The fall schedule continues after a bit of a break with the Butterfield Bermuda Championship this weekend. The PGA Tour now takes its annual trip to Port Royal for some warm-weather golf for those golf fans where the temperatures are starting to drop and a fall chill is entering the air.
Now, I am not going to mince words here; this is not a good field for this week's tournament. But a bad field on paper does not a bad tournament make. I think that being able to go into a week where truly anyone can win is a great thing to watch.
I'm excited to get back on the horse of the rankings after some time off for important life events (got married, honeymoon, etc.) The last tournament I had rankings for was the Biltmore last month, which went pretty well considering we had both Jacob Bridgeman and Ben James in the rankings, so I'd call that a successful week for sure. Let's see if I can shake off the rust quickly and find another winner.
9. Kevin Yu
Look, Kevin Yu will be the first guy to tell you that 2026 has been quite the disappointment for him, especially when he could have made the Presidents Cup roster but his poor form was too much to ignore. Yu did start to turn things around a bit, as he had a stretch from the John Deere to the Biltmore where he racked up five top-25s in seven starts. Pairing that with some past success in Bermuda (T3 in 2022), I like Yu to find some more form this week.
8. Zac Blair
Zac Blair is definitely a bit more of a course fit-focused pick this week. The 36-year-old has bounced back and forth between the Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour this year and has found pockets of solid play. His performance at last year's Butterfield Bermuda Championship led to a T9 finish, which was one of his two top-10 finishes in all of 2025.
He has a solid game that focuses on being accurate and solid around the greens, which is important for a course where the wind can really affect the players. I have faith in Blair being able to follow up on his performance from last year with the better play he's shown in 2026, and maybe that all adds up to a win.
7. Neal Shipley
This may just be recency bias, but Neal Shipley has been one of the hottest players on Tour over the last few weeks, with a T3 at the Biltmore and a T10 in Utah. While he might still be upset over not being able to put away his 54-hole lead at the Biltmore, we've started to see strides in the right direction for the 25-year old who won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour last year. While we're still waiting on the consistency to show up in Shipley's game on Tour, the ceiling is starting to show itself, and it's a little higher than anticipated.
6. Andrew Novak
Do you remember when the Andrew Novak Ryder Cup conversation was being had last year? Unfortunately for the 31-year-old, he fully lost his putter this year, and the results did not pile up in the same way.
However, we've seen the putter start to come back for Novak in recent weeks, and he'll try to keep the good vibes rolling in Bermuda. Novak does have some success in Bermuda in his past, with a solo second in 2024. If he can keep the ball rolling, then he could find himself in contention come Sunday.
5. Austin Smotherman
It might be for the best that Austin Smotherman took some time between Utah and this week to fully enjoy his breakthrough win. With this extra break, I like Smotherman being able to come into Bermuda this week fully relaxed and not still amped up and trying to calm the emotions from the victory.
He's played in Bermuda a few times, and while he hasn't had a ton of success, he knows what to expect out of the course. This might be me being a little blinded by the win, but it seems like Smotherman is in complete control of his whole bag right now, and I'm willing to ride with him again this week.
4. Kevin Roy
Kevin Roy has been in some sneaky good form the last few weeks, as he picked up top-25s at both the Biltmore and at the Baycurrent. He's been sort of the exemplar of the "good, not great" golfer all throughout his bag as of late, and I think that the slightly weaker field will help his skillset rise to the top a bit more than in other events (think Myrtle Beach-level events, which Roy finished T3 at this season).
3. Ben Kohles
Ben Kohles is currently on a run of three straight top-20 finishes, dating back to the Biltmore. He's a favorite of the golf DFS community, and his results have been backing up this love. However, this is one of the first times that you could argue Ben Kohles is one of the true favorites to win a PGA Tour event, so watching how he reacts to this will be interesting. He's not the longest off the tee, but since his short game is trending in the right direction, I like him around Port Royal this weekend.
2. Eric Cole
Eric Cole's game feels so perfectly suited for Bermuda, I don't understand why he hasn't found more success on the island. He's like Ben Griffin, in the fact that the short game is never going to fail him, but rather it's inconsistency with the driving that causes him to get into trouble. While the driver still isn't quite in the best spot, it is trending in the right direction and I think the momentum will keep up for him and lead to a successful week.
1. Ben James
It wasn't going to be anyone else, really. Ben James' last three starts have all resulted in top-five finishes, and he's really played well enough to have pulled out at least one win already. I've written about James before, and pretty much all the words I said about him in the past just apply here as well. He's strong all throughout the bag, there's no glaring weakness, and I kind of don't really see a scenario where he doesn't play well this weekend.
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