Two local players are teeing it up this week at the U.S. Open, being held at Los Angeles Country Club.
Andrew Putnam of University Place, Wash. will be playing in his fifth U.S. Open. He earned exemption into this year’s national championship by being in the Top 5 players in the 2022-23 FedExCup standings as of May 22, 2023, who were not otherwise exempt.
Putnam broke through for his first PGA Tour victory in 2018 at the Barracuda Championship. His other two professional victories have come on the Web.com Tour (now Korn Ferry Tour). As an amateur, he won the 2010 Pacific Coast Amateur and he was a semifinalist in the 2006 U.S. Junior Amateur. In 2010 he was named the WA Golf Men’s Player of the Year.
Andrew is the younger brother of Michael Putnam, a member of the victorious 2005 U.S. Walker Cup Team who had the honor of hitting the first tee shot of the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, just down the road from where the two grew up.
Joel Dahmen of Clarkston, Wash. will be playing in his fourth U.S. Open. He earned his way into this year’s championship by tying for 10th in last year’s national championship. Dahmen was featured in the Netflix series “Full Swing” depicting his road to qualifying for last year’s U.S. Open.
Dahmen played one season for the University of Washington after a strong high school career that saw him win a pair of 3A state titles at Clarkston High School. He won the 2007 Washington Men’s Amateur, finishing six shots clear of the field in that state championship.
He turned pro in 2010 and worked his way through the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Latinoamerica and the Web.com Tour (now Korn Ferry Tour) to earn status on the PGA Tour. A cancer survivor, Dahmen broke through for his first PGA Tour win at the 2021 Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship. He also owns a pair of PGA Tour Canada victories.