bonnalie also idolized the sweet-swinging Masters champ. So much so in fact that he made Couples the subject of a school project when he was 12 by rewriting "The Night Before Christmas." And on Tuesday, Bonnalie shared this poem on Twitter:

Unfortunately, Geno didn't share the whole thing, but. . . awwwwwww. We're not sure what grade Geno got on that assignment, but we're giving him an "A" for adorable.

Of course, posting that for his peers to see left himself open to get picked on by a fellow caddie Aaron Flener:

What a meany.

And someone asked if he ever got that golf ball signed from Freddie as a kid.

Sounds like a no. . . But hey, more than two decades later, Geno got some serious hang with Couples in Napa. Autographs are overrated anyway.