His interview with CBS complete, Joel Dahmen turned to walk into the adjacent press area when a PGA Tour official asked him to wait.
“Justin gets to go first?” Dahmen said with a smile, referring to Justin Rose, who was a few steps ahead of him. “Justin gets everything.”
That’s certainly been the case through the first three rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, where Rose leads by six shots entering Sunday’s final round. But it hasn’t been a bad week for Dahmen, either — especially considering he wasn’t even in the field until another player withdrew Monday morning.
A second-round 63 Friday on the North Course put Dahmen into the final group for Saturday’s third round, and he took advantage by shooting a 4-under 68, equaling his best score in 15 career trips around the South Course.
He didn’t gain any ground on Rose, but he shouldn’t feel too bad, since only two of the other 72 players bettered their score. Dahmen (15-under 201) and Rose (195) will be together in the final group again Sunday, joined by Ryo Hisatsune.
“I think 68’s a really good score on the South Course,” Dahmen said. “I can’t really play a whole lot better.”
Joel Dahmen plays his shot on the sixth hole during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines South Course on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
His strong play comes at a potentially opportune time. Dahmen doesn’t have full-time status on the PGA Tour this season after finishing below the Top 100 last year, meaning he can’t set his schedule. He’s also not in any Signature Events, though he can play his way into all of them with a win or the first two (Pebble Beach and Riviera) through a points system in play for the first four regular tournaments (this is the third).
“I’m playing great, but I’m not surprised,” he said. “I love this place. I love this golf course.”
Dahmen missed the cut here in four of his seven previous tries, but two of the three times he played the weekend, he finished tied for ninth, including last year.
His only win in 239 previous starts came in March 2021 at an alternate-field event in the Dominican Republic. A second one Sunday feels unlikely, even to Dahmen, but he’ll show up anyway.
“My only hope,” Dahmen said, “is if he doesn’t set his alarm or he somehow starts hitting in the rough on the back nine maybe. I don’t know. The way he’s playing and what he’s doing, I would be pleased with second place.”
Wagner gets to work
Johnson Wagner made a name for himself the last few years at Golf Channel by re-creating interesting shots viewers had seen earlier during network broadcasts. Perhaps most famous was his attempt to duplicate Bryson DeChambeau’s winning bunker shot on the final hole of the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst.
CBS hired Wagner — a three-time PGA Tour winner — in the offseason and wasted no time putting him to work during its first broadcast of the season. Just minutes after Brooks Koepka hit an iron off the cart path to the left of the fairway bunker on the first hole (Koepka’s 10th of the day), Wagner went to the same spot for his network debut.
Koepka’s shot from 161 yards wound up 11 1/2 feet from the pin, though he then three-putted for a bogey. Wagner wasn’t as fortunate with his 7-iron shot, pulling it left into the rough (and scuffing the bottom of his club).
“Oh, that’s way left,” Wagner said after contact. “That is not very good. … If I’d hit it on the green, though, I wouldn’t have three-putted.”
More Koepka
Koepka’s three-putt was indicative of his main issue this week in his first PGA Tour event since leaving for LIV Golf in 2022. He’s next-to-last in the field in putting after missing six attempts Saturday from inside 5 1/2 feet. He finished his round of 1-over 73 on the ninth hole with a three-putt from 39 inches.
Koepka, who is 2 under for the week, said he’s never putted well on poa annua greens, but he had no complaints with the conditions at Torrey Pines.
“These greens are actually really, really good,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the greens. It’s all me.
“I’m just going to chalk it up to just a bad day, but I’m happy with everything else.”
Notable
Chris Gotterup was one of just three players to reach the 619-yard 13th hole in two shots, and the only one to make eagle. But he almost did that one better, missing an albatross by an inch or two. After a 330-yard drive, Gotterup ripped a shot that rolled just past the hole. He tapped in from 13 inches away for the first eagle of the week on that hole. The last albatross at the Farmers was Shane Lowry on the sixth hole in 2024.
• Seamus Power, who was second after two rounds, was 2 under through 11 holes but bogeyed four of the next five holes to fall 10 shots back at 11 under.
• Stephan Jaeger (65) and defending champ Harris English (67) had the best rounds of the day, Jackson Suber (81) the worst. The field scoring average was 71.81.