Joel Dahmen likened his chances of making the playoffs to his beloved Seattle Seahawks needing to win by 50 points to do the same.
Dahmen’s given himself a chance, however, thanks to a 9-under 61 in the opening round of the Wyndham Championship, the PGA Tour’s regular-season finale.
He entered the week 101st in FedExCup points, with the top 70 earning a spot next week in Memphis. As the current outright leader in Greensboro, North Carolina, Dahmen is projected to jump inside the top 50.
“Thursday’s a long ways from Sunday,” Dahmen said. “I’ve been here a lot, so just happy to get off to a good start and, yeah, we’ll see where things fall.”
Alex Noren, No. 141 in FEC points, is one back after a 62. Cameron Young, seeking his first PGA Tour win and No. 40 in the standings, is tied for third at 7 under, along with Aaron Rai (No. 58), Mark Hubbard (No. 98) and Nico Echavarria (No. 65).
Jordan Spieth, No. 50, and Adam Scott, No. 85, are in a group three back.
It’s been a odd few weeks for the 37-year-old Dahmen. He split from his longtime caddie, Geno Bonnalie, ahead of the Barracuda Championship, and then tied for 17th – his first top-50 finish since collapsing in April’s Corales Puntacana Championship, where he bogeyed his final three holes to lose by one.
Last week presented a few more closing challenges. Dahmen shot 67-65 in the 3M Open but doubled the par-5 18th in Round 3 to lose ground with a 71. He was on pace to post a nice bounce-back number Sunday, but hit two in the water at 18 in making triple bogey. A tie for 39th cost him two spots in the FEC standings, dropping him outside the fully-exempt cut line.
While the playoffs would be a “bonus,” Dahmen’s primary goal is keeping his card. He made a final-event run last year to finish No. 124, when the top 125 earned playing privileges for this season. That benchmark has been reduced to the top 100, and Dahmen finds himself around the cutoff again.
With his longtime coach, Rob Rashell, currently serving as caddie, Dahmen made 10 birdies and one bogey Thursday at Sedgefield Country Club.
“Man, I love Geno. We still text almost daily. He’s doing well. Yeah, I mean, I miss him but sometimes the hardest — you have to do something hard to — 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,” Dahmen said.
“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. So a way for me to do it is as simple as just playing golf on my own a little bit. So yeah, I love him, I miss him. I think we’ll see him out here again soon.”
