The Loop
PGA Tour pro starts putting Happy Gilmore style mid-tournament, is now lobbying for Ryder Cup spot
If any professional golfer was going to try Happy Gilmore's putting stroke during an actual tournament, it makes sense it would be one of the PGA Tour's funniest members. But Joel Dahmen doesn't seem to be laughing too much—because his new stroke is actually working.
Thanks to Joel's equally funny caddie, Geno Bonnalie, we know the 33-year-old switched to the unorthodox split-hand method during Saturday's third round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic after a practice session in which he was making "everything." And wouldn't you know it, but he kept on rolling putts in with the cameras rolling.
That led to this exhange between the two prior to Sunday's final round:
Classic.
We've said it a million times, but these guys are good. Joel could probably make putts using that bucket hat of his. Of course, things had to be going pretty bad on the greens for Dahmen to go to such drastic measures, but in any event, he seems to be cooking now. So much so that he's lobbying U.S. captain Steve Stricker for a spot on the Ryder Cup team in 2021.
Stricker then responded to the man currently ranked 26th in the U.S. standings:
To which Dahmen responded:
And then he responded again by draining more putts on Sunday:
Unfortunately, the PGA Tour's ShotTracker wasn't being utilized for the tournament so we don't have access to the normal detailed putting statistics. But Dahmen did put up his best putts per greens in regulation number of the week on Sunday on his way to a T-20 finish in Mexico.
In other words, watch out, Europe. Steve Sticker may have just found Team USA's new secret weapon.