Joel Dahmen of Clarkston, Wash. won the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship on Sunday for his first PGA Tour victory, avoiding a playoff when the wind pushed playing partner Rafael Campos' final birdie try to the left on the final hole.
Dahmen closed with a 2-under 70 in the final round on the windswept seaside course located in the Dominican Republic.
Dahmen, 33, won the 2007 Washington Amateur, and played collegiately at the University of Washington.
“I was on cruise control today,” Dahmen said. “It’s really hard to win golf tournaments. I knew it was hard, but I can’t believe how hard it actually is. Thankfully, I had a couple good up-and-downs there on 16 and 17. And I don’t know how I tapped in that 2- or 3-footer there, but thankfully it went in.”
The win doesn’t get him into this year’s Masters because the tournament was played opposite the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play event in Texas, but it did secure a PGA Championship berth and a spot at Kapalua in next year’s Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Dahmen won after missing the weekend cuts in seven of his previous eight starts.
“It’s been a rough start to the calendar year,” Dahmen said. “Golf was really hard for me these last seven or eight weeks and to turn around to this is pretty incredible.”
