Joel Dahmen puts pieces together at Sanderson Farms Championship, climbs into contention with Friday 67

Joel Dahmen had a tongue-in-cheek revelation last week.

Turns out, if you work with a coach and actually hit some balls at home, good things can happen.

Dahmen carried the momentum from a couple of great working sessions into the Sanderson Farms Championship, and a 5-under 67 Friday moved him into the top 10 on the leaderboard as the morning wave wrapped up.

“I had a great lesson with (my coach) last week and played really well at home with some buddies on a Thursday, and I was like, ‘I think this is kind of clicking, coming together,’” Dahmen said. “You never know until you bring it out here, but it's working.

“Maybe there is something to hitting golf balls and practicing a little bit.”

Dahmen, who comes to Mississippi sitting at 86th in the FedExCup standings, played tremendous golf last fall, closing the 2022 calendar year with three top-10 finishes (and five top-20 results in his final six tournaments).

When the calendar turned, however, the results no longer showed up. Dahmen has had just a lone top-10 finish through the 2023 year (at the Barracuda Championship) which came after five missed cuts in a row.

“I’ve struggled a lot with golf recently,” Dahmen said, “so it was nice to keep it together (today).”

Dahmen was solid off the tee Friday and pointed to a hot putter as the key to his second-round move. Starting on the back nine, he opened with a bogey but birdied three of his final five holes before making the turn. He added three more circles to the scorecard in his first six holes of his second nine.

Dahmen was quick to confirm that he really hasn’t been in the mix on the PGA TOUR over the last nine months, but seeing the ball in play off the tee and staying sharp with his putter puts him in good shape this week. He knows if he can just tighten up his ball-striking he’ll be hanging around near the top of the board on the weekend.

“I drove the ball unbelievably well the last two days … I’m always in the fairway, which you can attack from,” Dahmen stated. “Irons got a little sloppy at the end, but I made a bunch of putts today. Yesterday […] the ball just didn't go in the hole, and today the ball went in the hole. My amazing caddie Geno (Bonnalie) gave me a couple reads today, so that was good. Gave me some terrible reads, like usual, but it was nice.”

Friday afternoon, Bonnalie is going to drop the bag and pick up a microphone. He’s going to make his debut on PGA TOUR LIVE commenting on a Featured Group, and Dahmen said he’ll be watching his looper do his thing.

“Geno is exceptional at that stuff,” Dahmen said. “Just some of the commentary that he has with me, I hope that he gets to show on the broadcast. He’s going to be great.

“That’s what I’m doing this afternoon. I’m going to sit down and watch and listen.”

So, Bonnalie did just fine for his boss Friday morning and now they’re in the mix. He’ll pivot to his side-job for the afternoon, but then he and Dahmen will aim to notch a big-time result over the weekend. Dropping the mic but picking up a trophy could very much be in play.

Amazing what a little work at home can do.