On Thursday, Joel Dahmen injected himself into contention at the Wyndham Championship. He capped off his round with an astonishing three straight birdies, en route to a scintillating 9-under par 61. He turned in a phenomenal performance that was right on par with his career performance best. This accomplishment earned him a decisive one-shot advantage over contemporaneous competitor Alex Noren.
Dahmen’s accomplishment came during a critical stretch of the championship played at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, NC. With his strong score, he set himself up well going forward as the championship continues to advance, particularly as the postseason draws closer.
Alex Noren, rehabbing from a six-month absence due to a hamstring tear, made his return to competition. He is one stroke behind Dahmen. Despite his commendable effort, Noren faces a significant hurdle. Even if he wins the tournament, he cannot qualify for the postseason. His return is the biggest milestone of his young career, but the journey is still far from over.
Competing right alongside of them were Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott, both of whom carded 65s and proved how fiercely competitive they are. Spieth ended with a flurry, carding birdies on four of his final five holes to get to six under. On the other hand, Scott, sitting No. 50 in the FedEx Cup standings, hopes to take some heat off himself heading into Memphis, Tennessee.
Mark Hubbard is currently No. 98 in the FedEx Cup standings. He needs to win his next match just to have a pathway to the postseason at all. He acknowledged the challenges ahead, stating, “I think it’s all about how you look at it. For me I think it kind of takes the pressure off because it’s really hard to do that and it’s not something that you’re really thinking about.”
Hubbard is smart to think through his move. He is beginning to understand how important a second-place finish will be to ensure he can maintain a chance at making the postseason. “I’ve just got to go play super well and make a ton of birdies,” he said. “If that happens to fall into place that way, then that’s great.”
Cameron Young currently sits at No. 63 in the FedEx Cup standings, while defending champion Aaron Rai aims to reclaim his title at this year’s event. As of this writing, Nico Echavarria is ranked No. 85. To have a chance of advancing, he needs to place within the top three.
Scott shared his thoughts on the need for a strong performance, remarking, “I’m going to need to get like 20 under to think of anything, so I better not be 1 under through day one or I’m going to leave myself a lot of work.” This feeling comes as no surprise given the stakes are extremely high as teams jockey for position in the final postseason bracket of 2023.
Leave a Reply