There was a lot of wind and movement on moving day Saturday at the Corales Puntacana Championship, but Joel Dahmen remained consistent while others scaled the leaderboard in both directions.
Dahmen entered the third round with a four-stroke lead and exited with a three-shot edge after a solid 1-under-par 71 at Corales Golf Course in the Dominican Republic.
The Clarkston native had two bogeys early – his first of the tournament – and three overall but swiftly bounced back with birdies each time, including back-to-back birds on Nos. 12 and 13.
“I was uncomfortable out there, for sure,” Dahmen said. “Settled in nicely and I think it showed on the back nine.”
Dahmen got home in two on the downwind, 623-yard, par-5 12th and two-putted for birdie. He stuck his approach from 88 yards to 5 feet and made the putt for another birdie on No. 13.
“I hit an awesome second shot on 12, got it on the green from 280 (yards out) to the front,” Dahmen said. “Hit a wedge to a tough pin on 13, that was another good one. I needed something to get going, especially because the last three holes were brutal today, as they always are.”
Another key for Dahmen on the closing nine was saving par with nifty up-and-downs on Nos. 11, 15 and 17. He had a tap-in for par after nearly holing out from the sand on 17. He also got up-and-down on 18, but the chip shot wasn’t nearly as difficult as the earlier ones.
Dahmen went with a regular golf hat instead of the bucket hat he usually wears as strong winds bumped the third-round scoring average to 71.9, compared to calmer conditions Friday (71.3) and Thursday (69.6). Dahmen still managed to hit 13 of 14 fairways and he’s hit 88.1% (37 of 42) through three rounds.
Dahmen’s putting wasn’t as hot as the first two rounds when he had 16 birdies, but he made a handful of 4- to 5-footers that kept him atop the leaderboard after competitors had pulled within one stroke.
“You can’t let down on one shot,” Dahmen said. “A lot more discussions with your caddie, it’s not just point and shoot like it was the first couple days. This was just a full grind and I handled it pretty well.”
Dahmen’s 17-under 199 matched the tournament record for the lowest 54-hole total.
Garrick Higgo (70), Chan Kim (69) and Michael Thorbjornsen (70) are three shots off the lead. Higgo got to 15 under after a birdie on No. 13, but the South African three-putted for bogey on No. 14.
Thorbjornsen birdied three of the first four holes to reach 15 under before dropping out of the top 10 with double bogeys on No. 5 and No. 8. He finished strongly with a 3-under 33 on the back nine.
Vince Whaley fired a 66 – the low round of the day – to join Jeremy Paul (67) and Ben Martin (67) four strokes behind Dahmen.
Dahmen will sleep on the lead for the third straight night. He opened with a course-record 62 and added a 66 on Friday. He’s shooting for his second PGA Tour victory, four years after winning at the same venue in 2021.
Dahmen and Kim tee off in the final twosome at 10:40 a.m. Sunday. Golf Channel’s coverage begins at noon. Forecasts call for winds between 10 and 20 miles per hour with gusts to 25.
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