Ben Kohles continued his hot play during the FedExCup Fall season, but Chandler Blanchet emerged with the opening-round lead at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
Blanchet made two eagles, six birdies and one bogey for a 9-under 62 at Port Royal Golf Course. That put him one ahead of Kohles, Corey Conners, Ben Silverman and Danny Walker.
Conners, Silverman and Walker all carded bogey-free 63s. Kohles’ first 18 holes were not nearly as clean.
While any round with double-digit birdies is a massive success, Kohles did give three shots back — one at the par-4 fourth hole that went on to kick-start a spree of six straight birdies at Nos. 5-10. He bogeyed another par-4 — the 383-yard 12th — on his back nine before missing a par putt at No. 16 for his final blemish of the day.
“Pretty much had about 5 feet on every hole give or take a foot,” Kohles said of career-best streak of six made birdies. “At [No.] 7, I had a pretty sweet two-putt from about 90 feet straight up the hill. Actually hit it past the hole, which surprised myself.”
Every shot matters a little extra this fall for the 36-year-old Kohles. He was at a crossroads when he opted for the PGA Tour’s inaugural Biltmore Championship last month. He sat 17th on the Korn Ferry Tour points list when he made the decision to bet on himself — in an attempt to stay inside the top 100 on the FedExCup points list.
He is No. 80 after a trio of finishes inside the top 20. Kohles placed T-15 in North Carolina, T-13 at the Bank of Utah Championship and T-17 at the Baycurrent Classic in Japan two weeks ago.
“Confidence obviously is pretty high I feel like ever since the BMW [Championship in St. Louis],” said Kohles, who has finished inside the top 30 in 10 straight tournaments. “Switching putters was kind of the thing that just turned everything around. I feel like I’m hitting about the same as I have the last five years, so nothing really new there, just really getting a lot of confidence with the putter.”
Blanchet needs to go on a Kohles-like streak over the second half of the fall season. The Tour rookie doesn’t have a top-50 finish in his last three starts and sits 114th in FEC points.
“I kind of try to put the points and even the leaderboard kind of to the side and not look at it. I feel like that’s kind of a distraction, to be honest,” he said.
“But yeah, I mean, we’ve got five events so I’m super excited to play and move up. Game feels good, so keep on doing it.”
Walker posted a bogey-free 30 on his first nine holes in Bermuda thanks to an eagle at the par-5 17th. He and Kohles are both University of Virginia alums.
“Started off with two birdies and got things going from there — a lot of good quality iron shots, made some nice putts and a few key up-and-downs just to keep the momentum going,” said Walker.
He said the eagle helped “really stamp” that first round momentum.
“This is my third time here and I’ve never seen the wind this low,” Walker added. “It’s an interesting week where Thursday and Friday’s going to be like this and then the wind’s going to ramp up on the weekend. I think it’s really helpful to try to get ahead of the game today and tomorrow so you’re not fighting to try and make up ground on the weekend.”
Old man honesty
Jonathan Byrd, a five-time PGA Tour winner, is among a group of players two off the lead. The 48-year-old last won on the PGA Tour in the 2011 Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
An eagle at the par-5 seventh hole propelled Byrd to a 6-under 30 on the front nine. He was bogey-free through 15 holes before missing a par putt at the same par 3 that tripped up Kohles.
“Golf’s hard on the PGA Tour after you turn 40, against these young guys and I feel fortunate to keep getting some reps in,” Byrd told reporters after his round when asked about the significance of his career longevity.
He added that his goal for the week was to have a chance coming down the last nine holes.
“I feel like my game’s good enough — I wasn’t really pleased with how I struck it today, but my putter’s great,” Byrd explained. “I feel good on this golf course. This is a golf course that I can compete on. I can’t compete on a lot of courses on the PGA Tour, just being honest. I don’t hit it far enough. This one, I can. And then with the wind coming up on the weekend, I feel like that gives me a little advantage, I’m good in the wind, control my trajectory, so it should be fun. We’ll see what happens.”
