Adam Schenk, Braden Thornberry share 54-hole lead in Bermuda with a logjam behind them
Nick Stavas- Adam Schenk and Braden Thornberry share the lead at 12 under par heading into the final round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
- Four other players, including Adam Hadwin, are just one stroke behind the leaders at 11 under par.
- Players battled brutal wind conditions during Saturday's third round at Port Royal.
- Many golfers in contention are also fighting to finish in the top 100 of the FedEx Cup Fall standings to secure their PGA Tour cards for 2026.
With 36 holes in the books at the 2025 Butterfield Bermuda Championship, the trophy seems to be anyone's for the taking.
There are six players who will start Sunday's final round within one stroke of the lead, including the co-leaders, Adam Schenk and Braden Thornberry, who will go off in the final group at Port Royal on Sunday tied at 12 under, one shot ahead of a four-way tie for third between Takumi Kanaya, Max McGreevy, Adam Hadwin and Chandler Phillips.
Adam Schenk overcomes 'laughable' winds, goes bogey-free Saturday
It's been windy all week at Bermuda and Saturday was no exception.
"[The wind was] laughable at times," Schenk said. "I played, gosh, Exuma in the Bahamas, the one windy, windy year, maybe the first year we were there. It was really comparable to that. Thursday morning was super windy as well. Friday was really manageable, 15 to 20 [mph], but today it was blowing the entire time. I was probably fortunate to start on the front side too, because the wind had calmed down a little bit."
The gnarly conditions were no issue for Schenk on his scorecard, though. The 33-year-old from Indiana fired a bogey-free, 4-under 67 in the third round to grab a share of the lead. After nine straight pars and a 36 to start the loop Saturday, Schenk made three birdies in four holes on Nos. 10-13 and another at the 17th to card an impressive 31 on the inward nine.
A good outing in this week wasn't just a goal for Schenk, it was a necessity. With just two events remaining, he entered Bermuda 134th on the FedEx Cup Fall points list. The top 100 keep their PGA Tour card for 2026. At the conclusion of Saturday's third round, the projected standings have Schenk all the way up to No. 67.
"A great opportunity to have for tomorrow," said Schenk. "I know I have to go to Q-School if I don't get inside the top 100, so that's a pretty big motivator and what a great opportunity to have."
Schenk has made just 11 cuts in 27 starts this season, but he's managed to play quite well when he has seen the weekend. He kicked off 2025 with a T-6 at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January and finished inside the top five at the Byron Nelson in May. A stretch of six straight missed cuts between June and August set him back, but he's made every cut in his four starts in the FedEx Cup Fall series.
"I've been playing a lot better golf. I've been working pretty darn hard at it the last four months — well, the last two years, but not a lot of results. But kind of found something about two or three months ago. After Wyndham [Championship] I started to make a few changes and really started to see some improvements after that. I wish I really could have done this earlier in the season because I wouldn't be in this position, but here we are.
"If I can make some putts tomorrow, it's hard to do in the wind, maybe play another bogey-free round, that'd be awesome, that puts me in a really good spot."
PGA Tour rookie Braden Thornberry looking for breakthrough victory in Bermuda
Braden Thornberry is in the same boat as Schenk, fighting tooth-and-nail to secure his spot on the Tour next year. He came came into the week even further down the standings than Schenk, though, at No. 178. After Saturday, he's projected 93rd.
Thornberry, the 2017 NCAA Individual National Champion at Ole Miss, is no stranger to the pressure of having job security on the line, as Golfweek's Cameron Jourdan reported Friday. Last year, he needed to finish second or better at the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Boise, Idaho to earn his PGA Tour card. He won.
"Last year, on the Korn Ferry in the summer, I had a run where I was in second place like four times going into Sunday and I kept shooting even or 1 over. Nothing crazy, but kind of falling down to 15th or so. Then I finally figured it out in Boise.
"I was able to win a bunch in college, but I don't know if I'd forgotten it or what, but it had been a while, maybe three or four years [prior to the win in Boise]. Hopefully with that recent stuff at the end of last year, I can carry it over."
Thornberry experienced the ups-and-downs of golf several times within his third round at the ever-gusty Port Royal on Saturday. He made two bogeys and turned in a 1-over 37 on the front nine before making back-to-back birdies at Nos. 11 and 12. He stumbled again with a bogey at the 14th, setting him back to even on the day, but made an eagle at the 17th and par at the last to sign for 2-under 69.
"It's a battle out there," Thornberry said. "There's kind of some shots that you feel are impossible, you're trying to get past and every once in a while you'll catch a wedge shot that's downwind a little bit and you feel like you have to take advantage of those. It feels like not every shot's hard, but then there's some, like 16 was a hurricane basically when we hit it."
There's a logjam on the leaderboard in Bermuda
All the talk about Saturday's brutal wind from the leaders made Takumi Kanaya's bogey-free, 5-under 66 all the more impressive. Kanaya has made just 19 cuts in 52 starts on the PGA Tour but has managed to put himself in a great position for his maiden victory Sunday, in a four-way tie for third at 11 under.
Adam Hadwin was the 18-hole and 36-hole leader after really solid rounds of 65 and 66 in the adverse wind conditions. He didn't find such success Saturday, though, making four bogeys and four birdies en route to an even-par 71. Still, the 38-year-old Tour veteran from Saskatchewan is right in the mix for his second victory in his 299th start.
Despite being "pretty over" the 2025 season, Chandler Phillips is also right on the doorstep of joining the PGA Tour winner's circle for the first time. After a blistering round of 7-under 64 Friday, Phillips made 17 pars and one birdie en route to a 70 in Saturday's third round.
And like everyone listed above, the fourth man tied at 11 under in Bermuda, Max McGreevy, would also benefit greatly from a victory as it pertains to job security. He entered the week as the "bubble boy" — clocking in at No. 100 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings. If he holds his T-3 position on the leaderboard, he'd be roughly 90th entering next week's fall series finale, the RSM Classic.