Brendon Todd out of Butterfield Bermuda Championship
The Butterfield Bermuda Championship has suffered its first casualty with the withdrawal of Brendon Todd, the inaugural winner in 2019.
Todd, who so delighted the Bermudian gallery with a stunning final round of 62 to beat third-round leader Harry Higgs by four strokes, was listed last week among the high-profile players to feature in the third instalment of the Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course next week, but he was not listed among the 132-player field that was finalised overnight on Friday.
The 36-year-old from Georgia has been playing in the Zozo Championship at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Japan.
He was joined there by Will Zalatoris, another featured player to withdraw from the Bermuda event, but Lanto Griffin — the third player in Japan who had been touted to tee it up at Port Royal — remains in the field.
Also playing in Japan and listed for the Bermuda field is little-known Matthew NeSmith.
The players had until 6pm Bermuda time on Friday to announce their withdrawal.
Of the four, Griffin fared best in Japan, riding a blistering four-under 66 to finish joint seventh — ten strokes off the pace set by victorious home favourite Hideki Matsuyama.
Zalatoris was joint 54th at six over par and Todd, who was earlier mired near the bottom the 78-player field, closed with a 66 to finish joint 62nd at eight over.
NeSmith, 28, coming off a breakthrough year on the PGA Tour with two top-ten finishes and seven in the top 25, was joint 48th at four over.
Others in the field with Bermuda connections are the two runners-up — Higgs, who finished joint 39th, and Wyndham Clark, who was joint 25th after challenging early.
Notable among the newcomers to Bermuda is Korean-born New Zealander Danny Lee, who is on a road to recovery after losing his PGA Tour card for 2022.
Lee, now 31, is remembered as the youngest winner of the US Men’s Amateur in 2008 at age 18 years and one month — six months younger than Tiger Woods when he won in 1994.
It was a distinction that he would hold for only one year, but he followed that up in February 2009 by becoming the youngest winner on the European Tour when he claimed the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth, Australia, while still an amateur.
He turned pro after the Masters that year, but his form has flitted in and out, not helped by spells of injury, and now he is fighting for a way back to the lucrative PGA Tour — the significance of which was shown in him sacrificing a place at the Olympics to further his goals through the Korn Ferry Tour.
The full field for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship (United States unless stated):
Ludvig Aberg (Sweden)
Robert Allenby (Australia)
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand)
Ryan Armour
Arjun Atwal (India)
Bae Sang Moon (South Korea)
Paul Barjon (France)
Erik Barnes
Ricky Barnes
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa)
Jason Bohn
Joseph Bramlett
Scott Brown
Hayden Buckley
Jonathan Byrd
Greg Chalmers (Australia)
Austin Cook
Ben Crane
Chaka DeSilva (Bermuda)
Thomas Detry (Belgium)
Luke Donald (England)
Brett Drewitt (Australia)
Jason Dufner
Austin Eckroat
Derek Ernst
Matt Every
Matt Fitzpatrick (England)
Patrick Flavin
Dylan Frittelli (South Africa)
Tommy Gainey
Robert Garrigus
Brian Gay
Michael Gligic (Canada)
Lucas Glover
Fabián Gómez (Argentina)
Lanto Griffin
Jordan Gumberg
Scott Gutschewski
Adam Hadwin (Canada)
Brandon Hagy
Harry Hall (England)
Nick Hardy
David Hearn (Canada)
J.J. Henry
Lucas Herbert (Australia)
Kramer Hickok
Garrick Higgo (South Africa)
Matt Hill (Canada)
Bo Hoag
Lee Hodges
Beau Hossler
Mark Hubbard
Stephan Jäger (Germany)
Richard S. Johnson (Sweden)
Michael Kim
Kurt Kitayama
Jim Knous
Russell Knox (Scotland)
Greg Koch
Ben Kohles
Anirban Lahiri (India)
Hank Lebioda
Danny Lee (New Zealand)
David Lingmerth (Sweden)
David Lipsky
Justin Lower
Peter Malnati
Ben Martin
Denny McCarthy
Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland)
Max McGreevy
Parker McLachlin
Jay McLuen
Guido Migliozzi (Italy)
Brian Morris (Bermuda)
Matthew NeSmith
Noh Seung Yul (South Korea)
Andrew Novak
Sean O’Hair
John Pak
Damian Palanyandi (Bermuda)
Taylor Pendrith (Canada)
Cameron Percy (Australia)
Mito Pereira (Chile)
Carl Pettersson (Sweden)
D.A. Points
Ted Potter Jr
Séamus Power (Ireland)
Aaron Rai (England)
Chad Ramey
Patrick Reed
Seth Reeves
Davis Riley
Patrick Rodgers
John Rollins
Andrés Romero (Argentina)
Adam Schenk
Matthias Schwab (Austria)
Chase Seiffert
John Senden (Australia)
Greyson Sigg
Michael Sims (Bermuda)
David Skinns (England)
Heath Slocum
Alex Smalley
Camiko Smith (Bermuda)
Austin Smotherman
J.J. Spaun
Kevin Stadler
Scott Stallings
Sepp Straka (Austria)
Chris Stroud
Brian Stuard
Adam Svensson (Canada)
Callum Tarren (England)
Nick Taylor (Canada)
Vaughn Taylor
Sahith Theegala
Curtis Thompson
Martin Trainer
Peter Uihlein
Dawie van der Walt (South Africa)
Bo Van Pelt
Camilo Villegas (Colombia)
Johnson Wagner
Nick Watney
Vincent Whaley
Danny Willett (England)
Kyle Wilshire
Brandon Wu
Dylan Wu
Cameron Young
ALTERNATES (in order)
Carlos Franco (Paraguay)
Daniel Chopra (Sweden)
Michael Bradley
John Merrick
Ted Purdy
Olin Browne
Frank Lickliter II
Jonathan Kaye
Tommy Armour III
Will MacKenzie