Chandler Blanchet carded an eagle near the end of each nine to shoot 9-under-par 62 and take sole possession of the lead after the first round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in Southampton on Thursday.
Blanchet, 30, is near the end of his first full-time season on the PGA Tour after joining the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020. He’s looking for his first PGA win after coming close with a second-place finish in the Puerto Rico Open back in March.
Four players (Americans Ben Kohles and Danny Walker, and Canadians Ben Silverman and Corey Conners) are one stroke behind after each shooting 8 under at Port Royal Golf Course.
Blanchet began on the back nine and followed up birdies on Nos. 12 and 15 with his first eagle at the par-5 17th hole, sinking a 52-foot putt. After birdies at the first and second holes, he scored his lone bogey at No. 4 but immediately responded with consecutive birdies and then his second eagle at the par-5 seventh, this time needing to hit just a five-foot putt.
“Really solid day today. Hit it awesome, made some good putts,” Blanchet said after his round. “I kind of had everything going. Really took advantage of the par 5s so that made a big difference.”
For Blanchet, who has won two Korn Ferry events, it was a notable improvement from his first time at the Bermuda Championship, when he made his PGA debut in 2022 and missed the cut.
“It was great memories coming back here. Was really excited to play,” Blanchet said.
Kohles delivered 11 birdies in his opening round Thursday — including six straight from No. 5 through No. 10 — but cut into that with three bogeys, finishing with just four pars.
“We were expecting a lot of rain pretty much the whole day and it kind of cleared up, really didn’t get any rain until about the last hole and a half,” Kohles said. “It was nice to get off to a good start. Obviously having not much wind the first nine holes and being able to take advantage was nice to see.”
Conners, Silverman and Walker, on the other hand, all delivered bogey-free rounds. Conners and Silverman each had eight birdies, while Walker paired six birdies with an eagle on the 17th.
Adam Schenk, who won last year’s Bermuda Championship, is 119th out of 120 competitors after shooting 4 over in the first round.