A Jekyll and Hyde front nine left Seamus Power with an uphill task after a weather-affected opening round at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Club.
The 2022 champion is looking to cement his place between 50th and 60th in the FedEx Rankings and earn invitations to the AT&T Pebble Beach Championship and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in early 2025, but bogeys at the par-5 second and par-4 fifth holes left him on two-over for the first third of his round.
He was back to level-par after seven thanks to an eagle-three, but after finding the hazard with his tee shot on the par-3 eighth, he gave those two shots straight back, but almost made another eagle on nine as his approach shot from the semi rough caught a large portion of the hole but carried just too much pace and came to settle six feet past. He rolled in the birdie putt to get back to +1, then proceeded to par the nine holes on the back for a 72 that would leave him tied for 66th when play was suspended for darkness with 21 players still on the course.
Hayden Springer birdied three of his last four holes to join Justin Lower at the top of the leaderboard thanks to matching six-under 65s.
Springer is one of the players with lots on the line as he came into the week ranked 125 in the FedEx Cup, right on the cutoff mark for keeping his full status for 2025.
At 95, Lower is safe and is on a run of good form having finished runner-up in Mexico last week, and the duo are one shot ahead of Patrick Rodgers, Joseph Bramlett and Kevin Dougherty, who still had the 18th hole at Port Royal Golf Course to play to complete his round.
The group at 67 included Kevin Kisner, who’s had a tough year as he tries to balance playing time, Presidents Cup vice-captaincy and a part-time role in the NBC broadcast booth.
Also at 67 was Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas, who is one of only three players in the field to have already secured his Masters invitation for 2025.
Vegas had a rollercoaster start, making only one par in his opening 12 holes, with seven birdies and four bogeys, before cutting out the dropped shots and making headway.
Lucas Glover, the only player from the top 50 in the world in Bermuda, is in the large group at 68.
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