Brad Dalke Ties for 30th at BMW International Open
Brad Dalke's return to competitive golf has produced a tie for 30th finish at the BMW International Open, capping his first start in professional golf's top ranks in six years. Playing on a sponsor invitation at Golfclub München Eichenried in Germany, the YouTube golf personality opened with rounds of 69 and 66 to sit well inside the top ten through 36 holes, before a 75 on Saturday pulled him out of contention. He closed with a 73 on Sunday to finish at -5 for the tournament.
Dalke's Friday 66 was the highlight of the week, moving him to within two shots of the lead and putting him in genuine touch with the tournament's frontrunners heading into the weekend. The wheels came off somewhat on moving day, with five bogeys contributing to the 75, though he steadied to close out the event with a respectable final round.
Speaking after his final round, Dalke said it had been "cool to see how I stack up against these guys this week," adding that he hadn't had the chance to test that in a long time. He was candid about where the gap remains, saying he needs to improve on the days when his game isn't at its best, since that's where tour pros separate themselves. Despite that, Dalke remained positive about the week, noting that “I know that without having my best stuff this week I still made the cut, still had a decent finish, which is cool to see and gives me a lot of confidence moving forward”.
The week marked Dalke's first taste of regular tour golf since he stepped away from full-time competition to build his YouTube career, a path that included several years as part of Good Good Golf before his departure from the group just a few weeks ago. He’ll have a couple more opportunities to test his competitive mettle in the months to come, with upcoming appearances at the Rocket Classic later this month, and the Good Good Championship in November.
As he noted, Dalke’s success in the creative space means he doesn’t need to grind in the lower-level professional leagues to make a living, but that certainly doesn’t mean he’s ruled out a return to more regular professional golf.
“But if I were to come to an event like this and play well and somehow kind of build off that or playing in the Rocket Classic in a month, if I do well there and kind of build off that, if I got a tour card, that’d be awesome. That’d be sick. I would play 100 percent. That’s been my dream since I was little is to play competitive golf. And my game’s finally in a spot now where I feel like I can do that and do it well. So it’s a yes, I would play if I got a tour card, I would 100 percent do that.”
