Life on the PGA Tour may seem glamorous, but after doing it week after month after year, things can get a little monotonous, which leads to some interesting wagers being made to keep things spicy (pun intended, and you’ll soon see why.)
Last week at The Arnold Palmer Invitational, Tour pro Joel Dahmen and his caddie, Geno Bonnalie, decided to have some fun at a local putt-putt course. Despite their respective jobs on the Tour, Bonnalie proved to be a worthy adversary for the pro with the match coming down to the final hole.
Of course, there was something on the line, and when Bonnalie three-putted the final hole to lose, it was only a matter of time before he’d have to pay off the bet. Naturally, Dahmen waited for one of the biggest stages in all of golf to make his looper pay the piper.
The stakes were that if Bonnalie lost, he would have to eat a Paqui Carolina Reaper Madness chip before hitting his shot in the annual Caddie Competition on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass.
New twist to Caddie contest on TPC’s 17th hole. After losing a putting contest to his boss Joel Dahmen, caddie Geno Bonnalie had to hit after eating a “Carolina Reaper Madness” chip. He hit the green. pic.twitter.com/2QKQUUKZ2L
— Rex Hoggard (@RexHoggardGC) March 13, 2019
While eating a chip may not sound that bad on the surface, the Paqui Carolina Reaper Madness chip is made from the hottest chile pepper in the world. A quick internet search of the #onechipchallenge tells you everything you need to know about just how brutal the heat can be.
“I felt kind of bad,” Dahmen told GolfChannel.com’s Rex Hoggard. “We wanted to put something [on the match]. He said the loser has to eat a bug, but I wasn’t eating a bug.”
A man of his word, Bonnalie ate the chip and hit the green, but on his way to the famed island, it hit him. He dropped to his knees and required “several minutes to recover,” according to Hoggard.
The chip wasn’t easy to come by, and PGATour.com’s Kevin Prise had to put out the bat signal to get one in time for the challenge. Retailing for $100 on the company’s site, the chips were sold out and even selling for upwards of $1,500 on eBay.
Chip has been procured for assistance in eclectic @THEPLAYERSChamp content Wednesday! https://t.co/A3AfSc5JbQ
— Kevin Prise (@WebTourKevin) March 12, 2019
Luckily for fans and friends of Bonnalie, but not Bonnalie himself, the chip was procured and the bet was paid.
