Wyndham Championship R1 Leaderboard

Joel Dahmen hit the front in the first round of the Wyndham Championship but then revealed heartache at having to fire his caddie and best friend Geno Bonnalie earlier this month.

Dahmen, 37, parted ways with Bonnalie ahead of the Barracuda Championship two weeks ago. 

That tournament marked Dahmen's 230th on the PGA Tour but his first without Bonnalie by his side. 

Dahmen admitted his decision to terminate his relationship with his long-time caddie was a result of needing a "fresh perspective". 

That most certainly appeared to work for Dahmen in the first round of the Wyndham Championship on Thursday.

Dahmen currently has his long-time coach Rob Rashell acting as his caddie. 

This week's event at Sedgefield Country Club marks the final regular event of the season. 

It's therefore a huge event for Dahmen to play well in given he looked on from the 101st rung of the FedEx Cup ladder at the start of the week.

With only the top 70 progressing to the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs next week, Dahmen knows he needs a huge performance if he's to play in the FedEx St Jude Championship.

He will likely need to finish in the top two this week in order to progress. 

But so far so good for Dahmen, who fired 10 birdies in a blistering opening round of 9-under 61 at the Wyndham Championship.

It marked the lowest round of Dahmen's PGA Tour career in his 232nd start. 

Dahmen is currently projected to vault 53 places up the FedEx Cup to 48th should things remain the same, but of course there are still 54 holes to play.

The popular American takes a narrow one-shot lead into the second round over Sweden's Alex Noren, who is looking to throw his hat into the ring for one of Luke Donald's European Ryder Cup picks this September. 

Speaking after the first round, Dahmen admitted to playing a "really good" round of golf as you might expect him to say after shooting lights out.

But when the subject of his former caddie arose, he had a lump in his throat. 

While Dahmen does not regret the decision, he admits it was one of the toughest decisions he has ever had to make. 

"Man, I love Geno," said Dahmen.

"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. 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."

Defending champion Aaron Rai is also off to a fast start at 7-under par alongside Nico Echavarria, Mark Hubbard and Cameron Young. 

South Korea's Sungjae Im is also off to a solid start at 6-under par.