Kensei Hirata & Chandler Blanchet Share Lead

• Kensei Hirata and Chandler Blanchet share the 36-hole lead at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
• Seamus Power, Corey Conners, Eric Cole, Ben Silverman and Danny Walker are one shot back.
• The cut fell at 5-under 137, with defending champion Adam Schenk among those missing out.

Kensei Hirata went bogey-free for a 7-under 64 at Port Royal on Friday to draw level with Chandler Blanchet. The first-round leader birdied his final hole for a 4-under 67, leaving the two PGA Tour rookies tied at 13-under 129 at the halfway stage of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

Five players are a shot behind. Wind is Port Royal’s principal defence, and it has not blown at full strength through two rounds. The forecast has it gusting harder over the weekend than at any point so far.

Blanchet’s blind finish

Blanchet followed his career-low 62 with a round that ended on a scramble. He pulled his drive at the par-4 18th and wanted it to find the bunker for a cleaner lie. It carried the sand and settled on a slope with the ball above his feet, with no view of the front pin. He hit his wedge to 5 feet and holed the putt.

“Had a pretty uphill, above-the-feet lie and completely blind shot,” Blanchet said. “It was kind of a fun creative one, which I think you’ve got to be pretty solid at this week with the wind. Can’t just take your stock shots. So it was a good way to end it.”

This is the second time Blanchet has led or co-led after 36 holes on Tour. The first came at the Puerto Rico Open in March, where he finished second to Ricky Castillo. He made his PGA Tour debut in this event in 2022 and missed the cut. This week is his 29th start.

He arrived at No. 114 in the FedExCup Fall standings and is projected to rise to No. 56.

Hirata’s first share of the lead

Hirata had not shared the lead after any round of his rookie season before Friday. His previous best 36-hole position in 28 Tour starts was T2 at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in May, where he finished T19.

The 64 equals his best round of the season, matching his opening round in that same Texas event. It is one shot off his career-best 63, shot in the second round of the 2025 Sony Open in Hawaii.

Hirata is making his first appearance in Bermuda. He is a six-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, four of those titles coming in 2024. He earned his PGA Tour card by finishing No. 15 on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour points list.

He started the week at No. 176 in the FedExCup Fall and is projected at No. 80. A win would make him the first Japanese winner on Tour since Hideki Matsuyama at Kapalua in 2025.

Power in the chasing pack

Seamus Power, the 2022 champion, put a poor finish to his opening round behind him with a bogey-free 64. The Irishman won here when he was inside the world’s top 50. He now sits No. 103 in the FedExCup Fall standings. A year ago he finished at No. 114 and still got into most events, though not the Signature Events.

Eric Cole shot a second consecutive 65 to join him at 12-under. Cole is the only player in the field who finished the season inside the top 50 of the FedExCup standings, at No. 49.

Corey Conners, making his tournament debut, shot 67. At No. 61 in the Official World Golf Ranking he is the highest-ranked player in the field. Ben Silverman also shot 67. Danny Walker matched that score by birdieing his last two holes.

Around the field

The low scoring pushed the cut to 5-under 137. Schenk, who won his maiden title here last year, finished at 2-over and missed it. So did Chandler Phillips, last year’s runner-up, who arrived at No. 98 in the FedExCup Fall. This is the fourth of the eight fall events, leaving four more for players to reach the top 100 and keep full status for 2027.

Greyson Sigg shot 64 to reach T8 at 11-under. He became the first player in the event’s history to hit all 18 greens in regulation in a round, a feat no one had managed in 2,754 rounds before this week.

Three of the eight amateurs made the cut. Hawaiian Kihei Akina leads them at T13 on 9-under, with Rudy Sautron (T45) and Miles Russell (T63) also through. Monday qualifier Austin Lemieux, son of NHL great Mario Lemieux, finished at 4-over on his PGA Tour debut and missed the cut.

No Bermudian has made the cut in the event’s history, and that run continued. Nick Jones finished at even par and Camiko Smith at 14-over.

Max Greyserman withdrew during the second round with a back injury.

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