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In what must be a new world record for the “bisexual disaster” event, Olympic skier Breezy Johnson says her brand-new gold medal broke just 15 minutes after she received it.

“This is gold medal number two,” Johnson told NBC Sports on Sunday, holding her (second) prize for finishing first in Alpine skiing at the 2026 Olympic Games. “I was jumping and the whole ribbon came off of the medal. And then they tried to fix it, but they couldn’t, so they gave me this one instead and I have to go get it engraved.”

Johnson, who came out as bi in 2022, said that her medal broke “within the first 15 minutes” after receiving it. “I don’t have many Olympic records, but I might have the shortest-lived Olympic medal record,” she joked. “Personally, I would say that any future Olympians at this Games need to be careful about heading to the club with their medals, because they might break them.”

Johnson and her teammate Keely Cashman agreed that the medal’s weight may have been a contributing factor, causing the ribbon clasp to break when Johnson jumped in celebration. “I wasn't super surprised. I felt the weight of it, so I was like, ‘That better be a hefty string or whatever was holding it,’” Cashman said Monday, per USA Today.

Thankfully, Johnson isn’t the only member of Club Broken Medal 2026. On Instagram, Alysa Liu (one member of the gold medal-winning U.S. figure skating team) posted a video of herself on Sunday holding her medal in her left hand and its detached ribbon in her right. “My medal don’t need the ribbon,” Liu wrote in text over the video.

German TV footage also managed to capture the exact moment biathlete (though not to our knowledge a Bi Athlete) Justus Strelow’s bronze medal broke during his team’s celebrations on Sunday, ABC reported. Chief games operations officer Andrea Francisi said in a statement Monday that the Milan Cortina organizers were “working on it.”

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Imane Khelif Says She’d Take Sex Test to Qualify for 2028 Olympics: “Nothing to Hide”

The Algerian boxer said the 2024 campaign against her caused “psychological trauma, for me, and for my family.”

“We are aware of the situation, we have seen the images. Obviously we are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem,” Francisi said, per ABC. “But obviously we are paying maximum attention to this matter, as the medal is the dream of the athletes, so we want that obviously in the moment they are given it that everything is absolutely perfect, because we really consider it to be the most important moment.”

Johnson’s medal win on Sunday came in the shadow of a devastating crash by fellow U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn, who was hospitalized with a broken leg after hooking one of the gates at the start of her run. Vonn was in stable condition following surgery on Monday, per CNN.

“My heart goes out to her. It’s particularly difficult because we all love this track so much,” Johnson told The TODAY Show on Monday. “We race here at World Cup level every year. We call it a ‘classic track,’ so we come here all the time. It’s like your favorite dog biting you. It really hurts that much worse.”

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By now, Johnson Wagner is a pro at watching golf. His day job is to analyze the best golfers in the world as the newest member of the CBS Sports golf broadcast team. And when he’s not working, he is often watching his 16-year-old son Graham, who is now on his own promising path to college golf.

One important difference: Wagner the broadcaster has been lauded for his personable and creative reactions to tournament golf. As a father watching Graham, his success has been in knowing when not to react at all.

“ I think the worst thing you can do, no matter how old the golfer is, even if they're on tour, is if they hit a bad shot and a parent hangs their head. The kid sees that,” Wagner said as a guest on the Golf IQ podcast. “I think that body language that a parent presents is gonna go straight to the kid, and they're gonna be like, ‘Oh man, mom or dad's disappointed in me because I hit a bad shot. Now this is gonna turn into I'm disappointed in myself.’”

In the second episode of our Golf Dads series, Wagner describes how his approach with Graham was informed by his own experience in junior golf, in which his parents worked hard to mask their emotions watching Johnson play no matter what they were experiencing inside.

“ I remember when I played my mom and dad would always be up at the green,” Wagner said. “They would tell me if a shot was a little long, or if it was good, there would be a nice clap. But they never got their emotions way up or way down during a round of golf. And so I try to do that.”

Maybe this sounds easy enough, but many parents can recognize the trap. You love golf and you love your kid, and so you’d rather your child avoid the disappointment and heartache golf can bring. But Wagner recognizes this is impossible. Golf is hard, and disappointment is inevitable. Wagner’s advice isn’t to be indifferent, but for parents to manage their own emotions well enough so their child can manage theirs.

