Joel Dahmen wanted to ‘puke,’ but gutted out final round for 2025 PGA Tour card
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – For someone who said he spent the final week of the PGA Tour season about to “puke,” Joel Dahmen’s resilience was a testament to the draconian risk-and-reward nature of professional golf.
Dahmen didn’t win the RSM Classic — that honor went to Maverick McNealy, who claimed his first Tour title two days after making his 100th cut. In fact, Dahmen was never seriously in contention, but his tie for 35th was enough to keep him inside the top 125 on the FedExCup points list and fully exempt for the 2025 season.
Dahmen made it look easy with a final-round 64 to cling to the 124th spot in the rankings, but there was nothing easy about his week or his final 18 holes. The 37-year-old needed to convert a tricky 5-½ footer for par on the 36th hole Friday to just make the cut and when he began the final round he was projected to fall outside the top 125.
“Somber, say funeral effect maybe,” he said when asked what the mood was in his rental house Saturday night following a third-round 70 that sent him tumbling down the leaderboard.
He figured he needed to shoot 6 under Sunday to have any chance of keeping his status and, beginning on the back nine, he got off to a quick start with an eagle at the par-4 13th when he holed his approach shot. He added birdies at Nos. 15, 16 and 17 to nudge his way back inside the top 125 projection. He was 6 under for the day at his final hole when he was faced with a similar putt to the one he needed to make Friday, this time from 6 feet for par to keep his card.
“Makes you appreciate things a little more when times are tough,” he said after converting the putt at the last to secure his full status. “I thought a lot about everything. It came down to the last putt this week. I hit thousands of golf shots this year, missed a lot of cuts, had a lot of opportunities to do everything, so I didn’t have to come to this. I was thankful for the opportunity today, but I don’t want to go through this ever again.”
Daniel Berger, who missed a birdie putt from 21 feet at the last hole to tie McNealy for the lead, jumped from 127th on the points list to No. 100 with his runner-up finish at the finale, and Henrik Norlander also moved inside the top 125 after starting the week just outside at No. 126.
“I finished 126 last year; it’s been a different year, for sure,” said Norlander, who tied for 17th at Sea Island Resort. “I only played 20 times, but felt like it’s been a good thing for me. I’ve been a little bit more ready when I played. I was in the same boat last year, last three events, just inside 125, and I felt like I learned a lot last year.”
Zac Blair and Wesley Bryan both dropped outside the top 125, from 123rd and 125th, respectively, after missing the cut at the RSM Classic.
Final 2025 FedExCup standings:
121. Alex Smalley
122. David Skinns
123. Sami Valimaki
124. Joel Dahmen
125. Sam Ryder
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126. Zac Blair
127. Hayden Springer
128. Wesley Bryan
129. Michael Thorbjornsen
130. S.H. Kim
Some signature-event starts were also earned with the conclusion of the FedExCup Fall. Nos. 51-60 in the standings, as part of the Aon Next 10, claimed spots in the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational.
Aon Next 10:
51. Maverick McNealy
52. Mackenzie Hughes
53. Patrick Rogers
54. Nico Echavarria
55. Harris English
56. Seamus Power
57. Ben Griffin
58. Kevin Yu
59. Tom Kim
60. Nick Taylor