Chandler Phillips rides Bermuda wind into contention admitting he's 'pretty over this year'
Cameron Jourdan- Chandler Phillips is in contention for his first PGA Tour victory at the Bermuda Championship.
- Phillips needs a strong finish in the final two weeks to retain his PGA Tour card for the 2026 season.
- The Texas native feels the windy conditions in Bermuda give him an advantage over the field.
SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — Chandler Phillips has had a season to forget. Frankly, he wants it to be over. He admitted as much on Friday.
The 28-year-old from Texas has missed the cut in six of his past nine starts, including three of four in the FedEx Cup Fall. He has fallen to 139th in the standings and needs a stellar finish in the final two weeks to get into the top 100 and retain his card for the 2026 season. Yet at windswept Port Royal Golf Course in Bermuda, Phillips is feeling comfortable and in contention for his first PGA Tour victory.
Phillips, after opening with a bogey Friday, signed for 7-under 64 to vault into solo second after the morning wave, sitting at 10 under and one shot behind Canadian Adam Hadwin. He admitted he hasn't thought of his spot in the FedEx Cup Fall standings much because there's nothing to think about.
"I only have one option and that's to go out there and try to win because if I don't, I'm not keeping my card," Phillips said. "I don't know how to explain it, but it's just like you're not thinking of, oh, you know, I need a top-20 this week or I just need to make the cut. Well, I mean, that's never a good mindset even if you are in a really good position to keep your card or whatever. You've got to have the mindset of try to win every week and if you don't, you might as well not even show up."
Phillips bogeyed the first hole, which he credited to being the first hole of the day, but responded by playing the next 17 holes in 8 under, including an eagle on the par-5 17th. On the back nine this week, the more difficult side, Phillips is 7 under through 36 holes.
Even with a stellar start in Bermuda, Phillips was candid about how he just wanted to get through this week and next. Mentally, he's exhausted. Physically, he's drained. Yet he's in contention in Bermuda, and one week can make the difference between job security or losing his PGA Tour card next year.
"I say this jokingly just because like this year has just not been it," Phillips said. "The amount of times I've missed the fairway this year by a yard and it's just completely screwed me, it's unbelievable. It's not the course, it's just me. Aim a little bit farther left, aim a little bit farther right, I don't know.
"Can you tell I'm over it?"
One of Phillips' advantages this week has been the wind. He got the easier wave, playing in the afternoon on Thursday and the morning on Friday, but sustained winds of 15-20 miles per hour of the Atlantic Ocean and often gusting to more than 30 miles per hour are expected to persist well into the weekend.
Call him crazy, but Phillips wants it to blow. Bring on the chaos.
"There's a lot of tournaments this year that we have literally been playing in a dome, like just no wind, it's perfect," he said. "It's just yes, you still have to hit the shots and everything like that, but I feel like it just gets so bunched up with the scores when it's perfect conditions and everything like that."
"But when it starts blowing like this, well, it just kind of separates, I feel like it separates a little bit just for guys that enjoy it. I guess face the fact that you're not ever going to get out of the wind, so just take it, do what you can with it and roll with it. But yeah, I love playing in the wind. Like it's -- I feel like it for me it's easier to hit shots and it's just, I don't know, that's just me."
Growing up in Texas, Phillips said he learned to use the wind to his advantage. He doesn't try to hold shots up into stiff breezes; he prefers to hit with the direction of the wind and use it to his advantage.
Early on in Bermuda, he has done just that. Earlier this year at the Valero Texas Open, he held on in some of the windiest conditions of the season throughout the weekend for one of his four top-25 finishes of the season in 26 starts.
"To tell you the truth, I'm pretty over this year. Like it's been a struggle, but I'm waiting for that finish line," Phillips said.
Perhaps that black and white checkered stripe holds with it a tournament trophy come Sunday, too.