“You just can't show it on the outside,” he said. “It's gut-wrenching and nerve-wracking when you see them make a mistake. You just want them to play well for themselves and so it's really hard to watch, but it's exhilarating at the same time. You just can't … you just can't show it outwardly.”

The full interview is rich with insight and advice from one of golf broadcasting’s rising stars, with Wagner explaining how his unique position in the game can often help with Graham, and where he prefers to step back so his son can figure parts out for himself.

Listen to the full interview below, and catch up on last week’s interview with Ian Poulter.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — This Chris Gotterup guy continues to display some mad skills, proving he is the proverbial force to be reckoned with by winning for the second time in three starts this year with a playoff victory over Hideki Matsuyama Sunday at the WM Phoenix Open.

The strong and stocky Maryland native birdied five of his final six holes in regulation at TPC Scottsdale to reel in Matsuyama, a two-time winner of this event, and then birdied one more time on the first playoff hole, sinking a 27-footer on the par-4 18th hole, to register his fourth career PGA title and third in his last 10 starts.

“I'm just really enjoying being out here right now, and I'm having fun,” said Gotterup, who rallied for a seven-under 64, tied for low round of the day, to finish at 16-under 268. “I feel confident in what I'm doing and feel like I have played well enough to feel confident to be able to be in those positions. So far, I've been able to capitalize on those, and I'm excited for the rest of the year.”

Over the course of the final round, Matsuyama was walking a tightrope with his driver that was continually throwing him off balance. Somehow, despite finding just three fairways, he arrived at the 72nd hole still upright, nursing a one-stroke lead. But missing the fairway on 18 proved costly. He found the church-pew designed bunker left of the fairway and then didn’t clear one of the grass mounds completely with his second shot. Well short of the green, he pitched to 25 feet and missed the winning par save.

Then he pulled his tee shot left again in the playoff and got quite unlucky when his ball caromed off a pole near the grandstands and plopped into the water. Although he struck an excellent third to 26 feet after a penalty drop, Matsuyama never got a chance to hit another shot when Gotterup rolled in his birdie.

Matsuyama closed with a 68 and admitted he was “grinding all weekend.” Mostly that was off the tee where he lost nearly five strokes (-4.809) to the field after hitting just 25 of 56 fairways. That won’t cut it against a guy who gained 4.042 strokes with the driver and was fourth in average driving distance at 332.2 yards.

“I didn't have my best stuff, but hung in there,” said the former Masters champion. “I wanted to avoid the playoff as much as I could, but I just hit a bad tee shot there in regulation at 18 and Chris made a good putt there in the playoff. So hats off to him.”

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler equaled Gotterup’s 64 highlighted by a 72-foot birdie putt at the par-4 14th hole. A two-time winner at TPC Scottsdale, Scheffler had one bogey over his final 54 holes after opening with a 73 and ended up in a T-3 logjam at 269. The Texan posted his 17th consecutive top-10 finish, the first player since Billy Casper in 1965 to have a streak of that length.

Also third was Michael Thorbjornsen, who briefly surged past Matsuyama into the lead at 17 under with an 11-foot eagle putt at the par-5 15th hole. He relinquished those two strokes, however, with bogeys at 16, after missing the green, and 17 after finding the water off the tee and missing a seven-foot par save. He carded a 67.

The WM Phoenix Open was the final event to determine the AON Swing 5 group who qualify for the upcoming signature events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. Pierson Coody, who had his fourth straight top-25 finish, placing 10th, topped the list followed by Ryo Hisatsune, Jake Knapp, Matt McCarty and Patrick Rodgers.

Gotterup, who opened with a 62 for the first-round lead, won in the fifth playoff in seven years in the Sonoran Desert. His hopes for victory appeared to dim after he bogeyed the tough par-3 12th, but then he turned it on with his birdie flurry capped by three-footers on the last two holes.

“Just wanted to bounce back on 13 and then hit some high-quality shots coming in,” Gotterup said. “Yeah, just ended up sneaking up the leaderboard and just tried to keep making birdies, and then all of a sudden you're in the mix.”

A Rutgers product, Gotterup opened the season by winning the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he had missed the cut the year prior. His previous WM Phoenix Open starts produced two missed cuts. Both wins came after trailing after 54 holes, in this case being four down to Matsuyama. His growth as a golfer couldn’t be more pronounced.

