Matt Cooper previews the final round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and has three selections.
Golf betting tips: Butterfield Bermuda Championship final round
1pt win Seamus Power at 22/1 (General)
1pt win Rikuya Hoshino at 18/1 (General)
0.5pt e.w. Sami Valimaki at 225/1 (1/4 1,2,3 General)
Back in the 1970s talk of the Bermuda Triangle was all the rage, alongside speculation about the existence of Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster. The Triangle stretched from the island of Bermuda itself to Florida and the Caribbean, and inside it aircraft had a nasty habit of going missing.
The last two winners of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal, popular though they both were in the form of Camilo Villegas and Rafael Campos, have disappeared into a golfing version of the triangle because since their victories the pair have one top 30 between them.
The golfers in the hunt for this year’s title will not care for such playful fripperies, of course, except that most of them will be hoping not to go missing in the sense of remaining outside the vital top 100 in the FedEx Cup Fall rankings. In fact, with 18 holes to play, 10 of the top dozen are outside that mark, the exceptions being Vince Whaley in 86th and Max McGreevy in 100th.
To add to the drama, the week has been characterised by high wind and rainy squalls, and while there should be less of the latter on Sunday, there will be plenty of the former. One forecast suggest gusts above 50mph which would be potentially problematic, but at around 30 to 40mph they will do enough to provide entertaining jeopardy for viewers (less so for the competitors).
Adam Schenk and Braden Thornberry lead on 12-under 201, chased by the quartet of McGreevy, Takumi Kanaya, Adam Hadwin and Chandler Phillips. Rikuya Hoshino is alone in seventh on 10-under with Seamus Power, Frankie Capan III, Noah Goodwin and Whaley on 9-under.
Discussing the conditions, Schenk said: “It was laughable at times. Thursday morning was super windy, Friday was manageable, but today it was blowing the entire time.” Thornberry was on the same page. “It’s a battle out there,” he said. “Not every shot is hard, but then there are some, like 16, that was a hurricane basically when we hit it. It was 124 yards, tried to chip a 6-iron, wind changed.”
In the circumstances, the last thing you would expect is that one of the co-leaders would be putting one handed, but that’s exactly what Schenk is doing, at least when conditions allow. “When we were protected from the wind I could use one hand and hit a lot of nice putts,” he said. “Had a couple lip-outs.” The 33-year-old, like everyone else in the top 12 bar Power and Hadwin, is yet to win on the PGA Tour. He came mighty close twice in 2023 at Innisbrook and Colonial, but this represents a huge opportunity. “Tired after today, so I’ll sleep well,” he said. “I’ll definitely be, I don’t want to call it nervous, more excited to see what happens.”
The 28-year-old Thornberry has only one top 15 individual finish on the PGA Tour and that was back in 2017. “I feel like I play well on easier golf courses in really hard conditions,” he said. “That’s been my niche a little bit.” He also added: “Last year on Korn Ferry Tour I had a run where I was in second place like four times going into Sunday and I kept shooting even or 1 over. Nothing crazy, but kind of falling down to 15th or so. Then I figured it out in Boise, was fourth, and a couple weeks later I found the win.”
Can either of them find the win? Of course they can and, like the four in a share of third, ought to be favoured in the sense that 23 of the last 24 PGA Tour winners were tied third or better with 18 holes to play. If that trends maintains, Ben Coley, his followers and your correspondent will hope McGreevy is the man to emerge victorious. He was tipped at 50/1 and is now 5/1. Schenk is the favourite at 9/2 with all the top half dozen ranked 8/1 or lower.
At Port Royal itself five of the six winners were within two blows of the 54 hole lead and the exception was four back. With those top 100 nerves and the high wind there is surely a high chance of volatility. With that in mind I’m content to stick with McGreevy among the pace-setters (he’s Oklahoma-based and is not afraid of strong wind) and then hope a trio from further back can get involved as the tension rises.
We’ll start with the 2022 tournament champion SEAMUS POWER at 22/1. The Irishman was also T12th in 2021 and was T23 last year with a final round 65. He loved the island and the course at first sight, and is unafraid of windy conditions. After health issues he has played better in the Fall. “I’m finding my swing and comfort level,” he said at the start of the week. “I’m seeing putts go in as well.”
Japan’s RIKUYA HOSHINO isn’t a PGA Tour winner but he did land the DP World Tour’s Qatar Masters at the start of last year which is a track known to favour good wind performers and while it wasn’t at it’s worse that week he played well and also made ground on the field during a blustery day at Royal County Down last year. We’ll add him at 18/1.
Finally I can’t resist a poke at SAMI VALIMAKI who performed well for us last week and continues to be a better prospect when the wind is blowing so maybe he can set an early target from six back. The Finn is safe for the top 100 that gives him a freedom others lack, he’s gone 11-for-12 at Scrambling over the last 36 holes (a part of the game that could be tested this Sunday) and 225/1 is very tempting.
Posted at 1012 GMT on 16/11/25
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