Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: World Wide Technology Championship (Austin Eckroat)
THIS WEEK: Butterfield Bermuda Championship, Southampton, Bermuda, Nov. 14-17
Course: Port Royal Golf Course (Par 71, 6,828 Yards)
Purse: $6.9M (Winner: $1.242M)
Defending Champion: Camilo Villegas
FedEx Cup Champion: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 1-4 p.m. ET; Saturday: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Sunday: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (All times Golf Channel)
X: @Bermuda_Champ
NOTES: This is the seventh of eight tournaments on the FedEx Cup Fall schedule, which finalizes the top 125 players who will retain exempt status for 2025. Nos. 126-150 after the fall will retain conditional status. Players who finished Nos. 51-70 in the FedEx Cup have secured their tour cards, but are competing for spots in the first two signature events after the season-opening The Sentry on Jan. 2-5. This week’s field includes every player from No. 118-135 in the standings other than No. 130 Matt Wallace. Joel Dahmen is among the notables battling for full status, having moved up to No. 121 with a T14 last week. Former Top 10 player Daniel Berger has climbed to 124th with four consecutive top-40 finishes. … Villegas’ win last year was his first since 2014. … Camiko Smith won a local qualifier to earn a sponsor exemption into the event along with fellow Bermudians Nick Jones and Eric West. None of the 14 Bermudians who have played in the event to date have made the cut, including Smith in 2020 and 2021. … Miles Russell, 16, is in the field on an exemption as the Junior Player of the Year. He shot 74-70 in his PGA Tour debut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in June.
AON NEXT 10: The top 10 players in the AON Next 10 following The RSM Classic will receive spots in the first two designated events of 2025. Seven of the players from Nos. 51-60 are in this week’s field: No. 51 Mackenzie Hughes, No. 53 Maverick McNealy, No. 54 Seamus Power, No. 55 Patrick Rodgers, No. 57 Nick Taylor, No. 58 Ben Griffin, No. 60 Kevin Yu.
BEST BETS: Power (+1600 at DraftKings) won the event in 2022, when he set the tournament record with 28 birdies. … Hughes (+1600) is a two-time winner on tour and has posted a pair of top-10s in his only two starts this fall. … McNealy (+1800) is ranked 68th as he still seeks his maiden win on tour. He did post a T6 last week. … Lucas Glover (+2500) is among the most accomplished players in the field. In four fall starts so far, he has a pair of T3 and two other top-25s. … Matti Schmid (+2800) is coming off a missed cut last week. However, that followed pair of top-5s and his best PGA Tour result to date was a solo third in Bermuda last year. … Nico Echavarria (+4000) claimed his second tour title two weeks ago and was in contention to make it two in a row until a 71 on Sunday dropped him into a T6.
