Joel Dahmen and Geno Bonnalie, one of the PGA Tour’s most entertaining player-caddie tandems, have parted ways on the golf course.
Dahmen announced the split on his social media accounts, surprising many because of their 25-plus years of friendship dating back to youngsters in Clarkston and Lewiston and their popularity with golf fans.
“We’re still the best of friends and that will never change,” Dahmen wrote in a post on X accompanied by a picture of the two. “But we both know that a fresh perspective is sometimes needed and it’s been a great run. I couldn’t be more proud of what we have achieved together as guys from a small town in the middle of nowhere.
“I am going to keep the main focus on the task at hand to end the year and put myself in position to make a run. We are grateful for so much this game has given us. Let’s finish strong.”
“It was time,” Dahmen later told Skratch’s Dan Rapaport. “We had a great run.”
Bonnalie hasn’t commented publicly about the breakup, which came a few days after Dahmen missed the cut at the Scottish Open.
Dahmen is playing this week in the Barracuda Championship in Truckee, California, but it isn’t clear who will be carrying his clubs. The 37-year-old tees off Thursday at 12:22 p.m.
They first teamed up to win a two-man tournament in Grangeville, Idaho, when Dahmen was 12, about four years younger than Bonnalie.
They played a lot of youth golf and stayed in touch as Dahmen started a long journey on minitours before qualifying for the PGA Tour in 2017. Bonnalie penned a letter to Dahmen when the latter made the Web.com (now Korn Ferry Tour) in 2015, offering his caddie services. They’ve worked together for roughly a decade.
Dahmen played in 229 PGA Tour events with one career win, the 2021 Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic. He was in position to win the event again in May but faltered late and finished second.
He has missed the cut in seven of his next eight tournaments, dropping to No. 172 in the world rankings.
Dahmen and Bonnalie gave fans an inside look at their lives on and off the course on social media and quickly developed large followings in the golf world. Dahmen has 522,000 followers on X and Instagram while Bonnalie has a combined 167,000.
Their popularity soared to new heights when they were featured in Netflix’s “Full Swing,” including one episode with both in tears on a plane following a rough patch for Dahmen on the course.
“Thanks for caring about me,” Dahmen said.
“I don’t care if we miss another five cuts if we’re working toward the right things,” Bonnalie said.
“I think we are,” Dahmen replied.
“Good,” Bonnalie said, “that’s all that matters.”
Dahmen is 96th in the FedEx Cup standings and needs to finish in the top 70 to make the FedEx playoffs.
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