Joel Dahmen needs a minor miracle to make the FedEx Cup playoffs and revitalize his career. He got a perfect head start toward making that happen.
Dahmen tied the lowest round of his career with a 9-under-par 61 to set the early pace at the Wyndham Championship on Thursday at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.
The Wyndham is the regular-season finale and the last chance to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs that begin next week. A win would vault Dahmen from No. 101 in the standings all the way to 48th, according to the PGA Tour. The top 70 in points after this weekend will reach the playoffs.
Dahmen holds just a one-stroke advantage over Sweden’s Alex Noren, who turned in an 8-under 62. Four players were tied for third at 63: Cameron Young, Mark Hubbard, Colombia’s Nico Echavarria and defending champ Aaron Rai of England. South Korea’s Sungjae Im (64) is alone in seventh.
Dahmen made 131 1/2 feet of putts Thursday, ranking fourth in the field. His first two birdies (Nos. 10 and 12) came from outside 10 feet, and he made the turn at 3 under.
That’s when he shot a sterling 6-under 29 on the course’s front nine, making six of his 10 birdies there. He finished his round with three straight birdies, including a 46-footer at the par-3 seventh.
“I don’t know if you ever see 61 coming, but I saw good golf coming,” Dahmen said. “… If you take like four holes away last week (at the 3M Open), it was kind of going to be a top-five. Trending as we like to say in golf, we’re always trending, right, but we’re actually trending, which is nice.”
A fan favorite from his appearances on the Netflix series “Full Swing,” Dahmen is trying to turn his career around and made the difficult decision this summer to part with longtime caddie Geno Bonnalie.
“I love Geno. We still text almost daily,” Dahmen said. “… Look, it wasn’t an easy decision. I won’t say I’m not happy about it but like it’s hard. He’s my best friend, he’s still my best friend. But I had to change something with me. It was more about me. It was my mentality, it was what I was doing and I need to take ownership of what I was doing. I was not doing a good job of that.”
Noren shot his second 62 in as many weeks after carding that score in the second round of the 3M Open, where he tied for seventh. He went 5 under in a four-hole stretch Thursday, going birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie at Nos. 4-7.
“We spent a lot of time (in practice) on the putting and that really went well, but the short shots, the irons were better than they have been in a long time,” Noren said.
Rai made five of his eight birdies on his second nine, the front nine.
“As long as I take the good things from what happened last year and the confidence from that performance, that stands me in great stead for this year and in the future,” Rai said.
Part of a large tie at 5-under 65 were Jordan Spieth and Australian Adam Scott. Spieth (No. 50 entering the week) is comfortably in the playoff field, but Scott needs a very high finish to jump from 85th into the top 70.
Max Homa shot a 4-under 66 as he clings to hope of vaulting from No. 106 in the standings into the top 70.
–Field Level Media
