Value Report: Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Winning as a 10/1 favorite in a weak field is exactly what the best players in the world should be doing, and Ben Griffin is continuing to prove that’s what he is. His insane leap year over year has been awesome to watch, and the path to adding power has very much been rewarded for a guy who was always known for his short game. I did enjoy quite a bit of the chasers to Griffin though, as there were plenty of profiles and stories with each of them. Garrick Higgo losing another 54-hole lead when being heavily invested was quite frustrating, but his close to the season has me incredibly bullish for his 2026. The WWT Championship drew a bit more star power than usual likely due to the vacation setup of the event, but we are back to the true Wild West with the Bermuda Championship and RSM Classic these next two weeks. Let’s lock in and finish on a high note!

Looking back at last week’s Value Report, keeping the faith with Nick Dunlap was the massive win of the WWT Championship. Dunlap had previously been showing single-round pops. After missing the cut after an opening 65 the week before, it was hard to get too excited with his Thursday 61. But he held on strong for the entire tournament and even closed with 18/18 greens in regulation with a Sunday 65. Let’s hope it’s big things ahead for him in 2026 as he gets back to his normal self. David Ford followed up his T3 in Utah with a very big scoring performance, ending up 25th in DraftKings points on the slate despite the 40th-place finish. The fall swing is a perfect setup for a player like him to get much more comfortable on the PGA Tour, and I can for sure see him back in contention these last two weeks. Kris Ventura was the other player to crack triple digits in scoring and continues to be quite steady in these weaker events, especially when power is helpful. On the poor side, Zac Blair did make the cut, but you aren’t going to be impactful at a birdie fest with that low scoring output. Brandt Snedeker missed the cut on the number, and then Braden Thornberry was downright awful. But with all the players being under 8% owned and with multiple having a pretty decent output, I’m quite happy with the week value-wise.

Flipping the page to this week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship, we get to experience one of the wildest events that the PGA Tour offers. When a winners list has Brian Gay, Camilo Villegas, and Rafael Campos on it over a five-year span, chaos is bound to ensue. In alignment with all of those three lacking much effort off the tee, Port Royal is a course that doesn’t emphasize much of a specific fit, either. It’s more or less a survival test with coastal gusts that surely are going to be above 30 mph on multiple days this week. The 2022 championship that Lucas Herbert won at -15 looks to resemble this week’s, and he was a player who had a great skill set in winds from his Australian roots and links success. With the top of the field lacking any sort of stars, this is as wide open an event as we’ve had in 2025. No shot tracker means even more tilting, but let’s just enjoy the last two weeks we have of the season and find ourselves another Value Report winner!

Justin Lower, $7,300 – On last week’s Establish The Green, Sam made an excellent point when discussing Justin Lower having a wild track record of success at these seaside events outside of the United States. In 2024, Lower had four top fives on the season, and they came at the WWT, Mexico Open, Corales Puntacana, and at this course for the Bermuda. Playing in high winds is absolutely a skill, but it’s difficult to know which players do it consistently. This screams to me a player who is very confident in these settings, and it had looked like Lower was going to get another top five last week at the WWT, where he was T9 heading into the weekend. He fell back for a T31 result, but that’s fresh off a third-place finish in Utah, so the form is pointing in the right direction for the 36-year-old. Lower is also 108th in the FedEx standings, so there are massive implications for him these next two weeks.