Joel Dahmen sits at 8-under ahead of the third round of the RBC Canadian Open. He fired off a bogey-free 5-under 65 to sit two off the leaders Robert MacIntyre and Ryan Fox.
One of the many PGA Tour pros highlighted on Netflix’s Full Swing series, Dahmen has become a fan favorite. This past season, he shared his struggles on the golf course. Dahmen continues to search for ways to get better at golf, and Harry Higgs helped him find this new plan.
“Harry Higgs talked about it a lot the last two weeks, and it’s kind of the same thing,” Dahmen said. “You accept where it goes, and you go, and you do it again. It frees me up to play golf and let my body take over. My body knows what to do if I stay out of the way.”
Dahmen went 67-65 in his first two days, and the game feels good for him. It appears the work he put into his process is paying off this week in Canada.
“More visualization preshot. Worked hard on that recently,” Dahmen explained. “Being just very committed to what I’m doing. Like having a clear plan. Which sounds weird that I’ve played golf a long time without a clear plan. But, yeah, it’s doing the same thing over and over again, and it’s worked out great.”
Dahmen sits No. 4 in strokes gained putting, picking up 6.4 shots on the field. The 36-year-old made 127 feet of putts throughout the last two days.
“Putted well this week. Hit it well. Done everything well,” he said. “Sticking with my process, doing the same thing over and over again. Over two days, it adds up pretty nicely.”
He also gained 9.6 strokes in the first two days, which is third best in strokes gained in total. However, one of the most impressive things is that he has hit 30 of 36 greens in regulation.
Dahmen tees off alongside Andrew Novak at 3:15 p.m. ET in Round 3 of the RBC Canadian Open. It has been a long time since he had an afternoon tee time on the weekend, but that is what he has worked for, and it is paying off so far.
“The last time I had one of those was a U.S. Open. So that’s a good thing,” Dahmen said. “I believe I should be here — it’s where I’m supposed to be, so I’m excited to hit golf shots under the gun on the weekend. I haven’t done that in a long time, so I’m excited.”
He has not missed a cut since the Valero Texas Open in April but only produced one top-30 finish. Now, the PGA Tour winner is on the hunt for his second career victory.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
