A strange but very interesting field will tee it up in Bermuda this week as the PGA Tour visits another country
4 min read
One of the most unique events on the entire schedule this season is upon us with the Bermuda Championship. This tournament represents a third consecutive week the PGA Tour has gone to a different country — Las Vegas to Japan to Bermuda. It’s also a massive opportunity for most of the golfers in a field that’s been dwindling. With the withdrawals, the event has gone from 132 golfers down to 130 and depleted its alternates list. Even though the views at Port Royal Golf Course will be astounding, most of the best players won’t be there to see them, which creates a big week for everyone else.
Let’s take a closer look at this week’s contest with odds provided via Caesars Sportsbook.
Event information
Event: Bermuda Championship | Dates: Oct. 28-31
Location: Port Royal Golf Course — Southampton Parish, Bermuda
Par: 71 | Purse: $6.5 million
Three things to know
1. Masters moment: This event, formerly an opposite field event to the WGC-HSBC Champions, was elevated once that tournament was canceled. That means there are 500 FedEx Cup points available to the winner and a 2022 Masters berth on the table. With so few top-50 players in the world in this field, this could be a huge week for the majority of the field that is not yet qualified for the first major championship of next year.
2. Fitzy first? This is a perfect week for Matt Fitzpatrick. It’s a shorter course that doesn’t require length, a bad field without horses and a setting where the wind may absolutely whip all week. Fitzpatrick absolutely thrives when the weather gets nasty, and he can check off one of the few boxes he hasn’t already checked over the course of his golf career: PGA Tour winner. Though he’s won seven times on the European Tour, his closest call on the PGA Tour was the 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational where he finished second in gusty conditions at Bay Hill. He comes in off a win at the Andalucia Masters a few weeks ago, and I’m excited about his prospects this week in Bermuda.
3. KFT showing: Two of the top six favorites for this event — Mito Pereira and Hayden Buckley (25-1 and 30-1 respectively) — have played the majority of their golf on the Korn Ferry Tour over the last 12 months. That speaks to both how deep the KFT is and how thin this field is. I actually love Pereira, even though his last two outings have not been as strong as his summer was and Buckley has finished in the top 10 in four of his last six starts (with three of them coming on the PGA Tour). The only golfers favored ahead of them are Fitzpatrick (14-1), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (16-1) and Patrick Reed (20-1).
Rick Gehman (RickRunGood) is joined by Sia Nejad and Greg DuCharme to preview the 2021 Bermuda Championship from a DFS perspective. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Grading the field
It’s truly an incredible field. One of the worst but somehow also one of the most beautiful of the entire season. Ted Purdy, D.A. Points, John Merrick, Daniel Chopra, J.J. Henry, Ted Potter and John Rollins are all involved. Adam Hadwin and Seamus Power are among the favorites. If you showed this field to a random person, they would struggle to tell you not just what tournament it is but what tour on which it was being played. Grade: C+ (only because it’s so bizarre and fun)
2021 Bermuda Championship picks
Who will win the Bermuda Championship, and which long shots will stun the golfing world? Visit SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard and best bets, all from the model that’s nailed seven golf majors and is up almost $10,000 since the restart.
