Day: October 31, 2020

Doc Redman shoots 67, takes one-shot lead at Bermuda ChampionshipDoc Redman shoots 67, takes one-shot lead at Bermuda Championship

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — Doc Redman found the wind far more manageable Saturday, and he took advantage with a 4-under 67 for a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Bermuda Championship. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Funk’s chip-in seals made cut The wind came out of the opposite direction as the previous day and it wasn’t quite as strong. It showed in the scores and in the number of opportunities for players who never won or have gone without winning in years. Redman was at 10-under 203, one shot ahead of Ryan Armour (70), Wyndham Clark (70) and Kramer Hickok (69), who took three putts from a tough spot on the fringe on the 18th at Port Royal. Another shot behind were Matt Jones (66), Brian Gay (67) and Ollie Schniederjans (69). Jones was bogey-free in the third round, which to him was as impressive as any of his five birdies. Redman, the 2017 U.S. Amateur champion, is among 10 players separated by four shots who have never won on the PGA TOUR. A victory Sunday comes with an invitation to the Masters next April. "I feel like with the wind switching, it was a little easier," Redman said. "And it was still really windy. But yesterday was incredible. We couldn’t have been far away from stopping play yesterday. That made it a little easier. And the greens roll great, so if you have looks at it you can make birdies." Redman still was mindful of the wind, particularly on the par-5 17th when he made decisions to play short off the tee because of the strong left-to-right wind off the Atlantic Ocean and potential problems it could have created. The wind also made it tough on Armour, the 44-year-old from Ohio who picked the wrong day to not be swinging his best. What saved him was a short game that enabled him to break par for the third straight day and to stay very much in the mix to win on Sunday. "I’m going to have to go figure out what was going on," Armour said. "Toward the end there, I started hitting the center of the face a little more. As you know, when the winds are this high, you’ve got to hit in the center or else it’s going to get blown all over." He took a little off a pitching wedge for a beautiful third shot just below the pin for birdie on the par-5 17th, and he narrowly missed a 15-footer on the 18th that would have given him a share of the lead. Jones is used to windy conditions from his roots in Australia, and he handled it well. He will be going for his first PGA TOUR victory since the 2014 Houston Open, although Jones won the Australian Open at the end of last year. Gay, 48, whose putting stroke atones for his lack of power, has not won since 2013. He was long enough on the 507-yard 17th to make eagle to cap off his 67 and put him in prime position. The oldest player in the field, 64-year-old Fred Funk, didn’t fare so well. He shot 75 and was 13 shots behind.

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Windy conditions force contenders to get creative at Bermuda ChampionshipWindy conditions force contenders to get creative at Bermuda Championship

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda - Saturday afternoon, Kramer Hickok did something for the first time in his six-year professional career. He used a compass to check the wind — on the greens. Bermuda Championship host venue Port Royal GC is situated adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, with several holes fully exposed to the wind. The third round featured sustained gusts of 15-20 mph, up to 25 mph. Hickok knew the conditions would influence the break of putts, and he wanted maximum information. "I'm asking (caddie) Billy to get the compass out and see what the wind's doing on this putt, because you have to factor that in so much, just because the wind's blowing so hard," said Hickok, who stands tied for second at 9-under into the final round of the Bermuda Championship, one back of leader Doc Redman. "Literally you've got a putt that's half a cup out left, and the wind's off the right, it will blow it left. It's different, it's fun, and you've got to embrace it." Those who embrace this week's conditions at par-71 Port Royal GC are best positioned to thrive on the seaside venue, which measures just 6,828 yards but has played to a cumulative over-par total this week (71.374). Between the second and third rounds, the wind direction flipped nearly 180 degrees, causing the most exposed holes to play in drastically different fashion. The 443-yard, par-4 11th played downwind on Friday, and Hickok nearly drove the green, his ball settling 35 yards shy of the hole - with a back hole location. Saturday, that was not the case. "I was five yards, 10 yards off the front edge yesterday, and today I bombed the drive and had 8-iron and left it 20 yards short," Hickok said. "So my 8-iron today ended up in the same spot that my driver was yesterday. It was wild. "(Today), it was 135 yards, and I thought I hit a 165-yard shot with an 8-iron, and it came up 20 yards short, and that's just because of elevation. It's already playing 12 (yards) downwind, so the wind's just going to hit it that much more. It's just hard to give yourself a 6-iron or 7-iron from 135 yards." "Yesterday to that back pin, I probably had 75 yards," added Redman, who arrived in Bermuda on the strength of two third-place finishes in his past five starts. "And then today, I had maybe 135 (yards), and I hit 7-iron. Quite a bit different." Windy conditions are to be expected in Bermuda. Players know upon arrival that they'll need to execute a variety of shots in order to keep pace, and that the nature of the challenge could differ by the day, or even the hour. "We're not playing in a dome," said Ryan Armour, one back into Sunday in chase of his second PGA TOUR title. "We're on an island in the Atlantic. This isn't Palm Springs. You've got to hit some golf shots. It's fun." With blind tee shots, narrow fairways and sharp doglegs, Port Royal facilitates players hitting from similar positions in the fairways, generally neutralizing distance off the tee. Consequently, a variety of playing styles are represented on the leaderboard through 54 holes. "Especially with this wind, being in the fairway is really nice," noted Redman, 22, who ranked No. 95 on TOUR in driving distance last season. "You can control your ball flight better, and your distance. On some holes, (distance) definitely helps, but for me, I just want to be in the fairway." "You can't really overpower this place," added Armour, 44, who ranked No. 182 in driving distance last season. "It's kind of nice knowing that everybody's going to be hitting from the same spot." It makes for an eclectic leaderboard - of the top-seven into the final round, four players are in their 20s (Redman, Hickok, Wyndham Clark, Ollie Schniederjans), and three are in their 40s (Armour, Brian Gay and Matt Jones). Similar conditions are expected Sunday, and creativity should remain at a premium on the Atlantic. With 500 FedExCup Points awarded to the winner - along with a two-year TOUR exemption, and entry into a cornucopia of top-tier events - the contenders plan to embrace the challenge. "It's such a feel game right now, the way the course is playing, which is a lot of fun," Hickok said. "You don't get that a lot on this TOUR. You've got to open up the imagination and just hit different shots. It's fun."

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