Smotherman wins Bermuda playoff for second straight PGA Tour title

A Monday playoff decides a 54-hole event

Austin Smotherman's remarkable month added one more improbable chapter on Monday morning at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda. The 32-year-old from Dallas beat Seamus Power with a par on the third playoff hole to win the weather-shortened Butterfield Bermuda Championship, his second PGA Tour title in as many starts. Three weeks after needing 100 starts to win for the first time, Smotherman has now won twice in succession, and he did it without playing a fourth round.

Sunday's final round was canceled before a ball was struck, after winds gusting to 40 mph made Port Royal unplayable and Monday's forecast left the PGA Tour unsure a full round could be completed. Under Tour regulations the results through 54 holes became final, which left Smotherman and Power tied at 16-under 197 and sent only the two leaders back on Monday for a sudden-death playoff. Smotherman had shot 65, 66 and 66; Power had shot 66, 64 and 67, his second-round 64 the lowest round either man produced all week.

Three trips to the 16th

The playoff never left Port Royal's signature par-3 16th hole, a cliff-top test with the Atlantic hard on the left of the green. Both men parred it twice with the pin all the way back at 178 yards. Power had a 20-foot birdie putt to win on the first extra hole and missed, then saved par from a bunker with an 8-foot putt on the second. For the third playing, the hole location moved to the front of the green. Smotherman stayed with the 8-iron he had used all three times and left himself a birdie chance just inside 15 feet. Power, again without enough help from the wind, buried his tee shot in deep rough left of the green, chopped out to just outside 15 feet and missed the par putt. Smotherman's birdie attempt ran about three and a half feet past the hole, but he holed the return putt for par, and the trophy was his.

It was a fittingly tense ending to a tournament that had already swung violently on Saturday. Smotherman squandered a two-shot lead with three holes to play in the third round, bogeying the 16th while Power birdied the par-5 17th. Smotherman then holed a 10-foot par putt at the 18th while Power could not convert a birdie chance at the same hole. As Smotherman later noted, had that putt missed, there would have been no Monday finish at all: Power would have won outright.

What the win is worth

The victory transforms Smotherman's career arithmetic. His first title, at the Bank of Utah Championship in his 100th PGA Tour start, ended 99 starts without a win. Bermuda made it victories in starts 100 and 101, and he is the first player to win consecutive starts since Matt Fitzpatrick at the 2026 RBC Heritage and Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The win is worth 500 FedExCup points and $1.08 million, moves him from No. 52 to No. 51 in the FedExCup Fall standings, and secures PGA Tour Championship Series membership through 2029. It also puts him in next year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and in line for the first two $20 million Signature Events of the season at Pebble Beach and Riviera. He is also the first weather-shortened 54-hole winner on the PGA Tour since Wyndham Clark at the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the playoff was the second Monday-morning weather playoff of the year, after Viktor Hovland beat Scottie Scheffler at the Travelers Championship in June.

For Power, the week still delivered the most valuable consolation in golf's fall season. The 2022 Bermuda champion, bidding to become the event's first multiple winner, recorded his first runner-up finish in 237 PGA Tour starts. The result lifted him from No. 103 to No. 68 in the FedExCup Fall standings, inside the top 100 who keep full status, and effectively locked up his PGA Tour card for 2027. It was worth $654,000 and 300 FedExCup points, but the trophy was the prize he wanted. "Hit some good shots in the playoff, just didn't quite judge the wind right," Power said. "Had a chance this morning, wasn't able to do it, which is disappointing, but overall great week, can't complain too much."

Power's consolation and the chasing pack

Behind them, Taylor Moore, Corey Conners and Ben Silverman shared third place at 14-under 199, two shots outside the playoff, each earning $318,000. Moore closed with 66, while Conners and Silverman finished with 69. Tom Hoge, Chris Kirk, Chan Kim, Danny Walker and Chandler Blanchet tied for sixth at 13-under 200. Their places, like everyone else's, were settled the moment the Tour made the 54-hole results final.

Smotherman, who was helped all week by caddie Zak Williamson, could barely believe how quickly his career has changed. "We're out here playing an incredible sport in a beautiful spot," he said. "The tour's been great communicating what's going to happen today for us. Once we got that news it was nice to know what's going on. To come out on top is a cherry on top of that, so pretty awesome." After the winning putt dropped he admitted his hands were shaking, and joked: "Stop it, stop it. That's so cool." Back home, a celebration with family and friends, and a taco truck, was already planned. As he put it: "Now we're going to be celebrating two of them."