Joel Dahmen signed for a 6-under 66 at the Corales Puntacana Championship on Friday, shooting the 36-hole tournament-record 128 (-16) to lead by four strokes, the largest 36-hole lead in tournament history. He is the only player bogey-free through 36 holes.
128 marks Dahmen’s best 36-hole total on the PGA Tour beating his previous 131 at the 2022 RSM Classic where he finished T5.
“Got off to a great start, made a long putt on 1 and 3 and things were going to be OK after that, and then the back nine’s honestly just way harder,” said the American. “I had a couple chances, missed a short one on 11. But you’re hitting longer clubs in, tougher pins and the wind started blowing a lot harder, so really happy with the pars I made coming in, made some nice ones there. But yeah, just really proud of not making too many mistakes out
there.”
The 2021 Corales Puntacana Championship winner is bidding for a second victory in his 221st start on Tour and could become the first multiple winner of the event.
Dahmen owns two top-10 finishes in ten starts this season: T9 at the Farmers Insurance Open and T6 at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld.
South African Garrick Higgo made two bogeys and closed with a 64 for a share of second place at 12-under. He is attempting to become the third left-handed player to win this season following Joe Highsmith at the 2025 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches and Brian Harman at the Valero Texas Open. No lefthanded player has won this event to date.
American Charley Hoffman birdied his final three holes for the second consecutive day, made two earlier birdies, a bogey and an eagle at the par-5 7th to post back-to-back rounds of 66. He becomes the seventh player (eighth instance) in tournament history to birdie each hole of the Devil’s Elbow (Nos. 16-18) in a single round. With a victory, he would become the oldest winner on Tour this season at 48 years old.
Sharing second place is American Michael Thorbjornsen who notched five birdies and two eagles at the par-5s 7th and 12th en route to a bogey-free, 9-under 63 to match his low 18-hole score on Tour for the fourth time: R1/2024 Sanderson Farms Championship, R4/2024 John Deere Classic, R2/2023 John Deere Classic.
