The PGA TOUR heads back to Port Royal Golf Course this week for another running of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
The event is known for being attacked by Mother Nature in the form of wind and rain and it looks to be more of the same on deck this week.
As for the course itself, it is one of the shortest courses you’ll see played on the PGA TOUR. It’s a par 71 that plays under 6,900 yards. There aren’t any beefy par 4s, barring extreme wind. Let’s take a closer look at that angle to see if any names should be on our radar for DFS contests this week.
Short Course Stars
Port Royal doesn’t have a single par 4 that plays over 460 yards. Six of them play under 400 yards while two others play around 410 yards.
That turns things into a position-off-the-tee fest which puts an emphasis on precision, wedge play, and a sharp short game.
Here are the top performers in adjusted strokes gained per round when playing short courses, over the last two years:
Seamus Power
Russell Knox
Denny McCarthy
Austin Eckroat
Matthias Schwab
Mark Hubbard
Augusto Nunez
Garrick Higgo
Greyson Sigg
Adam Long
Alex Smalley
Aaron Rai
Adrian Meronk
Chesson Hadley
Doug Ghim
We can also look at performance versus baseline to see who shows the largest increase in performance compared to their typical scores:
Augusto Nunez
Tyson Alexander
Garrick Higgo
Chesson Hadley
Byeong Hun An
Harry Hall
Austin Eckroat
Cameron Percy
Brian Gay
Sean O’Hair
Vaughn Taylor
Vincent Norrman
Russell Knox
Brian Stuard
Dylan Wu
Overlap List: names that show up on both lists include Russell Knox, Austin Eckroat, Augusto Nunez, Garrick Higgo, and Chesson Hadley.
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Knox to take on the elements in Bermuda
The Scot has a reputation for playing well in the wind, and he knows it. He had this to say at last year’s Bermuda Championship, “Everyone out here is incredible golfers and they’ve all played in the wind, but not everyone enjoys playing in it as much as probably I do. Like I said, when the wind’s that strong, it kind of activates something in my brain which I think makes me a better player.” It’s nice to have that kind of belief in your corner when investing in mid-tier options.
Hadley with big-finish upside at Port Royal
He arrives with missed cuts in three of his last four starts but also has top 10s in four of his last 11 events played. That sums up his range of outcomes but his performance on shorter courses bodes well for a potential big finish this week which is hard to find when scouring the bottom of the salary board this week across DFS sites.