Now ranked No. 5 in the world, Gotterup, 26, remained modest about his burst of success. No, he didn’t see this coming. But he also didn’t think it was out of the realm of possibility.

“You know … you get humbled a bit on Korn Ferry [Tour], and even when I got out here, you realize how good everyone is,” he said. “I definitely knew I was a work in progress, and still am. But I knew that my game was suited for out here, and I knew if I continued to work and at least had faith in what I was doing that I would be able to be in the position someday. To now I've won four times is pretty crazy.”

It’s also pretty impressive, coming so quickly.

Less than a month after signing with LIV Golf, Australian 23-year-old Elvis Smylie shot a closing eight-under-par 64 on Saturday to win the season-opening event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In LIV’s first tournament played at 72 holes, Smylie recorded a 24-under total that was one shot better than two-time major winner Jon Rahm, who put the pressure on by shooting 63.

On the strength of Smylie’s performance, his team of four Australians that also includes Cam Smith, Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert captured the team title by three strokes over the Torque GC team led by Joaquin Niemann.

INDIVIDUAL

WIN: Elvis Smylie, 24 under: $4 million

2. Jon Rahm, 23 under: $2.25 million

3. Peter Uihlein, 21 under: $1.5 million

T4. Abraham Ancer, Thomas Pieters, David Puig; 20 under: $833,333

7. Thomas Detry, 19 under: $600,000

8. Sebastian Munoz, 18 under: $525,000

T9. Lucas Herbert, Branden Grace, Ben An; 17 under: $415,000

12. Talor Gooch, 16 under: $360,000

T13. Carlos Ortiz, Richard T. Lee, Scott Vincent, Cam Smith; 15 under: $311,250

T17. Tom McKibbin, Paul Casey, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Yosuke Asaji; 14 under: $250,000

T22. Bjorn Hellgren, Marc Leishman, Jason Kokrak, Anthony Kim, Joaquin Niemann; 13 under: $203,000

T27. Josele Ballester, Graeme McDowell, Adrian Meronk; 12 under: $180,000

T30. Younghan Song, Charl Schwartzel, Anirban Lahiri, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Harold Varner III, Ben Campbell, 11 under: $156,071

T37. Laurie Canter, Luis Masaveu; 10 under: $141,250

T39. Charles Howell III, Caleb Surratt; 9 under: $136,250

T41. Cameron Tringale, Minkyu Kim, Michael La Sasso, Ben Schmidt, Ian Poulter, Danny Lee; 8 under: $128,750

47. Tyrrell Hatton, 7 under: $50,000

T48.Bubba Watson, Miguel Tabuena, Sam Horsfield; 6 under: $50,000

T51.Matthew Wolff, Martin Kaymer, Dean Burmester; 5 under: $50,000

54. Victor Perez, 4 under: $50,000

55.Richard Bland, 3 under: $50,000

56. Ollie Schneiderjans, 2 under: $50,000

57.Brendan Steele, 4 over: $50,000

TEAM

WIN:Ripper GC (Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert), 69 under: $3 million

2. Torque GC, 66 under: $1.5 million

3.4Aces GC, 59 under: $900,000

T4. Fireballs GC, Legion XIII; 53 under: $675,000

6. Smash GC, 52 under: $600,000

7.Crushers GC, 48 under: $550,000

T8. Southern Guards GC, Korean Golf Club; 44 under: $475,000

10. RangeGoats GC, 43 under: $400,000

The big winner at LIV Golf’s season opener in Riyadh, under the lights in Saudi Arabia, was clearly the man who lifted two trophies and is cashing two checks for individual and team victories. Elvis Smylie, a 23-year-old who had never won a pro tournament outside of his native Australia, played brilliantly all week in his LIV debut, including shooting a final-round 64 to hold off by one shot two-time major champion Jon Rahm, who applied the heat with a 63.

Between his own victory and that of his Ripper GC team with three fellow Aussies, Smylie earned in the neighborhood of $4.75 million.

The week’s biggest loser? Well, getting solo third place and a $1.5 million check is nothing to scoff at, but American Peter Uihlein became the first “victim” of LIV’s effort to strengthen its World Ranking points position by expanding its format to 72 holes this season.

In any of the first four years of the Saudi-backed league, Uihlein would have reached a playoff against Smylie after they shot 66 and 65, respectively, in the third round to stand tied at 16 under. They would have dueled for the $4 million first prize. Instead, neither had that chance, and it was Uihlein who ended up with $2.5 million less in his pocket than Smylie.

