{"id":28362,"date":"2020-02-26T08:56:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T14:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/?p=28362"},"modified":"2020-02-26T09:06:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T15:06:36","slug":"professional-golfer-joel-dahmen-talks-about-surviving-cancer-and-his-distinctive-hat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/2020\/02\/professional-golfer-joel-dahmen-talks-about-surviving-cancer-and-his-distinctive-hat\/","title":{"rendered":"Professional golfer Joel Dahmen talks about surviving cancer and his distinctive hat"},"content":{"rendered":"
Joel Dahmen<\/a>, currently one of the top 100 golfers in the world, is rarely seen without his iconic bucket hat.<\/p>\n The sartorial choice was initially out of practicality, but evolved into a symbol of Dahmen\u2019s fight against cancer.<\/p>\n The full brim kept the brutal golf course sun off his neck. He felt better and had more energy while he played in the shade the hat provided, he said, but he was shy about wearing the hat on tour at first.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, I didn’t have a house sponsor on tours, so I could wear whatever I wanted,\u201d Dahmen said. \u201cBut you don’t want to get laughed at. It’s different and no one’s different on tour.\u201d<\/p>\n Dahmen finally embraced the bucket hat and wore it on tour. Since then, his distinctively brimmed headpiece has become widely recognized on the golf course. The 32-year-old was tapped in 2019 by The University of MD Anderson Cancer Center<\/a> to serve as the hospital\u2019s official PGA Tour ambassador.<\/p>\n \u201cI finally got over that stigma and wore it over the summer. I ended up playing with Tiger Woods, went around with a bucket hat and that kind of blew up from there and it kind of became my thing,\u201d Dahmen said. \u201cThen, partnering with MD Anderson, it has completely taken off in ways I would have never imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n A personal fight<\/strong><\/p>\n As the official cancer center of the PGA Tour, MD Anderson provides tournament guests with sun protection products such as UV-protectant sunglasses, sunscreen and lip balm to spread the word about sun safety to prevent melanoma, a type of skin cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates approximately 100,350 new melanoma cases and about 6,850 deaths in 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n With proper precautions, people can reduce their risk of developing melanoma.<\/p>\n