BUTTERFIELD BERMUDA CHAMPIONSHIP
Purse: $6M
Winner's Share: $1.08M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Southampton Parish, Bermuda
Course: Port Royal Golf Course
Yardage: 6,828
Par: 71
2024 champion: Rafael Campos
Tournament Preview
The PGA Tour's fall season -- officially known as FedEx Cup Fall -- will change dramatically next year. Just this week, a new tournament was announced for Asheville, N.C., in September (the Biltmore Championship). That came on the heels of the announcement of an Austin, Texas, Tour stop next November (the Good Good Championship). Further, the Mexico Open is no longer on the "regular" portion of the 2026 schedule and is expected to move to the fall. Two other fall tournaments, the Procore and Sanderson Farms, do not have title sponsors for next year and, without new ones, could cease to exist.
That is quite an upheaval.
But the Bermuda Championship is on terra firma. Just last month, the PGA Tour and Bermuda Tourism Authority announced an extension for at least three more years, through 2028. The tournament is surely the biggest annual sporting event on this tiny island.
In its first six years, the Bermuda has never gotten a good field, especially starting out in 2019 as an alternate-field event opposite the WGC-HSBC Champions in China. It was elevated to a full-points, standalone tournament on a temporary basis after the WGC event was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic. Three years ago, with the WGC tournament gone altogether, the Bermuda became a permanent full-points event. So maybe tournament organizers should be happy just to be here, regardless of the field.
So who do we have in the 120-man field this year? Well, going on the world rankings, the top guy is No. 40 Michael Brennan, a guy no one had ever heard of three weeks ago before he won the Bank of Utah Championship. Sam Stevens is the only other the top-50 OWGR player entered, at No. 48.
But the more notable names are Sahith Theegala, Matt Kuchar, Luke Clanton and ... that's about it. (Yes, everyone has their own definition of "notable" and that's ours.) The defending champion is Rafael Campos, and tournament organizers would be thrilled to get another feel-good story along the lines of the journeyman Campos's first-ever win.
"I can't believe this is happening to me." 🥹@RafaCamposGolf was overcome with emotion after his first TOUR win @Bermuda_Champ. pic.twitter.com/GlKXjhyzqb
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 17, 2024
Two other players might be of interest, either now or in a few years: Tyler Watts, an Alabama high school senior who has committed to the Univeristy of Tennessee, will make his second PGA Tour start after making the cut at the Procore in September. And then there's Oscar Couilleau from France, an Arizona State commit, making his Tour debut. FWIW, both those youngsters are left-handers.
The main storyline for the majority of the field is securing a Tour card for 2026. Only two tournaments remain before the top-100 in the FedEx Cup points list will be finalized. Everyone inside the top-100 will have full paying privileges; everyone on the outside will have varying degrees of conditional status.
Right now, Max McGreevy sits at the cutoff point, a mere 2.5 points head of Mr. 101, David Lipsky. Both are playing this week.
Those who finish between 51st and 60th get automatic berths in the first two signature events of 2026. No. 58 Rico Hoey and No. 60 Kevin Yu are in the field, as are No. 62 Nico Echavarria, No. 63 Patrick Rodgers, No. 66 Matti Schmid and No. 69 Steven Fisk.
With the field so weak, and far weaker after we get past the aforementioned names, formulating successful DFS lineups will be a challenge.
Port Royal is a public track designed by famed architect Robert Trent Jones in 1970. It is among the shortest courses the golfers will see all year. It tends to be a pushover, unless the wind really blows. And since this is a tiny island in the Atlantic, the wind is usually blowing.
There are only three par-5s, two of which are under 520 yards. There are six par-4s under 400 yards, and two more just over 400. The signature hole is the 16th, and it's one of the two 235-yard par-3s. As the tournament website says, there is "nothing but the Atlantic Ocean between the tee and the pin." It's actually really cool, with both the tee box and green on cliffs. The green is thin, surrounded by bunkers and on a peninsula.
Since Port Royal is not long, what are its defenses? For one, doglegs -- eight of them. When you combine those doglegs with lots of cross bunkers -- 87 total on the course -- driver will not be a popular club this week, or very much needed. There's also water on seven holes (and maybe all 18 if the golfers aren't careful). There are significant elevation changes. The Bermudagrass greens are medium size, averaging around 6,000 square feet (because of course they use Bermudagrass greens in Bermuda). But the primary defense on an island course, as you can imagine, is wind, wind and more wind. And this year, the forecast says, well, here we go ...
Strong winds will be prevalent all week. A storm with heavy thunderstorms was forecast for Tuesday -- on top of a couple of recent hurricanes, including Melissa. So the course could and should play very soft. After Tuesday, much of the precipitation will be gone but not the wind. It could blow 20-plus mph all four days. The high temperature will be in the low 70s.
As is always the case when there's weather, hold off on the lock to see whether there's an edge to certain tees times.
Key Stats to Winning at Port Royal
The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.
• Strokes Gained: Approach/Greens in regulation
• Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Par 4 scoring, 350-400 yards
• Birdie or better percentage/Birdie average
Past Champions
2024 - Rafael Campos
2023 - Camilo Villegas
2022 - Seamus Power
2021 - Lucas Herbert
2020 - Brian Gay
2019 - Brendon Todd
Champion's Profile
The course has proven to be easy-peasy when the wind has been mild. But when there was wind, both Herbert and Gay won at 15-under, and Campos was at 19-under a year ago.
