Joel Dahmen was penalized four strokes during round one of the Shriners Children's Open after he discovered that there were 15 clubs in his bag.
The age-old rule states that players must carry a maximum of 14 clubs in their bag, and Dahmen realized he had one more than the rules allowed on his fourth hole.
It meant he had to add two shots on to each of his first two holes, with the penalty being two strokes for each hole he carried 15 clubs with a maximum of four strokes. That turned his par-par start into back-to-back double-bogeys, which dropped him to four-over-par for the round.
According to former PGA Tour pro and current NBC analyst Smylie Kaufman, it was Dahmen's 4-iron that was the rogue 15th club.
It reminds us of Ian Woosnam's infamous mistake in 2001 when he also discovered a 15th club in his bag, coming on the 2nd hole of the Open Championship final round at Royal Lytham and St Annes after birdieing the 1st to tie the lead. It cost him two strokes and saw him ultimately end up four back of David Duval.
Joel Dahmen was penalized four strokes in the opening round of the Shriners Children’s Open when it was discovered on the fourth tee that he had more than 14 clubs in his bag.October 17, 2024
Luckily for Dahmen, the rules error didn't come in as big a moment as the former World No.1 but his four-stroke penalty leaves him plenty of work to do to make the cut.
Explaining the situation immediately afte turning in a five-over-par opening round to trail leader Taylor Pendrith by 15 strokes, Dahmen said: "Bizarro. Never happened to me before. I travel with 15-16 clubs, most people out here do pending conditions and courses.
“You know, I've been traveling out here for a long time and it's never happened before. I would like to blame (caddie) Geno [Bonnalie]. That would be the easy thing to do, but it’s not his fault, either. I played Tuesday and Wednesday out here. We didn’t see it in there. It was an extra 4-iron, so I had two 4-irons in the bag.
“We got to the fourth tee, I grabbed a water and I walked over to my bag and I saw a 4-iron that was in the wrong spot. And our stuff is always in the right spot. And it wasn’t in the right spot.
"You just want to get so mad at everything, but at the same time, you've got to just keep playing golf and I didn't do a great job of that afterwards. It's tough to refocus, and I shot one-over still - if you take those penalties away - which is not very good out here today.
So, it's frustrating, disappointing, but if you play golf long enough, weird stuff is going to happen out here."
"If you play golf long enough, weird stuff's going to happen out here."An unfortunate 4-stroke penalty for Joel Dahmen leads to a 5-over first-round @ShrinersOpen.He came into the week at No. 124 in the #FedExCup Fall standings, needing to stay inside the top 125 in order to… pic.twitter.com/2MI6k2BanjOctober 18, 2024
The 2021 Corales Puntacana Championship winner is currently struggling for form with just one top-10 this year and is on a run of four missed cuts in his last seven tournaments.
He is right on the 125 bubble in the FedEx Cup fall and needs a strong showing over the next four tournaments, not including this week, to secure his card for 2025, otherwise he'll only have conditional status.
Despite the situation, Dahmen remained a charming realist and acknowledged that the fact people were out there donating to his foundation helped him understand he will have better days moving forward.
He continued: "I had a lot of people out here today, supporting our family foundation, so it was one of those moments where you like want to lose it and you want to get mad, be mad at yourself, be mad at Geno, be mad at the world.
“But you look around and people are donating a bunch of money to our foundation and life is not that bad. It’s a mistake. It’s going to happen. It's one of those where you kind of live and learn.
"Geno feels terrible, I feel terrible, but we're going to tee it up tomorrow morning and try to make a bunch of birdies!"
What is the Rule for carrying 15 clubs?
Golfers can carry a maximum of 14 clubs in their bag. Once you discover you have breached the rule, you must immediately take the excess club out of play.
The penalty for carrying 15 clubs:
Penalty in Stroke Play: Two strokes, with a maximum of four strokes
You get the general penalty (two penalty strokes) for each hole where a breach happened, with a maximum of four penalty strokes in the round (adding two penalty strokes at each of the first two holes where a breach happened).
The procedure for taking a club out of play is as follows:
When you become aware during a round that you have more than 14 clubs, you must immediately take an action that clearly indicates each club that you are taking out of play, with the USGA suggesting advising another player or turning the club upside down in your bag.
A breach in match play is a match adjustment penalty, where the score is revised by deducting one hole for each hole where a breach happened, with a maximum deduction of two holes in the round
Read more on Rule 4 - The Player's Equipment.
