His father brought some childhood memorabilia to the Phoenix Open. Dahmen saw the "Leaping Cougar" label, a tour friend got hold of it and the cat was out of the bag.
"I figured the rest of the world should see it this week," Dahmen said.
Dahmen is playing a course he had never seen for the third straight week. But he has been playing well of late and considers himself a streaky player. Coming off a tie for 12th at The Players Championship, he handled Innisbrook with six birdies and a strong finish — a 6-iron to 4 feet for birdie on No 3, a 7-iron to 5 feet on the par-3 fourth hole, a 20ft birdie at No9.
The lead stood when the wind picked up in the afternoon. Of the 28 rounds in the 60s, only eight were in the afternoon. One of them belonged to Dustin Johnson, the No1 player in the world, who had not seen Innisbrook in nine years. He had a 69, with one birdie coming on the 578-yard 14th hole with a big drive and a 3-wood dead into the wind to 30 feet.
"I played a little bit better than my score," Johnson said. "But first time being here in a while, not real used to the golf course ... all in all, it was a good score. I felt the conditions were tricky."
It was all part of an action-filled day at Innisbrook, where Russell Knox wiped out a double bogey on 9 by hitting 3-wood into the cup from 274 yards for an albatross on the par-5 11th, and riding that to a 29 on the back nine; one shot behind at 67.
"It's a good way to go from plus 2 to minus 1 very quickly," Knox said. "Didn't even have to putt, which was great."
The group at 67 included Kevin Kisner and Luke Donald, a former world No1 who now is No919, largely the product of a back injury that has limited him to just six tournaments worldwide in the past year.
AP