Campos ranked only T49 in greens in regulation. But he was excellent closer in, ranking first in scrambling and seventh in putting average (there is no ShotLink on the course). Campos was three shots better than runner-up Andrew Novak, who had a far more balanced ledger of fourth in GIR, 15th in scrambling and 17th in putting.
As you may know by now, driving matters little. Two years ago, Villegas ranked 74th in driving distance at 275 yards -- almost last among those who made the cut -- but he was first in greens in regulation at 82 percent. Villegas also ranked 26th in putting.
Overall, GIR and putting will matter most. Campos was an aberration.
The over/under on the winning score on golfodds.com was set at 268.5 -- 15.5 under par. So they are expecting wind to be a big factor.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
$10,000 and up
Thorbjorn Olesen - $10,100 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: (+2200)
Olesen is the No. 3 guy on the DK board after Rico Hoey ($10,400) and Kevin Yu ($10,300). A month ago, that would've been absurd, even with this weak field. In three fall starts, however, the 35-year-old from Denmark has finished T14 twice while sandwiching a T3 at the Bank of Utah Championship. Thus, Olesen is among the hottest players in the field and has moved inside the top-100 in the point standings to 95th. He is top-60 on Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee, Approach and Tee-to-Green. In this field, that's enough to get you in the Hall of Fame. He's also top-25 in SG: Putting.
$9,000-$9,900
Nico Echavarria - $9,700 (+2800)
Echavarria already is exempt through next season but still has a lot to play for. He's currently 62nd in points -- close to qualifying for the first two 2026 signature events. He's come on strong of late, finishing ninth in Japan and T14 last week in Mexico. His biggest shortcoming is driving distance, so he will be on a far more level playing field this week. Echavarria is ranked eighth on Tour in SG: Putting.
Vince Whaley - $9,000 (+3500)
Fun fact: Whaley has the most consecutive rounds of par or better this season (32), a stat provided by the PGA Tour in its pre-tournament notes. Impressive. Also, he has finished top-10 in three of his four starts in Bermuda, including T5 last year. Whaley, who is 86th in points and thus secure for next season, is ranked top-40 on Tour in both SG: Around-the-Green and Putting.
$8,000-$8,900
Matt Kuchar - $8,600 (+4000)
Here in the $8,000s, we run it back with two guys who we picked last week and delivered. Kuchar moved up to 110th in points after tying for 11th in Mexico, his third top-20 of the fall season. He's another guy who is woefully short off the tee, but the fall courses have been on the shorter side and this one is very short. At 47, there's been no yips for Kuchar -- he's ranked 15th on Tour in SG: Putting.
Sami Valimaki - $8,200 (+4500)
Valimaki was runner-up last week to lock up his Tour card for 2026. Continuing with our theme of going with short drivers who won't be hurt by it this week, Valimaki is another. But he's top-20 on Tour in both SG: Approach and Putting.
$7,000-$7,900
Doug Ghim - $7,700 (+5500)
Ghim might be the best approach player in the field and one of the worst putters. But when you combine that, he's in the top-100 on Tour in birdie average. Besides, with the wind expected to blow hard all week, we'd definitely lean toward approach play over putting. Ghim has missed a lot of cuts in this event, but when the wind was blowing in 2020, he tied for 14th. He is 4 for 4 in cuts during the fall, albeit without a top-25, a hallmark of bad putters.
Jackson Suber - $7,200 (+7000)
It has not been a good season overall for Suber. He's missed more than half his cuts. But there have been bright spots. He has three top-10s and six top-25s, including his past two events, when he's finished T15 and T11, getting it to 22-under last week in Mexico. He's very good on approach, ranked just outside the top-50 on Tour, and inside the top-100 in SG: Putting.
David Ford - $7,200 (+10000)
Ford has not been as celebrated as other recent college grads such as Luke Clanton or even Gordon Sargent. That's understandable when you miss your first five cuts this season and seven of your first eight. But the North Carolina alum who finished first in the PGA Tour University 2025 standings has made the cut in his past three starts. That includes a tie for third at the Bank of Utah. He might be getting the hang of things, getting used to the cadence of playing professional golf.
$6,000-$6,900
Adam Svensson - $6,800 (+150000)
Regular readers will know this name has come up the past two tournaments. Svensson tied for 56th in Utah and for 21st last week in Mexico. It's a little surprising to us that he hasn't been able to make it out of the $6,000s based on those two results plus the overall weakness of this field. But we're not complaining. Yes, Svensson is a bad putter. But he's good on approach (ranked 48th) and great around the green (24th). He's played Bermuda just once before, tying for 22nd in 2021.
Danny Willett - $6,400 (+30000)
Willett has not played on the PGA Tour since July, when he missed his fourth cut in a row. Since then he's been on the DP World Tour. While not great there, he's been better than here, making three of six cuts. Willett doesn't rank statistically on the PGA Tour because he doesn't have enough starts. But he is gaining strokes on the greens, plays better on shorter tracks and, as an Englishman, grew up playing in weather. That's a lot more enticing than anyone else at $6,500 or under.
Waltzed through Len's plays for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship? See how they look in RotoWire's PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer.
