How to display only the first value in Views, by overriding TPL.PHP?
You can do this on the View edit page using the UI without editing the template. 


Go to admin/structure/views
Edit the view in question
Under Fields, select the field in question
Expand the section 'Multiple field settings'
Set as: 'Display 1 value(s) starting from 0 (first item is 0)
Save your view and that's it.