“Thanks for bringing that up,” Uihlein, a 36-year-old former college star at Oklahoma State, said with a smile ahead of the final round.

He added that he thought 72 holes fit him better, but it was Smylie—never a part of LIV’s 54-hole events—who didn’t show any signs of fading while playing amid the laser beams and loud music. Smylie is, after all, named for a beloved American singer who thrived amid the bright lights of Vegas.

After Smylie birdied the first hole to pull one ahead of Uihlein, the left-hander never again was tied for the lead, and he tore up Riyadh Golf Club’s benign back nine with four birdies in the first five holes en route to shooting five under on the inward nine. That was just enough to hold off the hard-charging Rahm, who poured in six birdies on the back, including four straight to finish.

Smylie, who didn’t suffer a bogey over his last 39 holes, did have something of a nervy 72nd hole. He drove left into the rough, and his approach came up at least 70 feet short in the front fringe. But Smylie hit a firm putt from there that went just past the hole, giving him a straightforward par putt for the one-shot victory over Rahm, who was LIV’s individual season champion last year despite earning no wins.

“It's a dream come true,” Smylie said. “I really didn't know what to expect this week. Playing at night is obviously a whole different ballgame out here.

“I wanted to come out here and make a statement. I wanted to prove that I'm one of the best out here, and I feel like I've done that, and it's only up from here.”

That Smylie would celebrate the Rippers’ team win—they beat the Joaquin Niemann-led Torque GC by only three shots—by getting a hug from his captain, past Open Championship winner Cam Smith, was truly a full-circle life moment. The two have been close since Smylie was awarded the Cam Smith Scholarship in 2019 that goes to promising young golfers in Australia. The then-teenager got to spend a week with Smith in his Florida home and learn about his approach to the professional game.

“He's world-class at what he does,” Smylie said of Smith on Sunday. “And I feel like I have so much to learn from him, and I feel like I'm only going to get better and better.”

Remarkably, Smylie, after winning twice on PGA Tour of Australasia in 2024, captured his first top-level pro victory late in ’24 when he beat Smith by two shots in the DP World Tour’s BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland, not far from where he grew up.

“I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world,” Smith said this week. “He's got all the tools of the trade. He just needs to keep doing what he's doing and knuckle down. He's got the mentality. He showed it out there today. He's got the grit. He's a Queenslander, so that comes with it.”

After the Australian PGA win, Smylie posted five more top-10 finishes on the DP World Tour before signing with LIV in mid-January.

At the time, Smith called Smylie joining LIV’s team of Aussies “a huge moment, not just for Ripper GC, but for Australian golf. It represents the next wave of Australian talent coming through at a time when the sport is absolutely booming back home.”

That impact figures to be wildly celebrated soon, when LIV moves on next week to Australia for its Adelaide event that is the most embraced and best-attended tournament on the schedule.

“[The win] gives me a huge amount of confidence, going back home next week to Adelaide,” Smylie said. “It's going to be really exciting playing in front of a home crowd.”

Smylie’s week also was significant because he becomes the first to win a LIV event that was afforded Official World Golf Ranking points. The development that was announced earlier in the week, with the OWGR board deciding to give points to the top-10 finishers and ties in each LIV tournament, was met with unhappiness for LIV and some of its players. While the five-year-old league called it a “long-overdue moment of recognition,” its leadership also said “this outcome is unprecedented” for its tight limitation on the points awarded.

Smylie, who made his LIV debut as the 134th player in the world, will earn approximately 23 points for his win—comparable to the champions of opposite-field events on the PGA Tour. It’s more points than will be accumulated by the winner of this week’s DP World Tour Qatar Masters.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – It is the place to be at the WM Phoenix Open, and the line proves it. The human chain snakes around the back of the immense temporary arena surrounding the par-3 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale and remains unbroken as it extends between the towering grandstands and the 11th fairway. Few people have more than one free hand and many have none—one paw clutching a phone, the other a beverage that is intended for something other than refreshment.

MORE: 39-year-old rookie contending in Phoenix

The wait to enter the organized chaos is up to an hour during Friday’s second round. On the weekend, it can be two or more. It is a curiosity to some fans, a ritual for others. Appreciating the game and the expertise of the players is secondary. At best. “This is where you feel like you are participating in tournament,” said one man wearing a University of Minnesota cap who knew better than to expend extended time in line with a drink in only one hand. “The juice is worth the squeeze.”

