Alex Noren takes two-shot lead into the weekend

Butterfield Bermuda Championship R2

Alex Noren carded a second-round, bogey-free 66 for to reach 15-under and take a two-shot lead at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship before play was once again suspended due to darkness.

“Today was, I played similarly good,” he said of his round compared to the first. “Hit probably the same amount of greens, but just didn’t hit as close. Like yesterday was probably the best I played in, I mean, five years or 10 years, I don’t know. But today I hit it, the wedges came up 15 feet instead of five and had a bunch of tap-ins yesterday. The greens are, it’s quite a lot of slope and quite a lot of grain. The first three birdies I just kind of rolled in and then it was a little trickier, but I’m happy with 5 under.”

His 127 marks his low 36-hole total on Tour and sets the opening 36-hole scoring record at this event as well as his first 36-hole lead/co-lead. The Swede seeks his first victory in his 162nd career start.

Ryan Moore closed with a bogey-free 64 for a share of second place at 13-under alongside fellow American Ryan Brehm (65) and Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira (bogey-free, 65).

“My caddie and I were joking yesterday that it might have been the worst I’ve hit a golf ball in the last like three months, but I made putts,” said Moore. “When I did get out of position, I made a couple great par-saving putts and knocked in a couple 15-, 20-footers and that’s just all the difference. I controlled it well enough to not get myself in too much trouble, but man, I’ve been hitting it really, really nice the last few weeks and yesterday was actually a little bit of a shock, especially off the tee for me.

“So, you know, that honestly, weirdly gave me some confidence that it’s funny you do that sometimes and you shoot a good score and you realize, oh, don’t have to be perfect to shoot a good round of golf or to shoot 6, 7 under and it’s kind of what I’ve done the last couple days.

“I hit it a little nicer today, controlled the golf ball a little bit better yesterday, but again, putting was just solid. Made a couple saves when I needed to and knocked in a few of those 15-, 20-footers again. That’s just not what I’ve been making lately, so yeah, just got me right to a good position going into the week.”

Colombia’s Camilo Villegas who led after the third round last week at the World Wide Technology Championship moved into solo fifth place at 12-under after carding a bogey-free 63, his lowest score on Tour since the first round of the 2016 Genesis Invitational (63).

“The wind was consistent, which was good,” said Villegas. “Pretty much same direction the whole day, maybe switching a little bit there west-southwest to southwest. But yeah, this golf course is better when there’s a little bit of wind.

“I got off to a great start today birdieing the first two. A couple missed putts on 5 and then I missed 9, 10, 11, hit a bad shot, but you know what, I saved pars on those holes. Other than that, I just rolled some good putts coming in.”

