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The unique (and often bizarre) Butterfield Bermuda Championship got underway Thursday with 500 FedEx Cup points and a likely Masters invite on the line in Southampton, Bermuda. Difficult weather seems to be in the cards for the next few days, but Round 1 was about as good as it gets and players took complete advantage of a defenseless golf course.
Austin Smotherman and Harrison Endycott lead the way after each firing a 9-under 62 Thursday, but there are some interesting names (at least given this field’s strength) just beyond them. Harry Higgs, Justin Lower, Patrick Rodgers and Nick Hardy are all in the top 20 on the leaderboard but currently well behind where the leaders sit following their gems in the first round.
The leaders
T1. Austin Smotherman, Harrison Endycott (-9)
Smotherman is a good ball-striker who had a fabulous day. He took advantage of that strong ball-striking and didn’t need to make anything crazy on the greens at Port Royal Golf Course to take over the lead.
In 29 career starts on the PGA Tour, Smotherman has just one top 10, and it came at the opposite field Barracuda Championship. He just missed out on keeping his Tour card at the Wyndham Championship in August, but rebounded at the Korn Ferry Tour Finals to get his card and earn some status on the big league tour. Despite little experience in this position, he’s been through much more stressful situations as a pro and sounds ready to contend for this tournament and what could be a career-changing win.
“Fortunately and unfortunately, I’m kind of comfortable in that position being kind of on the bubble,” Smotherman said. “I’ve had it kind of throughout my entire career now. I think the best thing for me was once I knew those [LIV] guys were going to be leaving and having those extra two weeks off before Napa just to mentally reset, I mean, we’re finishing the year grinding.
“And then obviously to have what happened…
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Source : cbssports