They cheer. They boo. They drink. They refill. They become way more witty and charming. Or so they come to think.

No rinsing. Just repeat.

There isn’t a bad seat in the place mainly because they spend so little time utilizing their intended purpose. There is one exception—namely the 64 padded folding armchairs placed conspicuously adjacent to the right side of the tee box. They are sweet, an oasis of propriety. They also go for an estimated $10,000 a pop.

PGA Tour players who compete in this event assume a like-minded attitude about their incursion into tournament golf’s rawest atmosphere. “You have to embrace it,” said local resident Jake Knapp, echoing a sentiment expressed by many of his peers.

“You just have to accept what they’re there for,” Englishman John Parry, making his tournament debut, added.

Well, when six guys show up dressed like bright-yellow bananas or eight young men all are wearing the same hideous paisley shirts or many women are clad in, well, a bit less than maybe their fathers would prefer, folks are there, it seems, more to be seen watching golf than actually watching golf. For the last five years a group has shown up in Sesame Street costumes. An inebriated Oscar the Grouch has to be entertainment gold.

Ben Jared

But it’s not for everyone. Ask a tour players to which parts of the golf course they might gravitate if they were to attend this event as spectators, most would not be heading to the 16th hole. Not even for Oscar. Apparently, true golf fans would be much happier on the front nine. Anywhere on the front nine.

“I think there are spots on the front nine where you can get a really good view of multiple holes,” said Joel Dahmen, who, unfortunately, missed the cut after receiving a sponsor exemption and could only come back this weekend as an onlooker. “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. I would not be in the masses if I was here to watch golf.”

“The front nine is where you can actually see golf shots,” Knapp said. “It [the 16th hole] is probably something you want to experience at some point. But now that I'm on the other end, I have no desire to be in those bleachers.”

Rickie Fowler also recommended a brief visit to 16. “You'd have to go to 16 for a little bit, just to experience it. But to watch golf? I think 3 through 8, and then 11 green through 15, there's not that many people. You can kind of bounce around and see multiple players. Basically, just stay west on the course.”

Akshay Bhatia said that TPC Scottsdale “is almost two different courses.” There’s the front nine and the “crazy” back nine, which is legitimately crazy in just one concentrated area.

Rookie Neal Shipley has enjoyed his first visit to arena but acknowledges that opinions vary about the 16th hole experience. “I think it depends who you are, if you like that environment or not. I certainly do,” he admitted. Probably has something to do with being 25 years old.

Asked to put himself on the other side, to be among the crazed and the dazed, and he didn’t deviate from his initial assessment. “If I wanted to watch golf, I think if you're around there you’ve probably got to go watch on 16 at least once. I mean, it's special, and there is nothing else like it. I'd definitely watch there if it's [my] first time. It would be pretty cool.”

Max Homa, who missed the cut the last two years here but made it to this weekend, also would opt to hang with Elmo and Big Bird if he were a paying customer. He recognizes that it’s an either-or proposition.

“If you just want to watch golf you go to the front nine,” he said. “If you're asking me, I would go to 16.”

Why?

“To drink.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Imagine you spend five years in the golf wilderness in England, playing on a third-tier tour and worrying about how you are going to pay your taxes, let alone make a living. You’ve won on the DP World Tour, but that was years before, and now you have no idea if you will ever make it back and you have no idea what you would do instead.

So you keep grinding. And hoping. And eventually you find your way back up the ranks until, at age 39, you reach the PGA Tour, and you arrive at the WM Phoenix Open—not just another tournament, but golf in a different world. You are overwhelmed by the noise and the crowds and the raucous atmosphere on the famed par-3 16th hole encircled in its own arena. No one would fault you if you forgot what got you here, if it was all just a bit too much.

But John Parry didn’t forget what got him here. Maybe he just needed a place where he could show off.

Playing in just his 12th PGA Tour event and his eighth in America, Parry isn’t a name many people would recognize on the leaderboard in the Phoenix Open. He wouldn’t be all that recognized anywhere. But the rookie from Harrogate, England, has stepped up this week to prove he has some game—the game that made him a winner in 2010 on the DP World Tour before he fell off the radar. Thanks to a five-under 66 Friday at TPC Scottsdale, Parry is firmly in contention at seven-under 135.

