Joel Dahmen withdraws from Shriners Children’s Open after PGA Tour assesses 4-stroke penalty

Joel Dahmen is calling it quits ahead of Friday’s second round of the Shriners Children’s Open. He decided to withdraw a little before 10 a.m. PT.

The day before, the PGA Tour assessed Dahmen with a four-stroke penalty. He had an extra 4-iron in his bag, which violated the 14-club maximum rule. Dahmen noticed it in his bag on the 4th hole and called the penalty on himself.

“We didn’t see it in there. It was an extra 4-iron, so I had two 4-irons in the bag,” Dahmen said after Thursday’s round.

“Why, I don’t know. I don’t know how it got there. It sucks. It sucks at the spot I’m in as well. Yeah, we got to the 4th tee, and I grabbed a water. 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. It wasn’t in the right spot.”

Dahmen did not condemn his caddie, Geno Bommalie, who doubles as his best friend.

“It was one of those moments where you 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. Unfortunately, it happened at this moment in time,” Dahmen added.

“I’d like to blame Geno. That would be the easy thing to do. It’s not his fault, either… One of those where you live and learn. Geno feels terrible. I feel terrible.”

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.