Blanchet's two eagles give him a 62 and a one-shot lead in Bermuda

Chandler Blanchet holed a putt of about 50 feet for an eagle at the par-five 17th on Thursday and leads the Butterfield Bermuda Championship by one shot after a nine-under 62. It is his lowest round of the season. His other eagle came at the par-five 7th, where a 5-iron finished about five feet from the hole. He added six birdies and dropped one shot, at the 4th, after missing the green well left.

The forecast had been for wind of up to 25 mph. Instead there was a west wind of 8–13 mph with gusts to 18, a few showers and spells of near calm. The field averaged 68.5 at Port Royal, a par 71. On the final day last year, in gusts of 40 mph, the average was 73.113. “The wind blows pretty hard here and it was fairly mild today,” said Corey Conners, the highest-ranked player in the field at world No. 61.

Blanchet, a rookie, has won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour, finished second at the Puerto Rico Open in March and missed the cut on his debut here in 2022. He started the week 114th in the FedExCup Fall standings. The top 100 when the Fall ends at The RSM Classic keep full status for 2027. “I kind of try to put the points and even the leaderboard kind of to the side and not look at it,” he said.

Pos	Player	To par	R1
1	Chandler Blanchet	−9	62
T2	Ben Kohles	−8	63
T2	Ben Silverman	−8	63
T2	Danny Walker	−8	63
T2	Corey Conners	−8	63
T6	Mackenzie Hughes	−7	64
T6	Jonathan Byrd	−7	64
T6	Chan Kim	−7	64
T6	Emiliano Grillo	−7	64
T6	Andrew Novak	−7	64

Kohles’s 11 birdies

Ben Kohles made 11 birdies and three bogeys. Six of the birdies came in a row, from the 5th to the 10th, a career-best run, and one of them was a two-putt from about 90 feet on the par-five 7th. “Switching putters was kind of the thing that just turned everything around,” he said. Conners and Silverman had eight birdies and no bogeys each, and Walker went bogey-free with six birdies and an eagle at the 17th.

The top-100 race

Lee Hodges, 100th in the standings at the start of the week, shot 66 and is tied 20th on −5, with Seamus Power, the 2022 champion. Chandler Phillips (98th) is tied 30th after a 67 and Taylor Pendrith (96th) tied 44th after a 68. Max Greyserman (99th) shot 73 and is tied 113th.

Ben James, the bookmakers’ favourite, opened with a 70. Adam Schenk, the defending champion, shot 75 and is 119th of the 120 starters. Of the two Bermudians in the field, Camiko Smith shot 71 and Nick Jones 72. No Bermudian has made the cut in this event.

Friday’s groups in GMT

Bermuda is three hours behind GMT. The second round starts at 10:35 GMT from both tees.

GMT	Tee	Players
10:57	10th	Aldrich Potgieter, Andrew Novak, Corey Conners
12:03	1st	Chandler Blanchet, Pontus Nyholm, Jay Leng (a)
15:16	10th	Lee Hodges, Aaron Baddeley, David Lingmerth
15:38	1st	Mackenzie Hughes, Kevin Roy, Ben Silverman
15:38	10th	Camilo Villegas, Ben Kohles, John Parry
16:11	1st	Brendon Todd, Takumi Kanaya, Danny Walker

Golf Channel covers the afternoon from 17:00 to 20:00 GMT. Scores update throughout on the PGA TOUR leaderboard.

Sources

• PGA TOUR: Official leaderboard, Butterfield Bermuda Championship
• AP (via WSLS): Chandler Blanchet rides a pair of eagles to a season-best 62 and the lead in Bermuda
• TSN: Conners, Silverman one back of leader Blanchet in Bermuda
• Deadspin: Chandler Blanchet’s 2 eagles give him narrow first-round lead in Bermuda
• Athlon Sports: Blanchet leads in Bermuda, where 11 birdies weren’t enough
• Golf Today: Butterfield Bermuda Championship 2026 R1 leaderboard
• Golf Digest (via Yahoo Sports): Second-round tee times and how to watch