Where he has excelled is the most unlikely of places. Two days in a row he has birdied holes 13-16. This is where the noise increases until it reaches a crescendo at 16.

“It's different [on the PGA Tour] because, obviously, the crowds … we get maybe six events, not like this, but last week [at Torrey Pines] maybe, Wentworth and the Irish Open and a few others, so you're slightly used to it,” he explained. “But it's so constant over here. Every week is massive crowds. But I've just continued doing what I've done for the last sort of two years. I'm not changing anything.”

Indeed, there is nothing like the cacophony surrounding the 16th hole. In his introduction on Thursday, his tee shot settled seven feet from the cup. Made it. On Friday from 167 yards, he stuffed it to five feet. Made that, too.

Culture shock? Not for this bloke.

“It's phenomenal,” said Parry, who earned his tour card for this season by finishing fifth in the DP World Tour, one of 10 players not otherwise exempt who get to play in America. “Two days in a row, yeah, as well. It's been a good hole for me. Yeah, spectacular hole. It's one you got to just accept what it is and just try and enjoy it. Half of them … well, I know they're enjoying themself, but I think they're enjoying the beer a bit more than the golf. You just got to accept that's what they're there for. It's great.”

Parry finally reached golf’s pinnacle among the world tours after finally climbing out of the quiet vacuum of the Clutch Pro Tour, the minor tour based in England that feeds into the Challenge Tour, which is one rung below the DP World Tour. He won three times on the Challenge Tour in 2024 and then returned to the winner’s circle on the DP World Tour in 2025 with his second victory at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritas Open, ending a drought of 14 years. He also had a pair of runner-up finishes and two thirds.

Though he has struggled a bit in his early run of PGA Tour starts this year, with a best finish of T-19 at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Parry is heartened by the fact that he has yet to miss a cut—following three made cuts in the three early-season DP World Tour starts.

“I've actually been a little bit disappointed the way I've played the last few weeks for me,” Parry said. “I don't know if it's like the courses and you get penalized more. Obviously, last week you got penalized if you hit a bad shot, but I'm pleased that … when I'm not quite on it, I'm still making cuts, so that's a positive.”

He’s a bit more on it this week after tweaking his driver. He’s still losing more than a stroke off the tee against the field, but he has given himself good looks and has taken advantage, leading the field in putting.

“That's gave me a little bit more confidence,” he said of the driver adjustment. “And a bit of it's me as well. But just I think round here you've got to hit fairways to give yourself chances, and I'm holing my fair share of putts at the minute.”

It remains to be seen if he can keep it up. He seems to be reveling amidst golf's most chaotic milieu. After trudging through golf’s wilderness, the loud cheers and beer-fueled groans have to sound like a symphony.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The man who taped his WM Phoenix Open sponsor exemption inquiry letter to a green polo shirt surely had something interesting in store for fans Thursday at the raucous par-3 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale. Joel Dahmen came through—in several ways.

A native of Clarkston, Wash., Dahmen decided to make a statement by taking off his bucket hat and donning a Seattle Seahawks helmet after hitting his tee shot at the stadium hole. Dahmen made a poor swing and missed the green to the right, so he was a bit sheepish about going through with it. Turns out, he had little choice at the risk of disappointing his caddie.

“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,” said Dahmen, 38, who now makes him home in Scottsdale. “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.”

What happened next only added to the occasion. Off a slight downhill lie, Dahmen pitched in from 44 feet for birdie. He raised both arms to the crowd and then pointed his right index finger skyward. For good measure, he tossed hats into the gallery as he left the arena.

Ranked 171 in the world and not fully exempt on the PGA Tour after finishing 122nd on the FedEx Cup points list, Dahmen opened with an even-par 71.

“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,” he explained. “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. … hit an unbelievable pitch shot that rolled in like a putt and the environment is really special after that.”

Dahmen’s Seahawks face the New England Patriots on Sunday in Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. Seattle is a 4.5-point favorite, which Dahmen couldn’t believe.

He might want to hang onto that helmet.

“I don't know why the line is only four-and-a-half. We're going to win by two touchdowns, I think,” he proclaimed. “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.

“Seattle as a whole is mostly pessimistic sports fans,” he added. “This optimism we have going into Sunday is very interesting.”

Two touchdowns? Optimism is catching here in the desert.