Dahmen, wife welcome first child into the world
Jan. 21—Clarkston native Joel Dahmen is known the world over for his quirky antics, being a cancer survivor, the love he has for his mother as well as his shotmaking ability on the golf course.
There's one more thing you now can add to his resume: doting dad.
The 35-year-old former two-time Washington Class 2A state champion from Clarkston High School and his wife, Lona, are the proud parents of a baby boy, his grandfather told the Tribune on Friday.
Dick Riggs, Dahmen's grandfather, included the paper on an email chain Dahmen sent in the early afternoon hours making the pronouncement.
Riggs William Dahmen was born at 8:26 a.m. Pacific on Thursday in the couple's hometown of Scottsdale, Ariz. He weighed in at eight pounds, seven ounces and is 22 inches long. It's the couple's first child.
"It was a chaotic couple hours, but (wife) Lona did an amazing job and baby is healthy," Dahmen said in the email. "We are all resting and hoping to go home tomorrow."
It definitely would explain his withdrawl from the American Express in La Quinta, Calif., on Tuesday. But he also let his fans in on the fact that he wouldn't be on the PGA Tour for a period of time when he responded to a fan on Twitter on Jan. 8, saying he wouldn't be playing for the next three weeks.
Dahmen typically takes around two months off during the holidays and the start of the calendar year, and this is no different. Besides the birth of his son, he took part in a wedding and also made an excursion to the Bahamas during this year's break.
The earliest he would hit the course again for an official tournament would be the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Feb. 2-5.
When Dahmen returns, he will be picking up on what has been his best stretch of golf in some time. Dahmen tied for third place Nov. 6 at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba in Riviera Maya, Mexico, then he tied for ninth at the Cadence Bank Houston Open on No. 13, and finally tied for fifth place at The RSM Classic on Nov. 20 in St. Simons Island, Ga.
The stats also show how well the former University of Washington golfer has been playing. He's currently fifth on the Tour in scoring average at 69.314 and 16th in driving accuracy at 68.3%. Dahmen sits 25th on the money list at $1,179,563 and is 19th in the FedEx Cup points race with 401 points. He is 88th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
That's piggybacking off a season in which Dahmen had three top-10 finishes in 26 events, including a tie for 10th at the U.S. Open at Brookline. He was 88th in scoring average and 12th in driving accuracy. Dahmen finished 80th on the money list and 85th in the FedEx Cup points chase. He was 130th in the world ranking.
But now, one of the valley's favorite son's is himself, a father.
Walden may be reached at (208) 848-2258, dwalden@lmtribune.com, or on Twitter at @waldo9939.
