Austin Smotherman’s breakthrough October continued Saturday when he earned a share of the third-round lead at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship
The 32-year-old Californian, who captured his first PGA Tour title earlier this month at the Bank of Utah Championship, shot a 5-under-par 66 at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda, to tie Ireland’s Seamus Power at 16-under 197.
Smotherman matched his 66 from Friday, while Power followed up his rounds of 66 and 64 with a 4-under 67 at the Port Royal Golf Course.
Taylor Moore and Canadians Corey Conners and Ben Silverman were two shots off the lead at 14 under, while five Americans — Tom Hoge, Chris Kirk, Chan Kim, Danny Walker and Chandler Blanchet — were three strokes off the pace set by Smotherman and Power.
Kim carded the day’s best round with a 7-under 64 and vaulted 27 places up the leaderboard.
Smotherman birdied Nos. 1, 3 and 5 before coming to the par-5 seventh hole. He laced his drive 351 yards down the right side of the fairway, hit a 9-iron approach within a few feet of a front left hole location and sank the putt for eagle.
“The par-5 7, that tee ball’s pretty fun downwind, trying to just ship it over that middle last bunker, stay fairway and a little pulled 9-iron right on the flag,” said Smotherman. “I thought it was going to be good, I didn’t think it’d be that close, but that was a second shot we’re just trying to hit middle of the green and just got lucky I pulled it.”
The California native produced two birdies and two bogeys over his final 11 holes.
Like Smotherman, Power got off to a solid start, birdieing the 1st and 3rd holes. He birdied the short (491 yards) par-5 17th to tie for the lead.
Sunday’s final round could be disrupted by worsening conditions, with strong winds and afternoon rain in the forecast.
Power knows it will be a challenge, but he is not shying away from it.
“I’m hoping it doesn’t get too, too bad where we can’t play, but if it does blow, I feel like the officials know it’s coming so they’ve been slowing down the greens,” said Power. “I saw some of the pins for tomorrow so I think it will be playable. It’s one of those days I think it’s going to be tough, and I’ve played this course in some wind before and been able to manage so I kind of have that to lean on a little bit.”
After his win in Utah, Smotherman debated whether to play in Bermuda or take some time off, but ultimately decided to make the trip.
“It’s a week I look forward to, so to come play the way we are is pretty nice,” said Smotherman. “I haven’t grinded overly hard this past week. A couple solid days with my coach and then got here, just enjoying the island conditions and go play a practice round, play a pro-am and go and here we are.”