BERMUDA: After a week in Cabo that saw Austin Eckroat pick up his second career win in exciting fashion, the PGA Tour makes the 2,800-mile trek to Bermuda this week for the sixth edition of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, an event that is fast becoming known for reviving careers after 40-somethings Brendon Todd, Brian Gay, and Camilo Villegas won 3 of the first 5 stagings. It was Villegas who got the job done last year for his first victory in nearly a decade, outlasting Alex Noren, another vet who is long overdue for a return to the winner’s circle. Villegas will look to defend his title this week and is trading in the high triple-digits on the BETDAQ exchange, so if you think he’s got a chance at conjuring up some more magic, go ahead and get rich.
As expected with one of the Fall Series “island circuit” events, there aren’t many big names in the field this week, as we’ve got the likes of Seamus Power (20.0) and Maverick McNealy (21.0) heading BETDAQ’s Win Market. And it’s worth mentioning that Power’s win here in 2022 marked the only time in this tournament’s 5-year history that the champion has begun the week at shorter than 60/1. It’s a good week to take some shots.
The venue, Port Royal Golf Course, is a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design that is the only course on the island capable of hosting a tournament of this nature. It’s still quite short by Tour standards, measuring just 6,828 yards from all the way back, but the fairways are narrow, the greens are small and knobby, and if the wind starts whipping, which it often does, things can get interesting. The winner of this tournament has failed to reach the 20-under mark in 3 of the past 4 years, though the wind did lay down a bit last year as Villegas reached 24-under. The course is no pushover, but with so many short irons and wedges, birdie opportunities abound.
The middling nature of the field this week makes this a tricky event to handicap, but here are three guys who may be worth a look:
WIN MARKET
Recommendations to BACK (odds in parenthesis)
Justin Lower (37.0)- A journeyman whose game has steadily progressed, Lower is playing his best golf at age 35, and after a career-best runner-up finish at the World Wide Technology Championship last week — his second top-10 in his past six starts — he could be primed to break through in a big way this week. He’s played this tournament in each of the past three years and has never finished outside the top-20, with his T8 in 2022 his best showing so far, and he’s never been in this good of form heading into the event. He’s a veteran of the “island circuit” and likes this sort of environment, finishing 4th at the Corales Puntacana earlier this year and 3rd in the Mexico Open (technically not on an island, sure, but similarities exist). Lower is a good bet to contend this week and the price is fair.
Alex Smalley (62.0)- Though Smalley has yet to pick up his first PGA Tour victory in 97 career starts, he’s finished runner-up a couple of times and has sniffed contention on a few occasions this season, most recently at the Sanderson Farms last month, where a Sunday 63 propelled him to a 5th-place finish. Like Lower, Smalley has a history of success on the “island circuit”, finishing 6th at the Corales Puntacana a few months back and 5th at the RSM Classic last year (Sea Island counts as an island, right?). He’s also played well at this tournament, finding the top-30 in all three of his appearances and the top-15 twice (T11 in ’22, T12 in ’21). He feels like a great bet at better than 60/1.
Kevin Streelman (102.0)- At age 46 Streelman has officially reached the “grizzled vet” stage of his career, and for most of this season he’s played like someone who’s ready to be put out to pasture. In his first 20 starts this year he missed 11 cuts and didn’t register a single top-30 finish, which is why he’s available at a triple-digit price here. However, over the past few weeks he’s found a little something and has posted some nice results, highlighted by a 3rd-place showing at the Black Desert Championship last month. He found the top-25 at the World Wide Technology Championship last week, so his game is sharp at the moment, and though this will be his first appearance in Bermuda, he has a nice record on short, tight courses like Port Royal, and his 460 career starts and 2 victories make him one of the most experienced and accomplished players in the field this week. You’re not going to do better than Streelman at a triple-digit price point.
