Seamus Power & Austin Smotherman Share Lead

• Seamus Power and Austin Smotherman share the lead at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
• Taylor Moore, Corey Conners and Ben Silverman are tied third, two shots back.
• Twelve players are within four shots of the lead going into Sunday’s final round.

The wind finally blew at Port Royal at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship on Saturday. Seamus Power handled it best over the closing holes.

The Irishman made up a two-shot deficit late in his round for a 4-under 67. That lifted him to 16-under 197, level with Austin Smotherman, who protected his 66 with a 10-foot par save at the last.

Through two days the course’s main defence had been missing. The halfway report noted a forecast for stronger weekend gusts, and the third round delivered them. Power grew up playing in wind, and even he was impressed.

“Today was proper wind, at least for me,” Power said. “It’s tough because you’d like to hit a low shot but you’re so elevated or you’re hitting off an upslope that it’s tough to judge, it’s tough to get the flight that you’d like to hit. So it’s a different challenge than when we play in wind at home.”

His decisive birdie came from two 5-woods: one off the tee and one into the green. Both were hard draws into a wind ripping off the left. He left himself 40 feet, two-putted, and closed with a par to draw level.

Smotherman holds on

Smotherman did his scoring early. He used the wind to set up a 9-foot eagle putt at the par-5 7th, which took him to 5-under for the day. The back nine was about holding on.

“Once we turned, I felt like the wind just kept picking up,” Smotherman said. “No. 11 tee shot was kind of the first one where we were really like, ‘Wow, it’s on another level now. These next few holes aren’t going to be what we’re used to seeing these last couple days.’ So, super simple shots in our mind.”

At the par-3 16th, Smotherman hit a chip 7-iron at a front pin and watched it finish in a back bunker some 35 yards long. He blasted out to the fairway short of the green and got up and down for a bogey. He missed a birdie chance at the par-5 17th but was content to keep hitting fairways and greens.

Very different stakes

Smotherman won his first PGA Tour title at the Bank of Utah Championship in his last start. That win brought a two-year exemption and all but secured his place in next year’s early $20 million Signature Events. This is the third time he has led or co-led after 54 holes this season, after Utah and the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, where he tied second.

The 32-year-old would become the season’s eighth multiple winner. The last player to win back-to-back starts on Tour was Matt Fitzpatrick, at the RBC Heritage and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Smotherman is projected at No. 51 in the FedExCup Fall standings.

Power has more riding on the result. He began the week at No. 103 and needs to finish the FedExCup Fall inside the top 100 to keep full status for next year. Three rounds have lifted him to a projected No. 53.

He won this event in 2022, the only other time he has held a 54-hole lead on Tour. Victory on Sunday would make him the first multiple winner in Bermuda. It would also be his third PGA Tour title, in his 237th start, at the age of 39. Seven of Saturday’s leading 10 were outside the top 100.

More wind is forecast for Sunday. Power thinks that helps him, though not because he’s Irish: a stronger wind makes it harder for the players behind to make up ground with birdies.

The chasing pack

Twelve players are within four shots of the lead, with Taylor Moore, Corey Conners and Ben Silverman tied third at 14-under. Moore went bogey-free for a 66 and holed 157 feet 2 inches of putts, his most in a single round in 457 on Tour. Conners is making his tournament debut and, at No. 61 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is the highest-ranked player in the field. He shot 69, as did fellow Canadian Silverman. Silverman is seeking a first PGA Tour title in his 130th start and would be the first Canadian to win here.

Six-time Tour winner Chris Kirk, on his first appearance in Bermuda, is part of a group at 13-under. So is Chan Kim, whose 7-under 64 was the low round of the day. Second-round co-leader Chandler Blanchet is also at 13-under, while fellow halfway leader Kensei Hirata dropped to T34 at 8-under.

Hawaiian amateur Kihei Akina and Rudy Sautron share 17th at 10-under.

Tight finishes are common at Port Royal. This is the third year running, and the fourth time overall, that two players have shared the 54-hole lead. Three 54-hole leaders or co-leaders have gone on to win the event: Power in 2022, Rafael Campos in 2024 and Adam Schenk in 2025.

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