Despite winds gusting up to 30 mph at Port Royal Golf Course in Bermuda, it was incredibly simple for Adam Schenk. Win the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and keep your PGA Tour card for 2026. In his 243rd career start, Schenk earned his first victory in impressive fashion, getting up and down by draining a must-make 4½-footer for par on 18 to win by one stroke.
“I really didn’t [believe this moment would come],” Schenk said. “I started to play some better golf the last four months and I still always had a little bit of the belief, but when I was missing eight cuts in a row or seven out of eight, it’s kind of hard to keep the belief alive.”
In the penultimate event of FedExCup Fall, Schenk shot 69-65-67-71 (-12) and finished one stroke clear of Chandler Phillips. Schenk entered the week 134th in the FedExCup Fall standings, having made the cut in only 11 of 27 starts in 2025. The victory changed everything for Schenk, who now has full status through 2027.
“I can’t believe it’s over,” Schenk said. “It seemed like it was the longest day ever but it also seems like it just started.”
The wet and windy conditions during the first two rounds made it difficult for any player to create separation. After 36 holes, Adam Hadwin held the lead at 11-under with rounds of 65 and 66. Despite the weather, Hadwin only made two bogeys and one double bogey in that stretch compared to 13 birdies and an eagle.
Eighteen-year-old high-school senior Tyler Watts shot 2-under to make the cut, the only amateur to do so. The University of Tennessee commit is now 2-for-2 in advancing to the weekend in PGA Tour events, having previously made the cut at the Procore Championship in September.
Schenk and Braden Thornberry shared the lead at 12-under after the third round. Schenk shot a bogey-free 67 on Saturday, with all four of his birdies on the back nine.
Thornberry’s 2-under 69 was more up and down. He had three birdies and three bogeys before eagling the par-5 17th hole to get into the final group with Schenk and Takumi Kanaya (-11) on Sunday.
It was a tight leaderboard going into the final round, with 11 players at 9-under or better. Four players were at 11-under, one behind the leaders. And it only got tighter on Sunday. With the leaders through five holes, there was a four-way tie at 13-under between Schenk, Thornberry, Kanaya and Vince Whaley.
When both Hoshino and Capan bogeyed the par-3 16th hole, Schenk’s lead expanded to two shots with four to play.
But then players started making bogeys. Thornberry played his front nine in 3-over. Whaley dropped back with a bogey on No. 8. Kanaya bogeyed the sixth and eighth holes.
Meanwhile, Schenk played a 1-under, bogey-free front nine. He took a one-shot lead over Whaley, Rikuya Hoshino and Frankie Capan III into the turn.
Schenk hit a wayward approach shot on 15 that led to his first bogey of the day, dropping him to 12-under. His lead briefly shrunk to one, but Capan bogeyed 17 and Hoshino made double bogey, restoring Schenk’s two-stroke lead with two to play.
Kanaya birdied the 17th hole, getting to 11-under, tied with Phillips and one behind Schenk. But Kanaya couldn’t make birdie at the last, and Schenk’s up-and-down par clinched victory.
Other than Schenk, three players moved inside the FedExCup Fall top 100: Phillips (139 to 92), Max McGreevy (100 to 89) and Kanaya (120 to 99).
This week at Sea Island Golf Club in Georgia, players will have their final chance to keep their jobs as the FedExCup Fall season wraps up with the RSM Classic.
Everett Munez