PGA Tour - 2026 Butterfield Bermuda Championship: Preview and Favorites

The PGA Tour's Butterfield Bermuda Championship will be held from Thursday, October 22, through Sunday, October 25, 2026, at the Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda. The tournament is a four-round stroke play event and awards 500 FedExCup points to the winner. The prize purse is $6 million, with the winner’s check totaling $1.08 million. The defending champion is Adam Schenk, who won the 2025 tournament at 12 under Par.

Here you’ll find the tee times and leaderboard for the 2026 PGA Tour Bermuda Championship.

Course Analysis of the PGA Tour Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., the course opened in 1970 and has hosted the tournament since 2019. The 2026 edition will be the eighth in a row. At 6,243 meters, the par-71 course is, according to Rick Gehman, the shortest course on the Tour’s tournament calendar. The longest hole is No. 2 at 506 meters, and the shortest is No. 3 at 135 meters. Port Royal is one of seven golf courses in Bermuda.

Wind is the decisive factor. Over the past five years, the average sustained wind speed at Port Royal has been around 24.5 km/h. According to the PGA Tour, this made it the “windiest event” among tournaments with at least three years of data since 2018. In 2025, gusts reached up to about 64 km/h during the final round, and the round average rose to 73.113 strokes. Over the entire tournament, the average was 71.272. All playing surfaces consist of Bermuda grass.

In 2025, the par-3 holes were among the fourth-most difficult on the Tour, with an average score of 3.20. The par-5 holes averaged 4.76. The two holes used to measure driving distance (holes 2 and 7) averaged around 239 meters in 2025. The best single round in the tournament is 61 strokes. This feat was achieved by Taylor Pendrith in 2022, Alex Noren in 2023, and Wesley Bryan in 2024.

The Favorites for the PGA Tour Butterfield Bermuda Championship

According to the PGA Tour’s expert analysis, Ben James tops the power rankings. As a rookie, he is ranked 62nd in the FedExCup, the PGA Tour’s season-long points standings. In his last three starts, he finished 3rd, 2nd, and T5. Rob Bolton calls him “the man to beat”. Seamus Power won in 2022 and has never missed a cut in his six starts at Port Royal, including four top-25 finishes. Chris Breece notes that no one at Port Royal has a track record quite like Power’s. Most recently, he finished T7 and T21.

Austin Smotherman most recently won the Bank of Utah Championship. In Bermuda, he missed the cut in 2021, tied for 23rd at -11 in 2022, tied for 59th in 2023, and tied for 55th at -4 in 2024. This is his fifth appearance.

Corey Conners, ranked 61st in the world, is the highest-ranked player in the field. Bermuda is new territory for him, as this is his first appearance there. The Canadian has two PGA Tour wins and is nearing 300 career starts. Experts expect his accuracy in the wind to give him an edge, even though he lacks distance. Ben Kohles is ranked No. 4 on the Power Rankings. He has posted top-20 finishes in the first three FedExCup fall events and leads the Tour in Fairways hit and Greens in regulation.

Vince Whaley has twelve top-10 finishes in 163 Tour starts, including four at Port Royal. There, he has posted finishes of T7, T8, T5, and T3 since 2021. However, with no top-25 finishes since his podium finish last year, his form remains uncertain. Other players with a history at this course include Camilo Villegas (2023 champion, T9 last year), Rico Hoey (top 25 in both of his previous appearances), and Kevin Roy (T8 in 2023).

Defending Champion and History

Adam Schenk claimed his first PGA Tour victory in 2025. He prevailed by one stroke over Chandler Phillips, who finished at 11 under Par. Braden Thornberry, who was tied for the lead going into the final round, fell back to a tie for 22nd place with a round of 80. In Bermuda, Schenk had previously finished T26 at -6 (278 strokes) in 2020 and T29 at -10 (274 strokes) in 2022.

The list of winners from recent years: 2025 Adam Schenk (-12), 2024 Rafael Campos (-19), 2023 Camilo Villegas (-24), 2022 Seamus Power (-19), 2021 Lucas Herbert (-15), and 2019 Brendon Todd, who won by four strokes. Five former champions will be competing in 2026: Todd, Power, Villegas, Campos, and Schenk.

Prize Money, Points, and Sporting Significance

The prize money totals $6 million. The winner receives $1.08 million, about 18 percent of the total prize money. A victory earns 500 FedExCup points. The field consists of 120 players. No participant is ranked in the top 50 of the world rankings or the top 25 of the FedExCup. The FedExCup fall events determine a player’s position in the FedExCup standings, which defines their status for the upcoming season.

Among the amateurs, Kihei Akina is making history. He needs just 10 more points in the PGA Tour University Accelerated Program to earn his Tour card. Austin Lemieux, son of NHL Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux, is making his PGA Tour debut after shooting a 6-under-par round in the Open qualifier.

The main questions are whether Adam Schenk can defend his title and whether Ben James can maintain his strong form. It also remains to be seen how Corey Conners will fare in his debut in Bermuda and how Seamus Power will perform after a string of recent poor results. The wind will likely be a decisive factor.