Twice is nice? Joel Dahmen fired a 10-under 62 on Thursday in the opening round of the Corales Puntacana Championship, a PGA Tour opposite-field event in the Dominican Republic. He’s trying to become the first two-time winner of the event while also earning his second Tour win.
Dahmen recorded 10 birdies, as did Keith Mitchell, but Dahmen’s round was bogey-free, thus the two-shot lead he holds over Mitchell, Matt Wallace and Garrick Higgo.
Dahmen, who won here in 2021, is making his 221st start.
“I get good feelings when I come back to this place, good vibes,” he said after his round.
His 10 birdies are a tournament record and he and Mitchell are the fifth and sixth players to record that many in a round this season in 17 events. They were each bettered by one by Justin Thomas, who had 11 on Thursday in the RBC Heritage.
Dahmen didn’t qualify for the 2025 Masters so he had last week off but watching the action at Augusta National inspired him.
“I would say the Masters motivated me to get back on the golf course. I had a sour taste leaving San Antonio with the missed cut there. I needed the week off, I needed the refresher, I needed to get back home and just relax and get my mind right for these four weeks in a row,” he said. “So far so good. I was very ready to play this week, I would say that.”
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