Butterfield Bermuda Championship 2024 Preview, Picks & Analysis

Where is world number one Scottie Scheffler? 

One thing I do know is that he is not in Bermuda this week. Scheffler’s last 72-hole event was the Tour Championship at East Lake at the end of August. Much golf has been played since then and as we near the end of the FedEx Cup Fall Season, a number of lesser lights are grabbing the opportunity to climb the rankings and pocket lots of cash in the process.

Ireland’s Seamus Power is one of those who will believe he has a great chance of winning another PGA Tour title at the Bermuda Butterfield Championship this week. He is in 56th place in the standings and needs to climb six places to gain entry into the big-money Signature events in 2025.

A two-time winner on the PGA Tour, Power has made 186 starts, making 120 cuts with two their places and nine top fives, along with 19 top 10s. He has made 20 cuts in 2024, with nine top-25 finishes.

Power was born in County Waterford on March 4, 1987 and played his college golf at East Tennessee State University where he won five times including the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship in 2007 and 2010.

After graduating from ETSU, Power played on mini-tours while attempting to qualify for the Web.com Tour. He won twice on the eGolf Pro Tour in 2014  and earned his Web.com Tour card for 2015 through qualifying school.

Power had two top-10 finishes on the Web.com Tour in 2015 and finished 72nd on the money list, retaining his card for 2016. In May 2016, he won the United Leasing and Finance Championship, becoming the first Irish player to win on the Web.com Tour. Power also represented Ireland at the 2016 Olympic Games.

In July 2021, he won his first PGA Tour event at the Barbasol Championship. He won the event on the sixth extra hole of a playoff. In doing so, Power became the fifth player from Ireland to win a PGA Tour tournament after Pat Doyle, Peter O’Hara, Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry.

He broke into the top 50 for the first time in his career in January 2022, following a third-place finish at the Sony Open In March 2022, Power earned his maiden Masters appearance after making the quarter-finals at the WGC-Dell Technologies Matchplay. Power made his third straight major cut, after finishing tied for 12th at the 2022 US Open.

In October 2022, Power won his second PGA Tour event at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. He shot three rounds of 65 en route to a one shot victory over Thomas Detry and so will return this week with plenty of positive memories.

Scotland’s Russell Knox is another two-time winner on the PGA Tour but the most recent of those came in 2016.

He is now outside the top 200 in the FedEx standings and will be heading to qualifying school of the Korn Ferry Tour unless he can produce a big finish to the season.

Born in Inverness, Knox turned professional in 2007 and played on the Hooters Tour from 2008 until 2010, picking up two victories in the process. He joined the Nationwide Tour in 2011 and picked up his first victory on tour in July at the Chiquita Classic. He eventually finished 12th on the Nationwide Tour money list and gained his full PGA Tour card. 

He made only 12 cuts in 23 events in 2012 and finished 143rd on the money list. On 26 July 2013, Knox shot a 59 in the second round of the Boise Open on the Web.com Tour. He divided his time between the PGA Tour and Web.com Tours in 2013. He played in the Web.com Tour finals and finished 20th to earn his PGA Tour card for 2014.

Knox came close to winning his maiden PGA Tour title at the Honda Classic, eventually losing to Russell Henley in a four-man playoff. He finished 48th in the regular season FedEx Cup points list.

His good form continued in 2015 with a third place at the Shriners and tied third at the Honda Classic.

In November 2015, Knox won the WGC-HSBC Champions. Playing in his first WGC event he became the first Scot to win a World Golf Championship. Knox only qualified for the tournament as seventh reserve and third alternate. The win lifted him to 31st in the World Rankings, his first time in the world top 50 and earned him place in the 2016 Masters. The week after his WGC success, Knox lost in a three-way playoff in the Mayakoba Classic, with Graeme McDowell making a birdie at the first extra hole. He missed the cut on his Masters debut but responded one week later with a runner-up finish at the RBC Heritage. Knox won the Travelers Championship in August 2016 and was fourth in the regular season FedEx Cup points list, finishing the playoffs in 10th place.

2017 was a disappointing season in comparison to the three previous years with a best place finish of fifth place in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He ended the regular season in 60th place FedEx Cup points list.

Knox had a series of good results in the summer of 2018, finishing 12th at the US Open. Two weeks later he was joint runner-up in the French Open and the following week he won the Irish Open, beating Ryan Fox in a playoff. The results lifted him back into world top 50.

But it has all been largely downhill since then and now he is playing for his future.

Twelve months ago there was barely a dry eye in the house as, just over three years after his 22-month-old daughter died from cancer, Camilo Villegas won for the first time on the PGA Tour in more than nine years.

"My little one up there, she’s watching," he said afterwards. "She’s where she needs to be after a long fight."

The 41-year-old Colombian closed in 6-under 65 at Port Royal Golf Course to beat Sweden’s Alex Noren by two strokes for his first victory in 3,374 days at the 2014 Wyndham Championship. Villegas, who once reached as high as No. 7 in the world and had plunged to 752, had not recorded a top-10 finish since the 2021 Honda Classic before receiving a sponsor exemption into the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico and finishing tied second to earn his way into the Bermuda event.

He had planned to compete at second stage of Q-School, a tournament he hadn’t needed to play since 2004. Villegas had struggled with injuries, including shoulder surgeries, in recent years and ranked 223rd in the FedEx Cup standings before his strong performance in Mexico. 

He said: "Nine years, where you kind of stop believing at times, but I never stopped waking up early and putting in the work."

Of all the adversity he faced, nothing compared to dealing with the death of Mia, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2020. Since Mia’s death, he and wife Maria have devoted their energy into Mia’s Miracles, a foundation they formed to help other families dealing with pediatric cancer.

Tournament Winners:

It was first staged in 2019 and was won by Brendon Todd, in 2020 by Brian Gay, in 2021 by Lucas Herbert, in 2022 by Seamus Power and last year by Camillo Villegas.

The Course:

Port Royal Bermuda is a breathtaking layout. It measures just 6,842 yards, is a par 71, was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr in 1970 and has recently undergone a $14.5m update. It is tree-lined, has several water features, lots of bunkers and is made for low scoring.

To Win:

Nick Taylor. Gifted Canadian

Each Way:

Seamus Power. Consistent year

Each Way:

Mackenzie Hughes. Great short game

Five to Follow:

Nick Taylor. Enjoying a fine year

Seamus Power. Looking for a big finish

Mackenzie Hughes. Can go low

Nico Echavarria. Class act

Jhonattan Vegas. Fabulous ball striker

Five Outsiders to Watch:

Joel Dahmen. Needs to make a big move

Russell Knox. Playing for his future

Kevin Kisner. A golfer or a commentator?

Cameron Champ. Has lost his way

Daniel Berger. Looking for some confidence