Pos.PlayerTo ParThruTodayR1R2Total
1Alex Noren-15F-56166127
T2Ryan Moore-13F-76564129
T2Satoshi Kodaira-13F-66465129
T2Ryan Brehm-13F-66465129
5Camilo Villegas-12F-86763130
T6Brendon Todd-11F-56566131
T6Doc Redman-11F-56566131
T6D.A. Points-11F-46467131
T6Matti Schmid-11F-46467131
T6Stewart Cink-11F-46467131
T6Akshay Bhatia-11F-56566131
T12Adam Scott-10F-46567132
T12Austin Smotherman-10F-36468132
T12Fred Biondi-10F-76864132
T12Kramer Hickok-10F-66765132
T12Davis Riley-10F-36468132
T12Dylan Wu-10F-26369132
T18Taylor Pendrith-9F-36568133
T18D.J. Trahan-9F-16370133
T18David Lipsky-9F-56766133
T18Mark Hubbard-9F-66865133
T18Cody Gribble-9F-76964133
T18Carl Yuan-9F-87063133
T18Kelly Kraft-9F-36568133
T18Vince Whaley-9F-16370133
T26Scott Piercy-8F-56866134
T26Charley Hoffman-8F-26569134
T26Ben Griffin-8F-87163134
T26Russell Knox-8F-46767134
T26Austin Cook-8F-56866134
T26Kevin Yu-8F-87163134
T26David Lingmerth-8F-56866134
T26Brian Stuard-8F-77064134
T26Kyle Westmoreland-8F-26569134
T26Kevin Roy-8F-16470134
T26Justin Lower-8F-46767134
T26Matthias Schwab-8F-46767134
T26Adam Long-8F-36668134
T39Kevin Chappell-7F-56966135
T39Brian Gay-7F-36768135
T39Andrew Landry-7F-26669135
T39Ben Martin-7F-16570135
T39Tyson Alexander-7F-46867135
T39Peter Kuest-7F-46867135
T39Patton Kizzire-7F-56966135
T39Lucas Glover-7F-67065135
T39Nick Watney-7F-46867135
T39Ryan Palmer-7F-36768135
T39Max McGreevy-7F-67065135
T39Robert Garrigus-7F16372135
T51Brandon Wu-6F-36868136
T51Zecheng Dou-6F-46967136
T51Nico Echavarria-6F-16670136
T51Cameron Percy-6F-77264136
T51Nick Hardy-6F-36868136
T51Martin Laird-6F-26769136
T51Troy Merritt-6F-46967136
T51Sean O'Hair-6F-36868136
T51Ryan Gerard-6F16472136
T51Augusto Núñez-616-469-69
T61Peter Malnati-5F-57166137
T61Kevin Stadler-5F16572137
T61Brice Garnett-5F-36968137
T61Andrew Novak-5F-16770137
T61Ryan Armour-5FE6671137
T61Robert Streb-5F-16770137
T61Jim Herman-5F-36968137
T61Lucas Herbert-5FE6671137
T61Kyle Stanley-5F-26869137
T61Wesley Bryan-5F-77364137
T61Alex Smalley-5F-26869137
T61George Bryan, IV-5F-36968137
T61Martin Trainer-5F-47067137
T61Ted Potter, Jr.-5F-47067137
T61William McGirt-5F-47067137
T61Lanto Griffin-5F-47067137
T61Luke List-5F-36968137
T61Richy Werenski-5F-67265137
T61S.Y. Noh-5F-36968137
Projected Cut
T80Arjun Atwal-4F-47167138
T80Harry Hall-4F-26969138
T80Ricky Barnes-4F-26969138
T80Sam Bennett-4F-16870138
T80C.T. Pan-4F-16870138
T80Doug Ghim-4F-37068138
T80Fabián Gómez-4F-16870138
T80Chris Stroud-4F-16870138
T80Jason Dufner-4F-47167138
T80Scott Brown-4F-26969138
T80Michael Gligic-416-471-71
T80Brent Grant-416-269-69
T80Greg Koch-416166-66
T93Paul Haley II-3F16772139
T93Trevor Cone-3F-27069139
T93Nick Dunlap(a)-3FE6871139
T93Andy Zhang-3FE6871139
T93Thomas Detry-3F-47267139
T93Martin Contini-316-573-73
T93Kyle Wilshire-315E68-68
T100Henrik Norlander-2FE6971140
T100Sung Kang-2F-37268140
T102Harrison Endycott-1F-17170141
T102Brian Davis-1F16972141
T102Trevor Werbylo-1FE7071141
T102Tommy Gainey-1F46675141
T102Jonathan Byrd-1F16972141
T102Scott Harrington-1FE7071141
T108MJ DaffueParF17072142
T108Chris BakerParF-17270142
T108Kevin TwayParF26973142
T108Richard S. JohnsonParF-37468142
T108Hank LebiodaParF26973142
T108Omar UrestiParF-27369142
T108Ben CraneParF17072142
T108Dylan FrittelliParF26973142
T108George McNeillParF17072142
T108Tano GoyaParF36874142
T108Chase JohnsonPar16269-69
T119Jimmy Walker+1F-27469143
T119Michael Sims+1F-17370143
T119Jeff Overton+1F36974143
T119David Hearn+1F-27469143
T119Derek Ernst+1F-17370143
124Bo Van Pelt+4F47175146
125Harry Higgs+5F17572147
T126Oliver Betschart(a)+6F47375148
T126Jonas Blixt+6F27573148
T126Greg Chalmers+6FE7771148
129Derek Lamely+7F67277149
130Danny Guise+8161168-68
131Scott Roy+11F57776153
132Eric West(a)+1415877-77
Updated: November 11, 2023
Butterfield Bermuda Championship 2023
Date: 9th November - 12th November, 2023
Location: Port Royal Golf Course, Southampton, Bermuda
Purse: $6,500,000

Join the discussion

Post a comment

1 comment

Comments are closed.