Chandler Blanchet Leads After Career-Low 62

• Chandler Blanchet shot a career-low 62 to lead the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
• Ben Kohles, Corey Conners, Danny Walker and Ben Silverman are tied second.
• Blanchet began the week No. 114 in the FedExCup Fall standings.

Chandler Blanchet made two eagles, one from 50 feet and the other from five, to post a career-low 9-under 62 and take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal.

The PGA Tour rookie added six birdies, played the three par-5s in 5-under and dropped only one shot. That came at the par-4 4th, his 13th hole, where he missed the green well to the left. His previous best on Tour was a 63 in the second round of this month’s Bank of Utah Championship.

Kohles, Conners, Walker and Canada’s Silverman all shot 63. The wind swung from gusty to calm, with a few passing showers, and the course averaged 68.5 without its usual sustained bluster.

Why the round matters for Blanchet

Blanchet arrived in Bermuda at No. 114 in the FedExCup Fall. Bermuda is one of five tournaments left in the season, and the top 100 keep full status for 2027. Thursday’s round projects him to No. 56.

It is the second time he has led or co-led after 18 holes on Tour. The first was at the Puerto Rico Open in March, where he finished second behind Ricky Castillo. That remains the best of his four top-25 finishes this season. The others were T18 at the Valspar Championship, T20 at the Rocket Classic and T24 at the 3M Open.

Blanchet made his PGA Tour debut at the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship and missed the cut. This week is his 29th Tour start. He owns two Korn Ferry Tour wins and three on PGA Tour Americas. Nine first-round leaders or co-leaders have gone on to win on Tour this season.

Two eagles at Port Royal

Out in the penultimate group of the day, Blanchet made his first eagle at the 17th, the shortest of the par-5s, with water lurking to the left.

“Yeah. No. 17, I guess that was my last eagle. I hit a great drive,” Blanchet said.

With only about 180 yards in, he left his approach well right, then holed the putt from just outside 50 feet.

“Just dripped in on the last revolution,” he said.

The second came at the par-5 7th as he finished his round and the breeze eased.

“The wind was kind of calming down, so it was pretty favorable,” he said. “Hit a smooth 5-iron there to like 5 feet. That was sweet.”

Kohles now chasing the top 60

Kohles was No. 19 going into the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, where the top 20 earned cards. He was playing well enough to skip it, went to the Baycurrent Classic in Japan instead and tied for 17th. He is now No. 80, virtually a lock for a card, and can aim for the top 60. Players finishing between Nos. 51 and 60 earn places in two $20 million Signature Events, next year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational.

His 63 contained 11 birdies, his most in a single round on Tour. That ties the most in any round at this event, matching Alex Noren and Peter Malnati, both in 2023. Six of them came in a row on holes 5 to 10, a career best. All six putts were from around six feet except the last, from about 12 feet.

“It’s pretty nice, I think, to feel a lot more comfortable,” Kohles said. “Going into the fall, it was funny. I obviously decided to play the fall out here and skip the last three Korn Ferry (Tour events), and as good as I played on both tours, I wasn’t really locked on either one. So, it was really nice to have those three good finishes to start the fall and pretty much secure my top 100 for next year.

“Just feel like I’m just kind of freewheeling and trying to play my best and see where it puts me.”

Conners, Silverman and Walker bogey-free

Conners, making his tournament debut, matched his lowest round of the season with a bogey-free 63. His previous low was the final round of the Travelers Championship. At No. 61 in the Official World Golf Ranking, he is the highest-ranked player in the field.

“The conditions were amazing,” said Conners. “The wind blows pretty hard here and it was fairly mild today. The golf course is playing great, it’s in wonderful shape and was really a nice day. A little bit wet early, but for the most part we got really lucky with some pretty pleasant conditions to play in.”

Silverman’s bogey-free 63 is his lowest round of the season as he seeks a first PGA Tour title in his 130th start. Walker’s bogey-free 63 is his career-low 18-hole score in his 147th round on Tour, improving on two 64s. He had missed the cut on both previous visits to Bermuda, in 2020 and 2025.

Around the field

Mackenzie Hughes and Emiliano Grillo were among a large group on 64, two shots back.

Five-time PGA Tour winner Jonathan Byrd is T6 at 7-under. A win on Sunday would come 15 years, nine months and 16 days after his last, at Kapalua in 2011.

Seamus Power, the 2022 champion, is T20 at 5-under and the best placed of the five past winners in the field. Rafael Campos and Camilo Villegas are T60 at 2-under and Brendon Todd is T76 at 1-under. Defending champion Adam Schenk, who won his maiden title here last year, opened at 4-over and sits 119th.

Bermuda has two players in the field. Camiko Smith is T94 at even par and Nick Jones is T106 at 1-over. No Bermudian has made the cut in the event’s history.

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