WM PHOENIX OPEN

February 5, 2026

Joel Dahmen

TPC Scottsdale

Quick Quotes

Q. Joel, thanks for joining us. Just get some comments on your opening round.

JOEL DAHMEN: Hit a bunch of fairways. I think I maybe hit all of them. From there you would think probably score better, but I had a few loose iron shots and I didn't hit any bad putts, they just didn't go in. I've struggled reading these greens for years.

I like where my game is at. I stayed patient out there. Hopefully tomorrow morning we can make some birdies.

Q. Talk about the chip in on 16 and the scene.

JOEL DAHMEN: Yeah, you know, being a sponsor invite this week, you try to embrace it. It's my hometown so I love being here, love the event. Whether you're in first place or last place you're still amped up on 16.

We were trying to figure out what to do to be subtle but still for the Seahawks, and, yeah, so my Caddie, Ben Hulka, he used to be the equipment manager for the Seahawks. He has the official helmet, so he brought that out; threw that on. It was debatable about throwing it on after such a bad shot in there, but, yeah, hit an unbelievable pitch shot that rolled in like a putt and the environment is really special after that.

Q. Your caddie's name is?

JOEL DAHMEN: Ben Hulka, H-u-l-k-a.

Q. And that chip seemed hard. Kind of on a little...

JOEL DAHMEN: The only great thing about it was where everyone walked off the greens was kind of matted down instead of fluffy rough, so I could kind of skip one into the hill. It was not the easiest shot, that's for sure. It was one of those where you hit it over there and you know you're not in a great spot.

When I got there I thought I could hit a pretty good shot, get one inside of four, five feet. When it came off it was perfect and rolled in, right in the center.

Q. If you're just coming here to watch golf and you want to see golf, are you going to 16 or are you watching somewhere else?

JOEL DAHMEN: I think there is spots on the front nine where you can get a really good view of multiple holes. You can sit on the hill on 6 and see the par-3 and see the green. Once you get to that 16, 17, it's pretty tough to see stuff.

So the front nine is a little quieter, and then when you get out to 13, 14 it's pretty quiet out there as well.

So I would not be in the masses if I was here to watch golf.

Q. Are you taking the points Sunday?

JOEL DAHMEN: I mean, I don't know why the line is only four and a half. We're going to win by two touchdowns I think. There is no way -- there is nothing on their team that's scary for us right now. Unless Drake Maye runs for 150 yards, but I don't see that happening.

Q. That's not happening with your defense.

JOEL DAHMEN: Seattle as a whole is mostly pessimistic sports fans. This optimism we have going into Sunday is very interesting.