It is two weeks since Sheffield’s Matthew Fitzpatrick celebrated success at the Andalucia Masters and the European Ryder Cup star is fancied to claim another title when he tees it up at this week’s Bermuda Championship this week.
Fitzpatrick, 10/1 to win, heads a field that is thin in terms of star quality, but there are plenty of players looking to make their mark in the PGA Tour, who will see this week’s tournament at Port Royal Golf Club as an ideal opportunity to do just that.
South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout will have lofty ambitions after he finished fifth in his last tournament, the European tour’s flagship event, the PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Bezuidenhout is 12/1 for glory this week, while Chile’s Mito Pereira is 16/1 after two wins on the Korn Ferry Tour this year and a third place in the recent Fortinet Championship, which attracted a decent field.
Buckley equipped to make the step up
An accurate player is likely to come out on top at Port Royal Golf Club this week and 25-year-old Chattanooga hopeful Hayden Buckley could just fit the bill.
He stands third in the PGA Tour’s greens-in-regulation statistics and his game has developed in 2019 since he claimed the Suncoast Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour in February.
Other notable performances came with a second at the Utah Championship and fourth at the KFT Tour Championship before raising his game again on the main tour.
He finished fourth at the Sanderson Farms Championship and was eighth at the Shriners Children’s Open when his closing round of 63 was beaten only by champion Sungjae Im.
With a weak field assembled in Bermuda, this is a great chance for a big win that would ensure a place at April’s Masters at 25/1.
Power soaring up the rankings
Ireland’s Seamus Power is on the verge of getting into the world’s top 100 and can mount a serious challenge this week having already won on the PGA Tour this year.
Power came out on top of the low-grade Barbasol Championship in July, which was played while the game’s elite were battling it out to win The Open at Royal St George’s.
That performance came after five successive top-20 finishes and while he never really challenged last time at the Shriners Children’s Open, his 21st spot was no disgrace.
Power finished 37th in this tournament last year but he paid the price for a second-round 74 and there was enough in his other three efforts to suggest he could be a factor this time at 20/1.
First win not far away for Schwab
Austria’s Matthias Schwab has yet to taste a professional victory but that first success is surely not too far away and he can make a bold bid in Bermuda at 35/1.
He had five top-ten finishes on the European Tour in the first half of the year and he is just the sort of accurate type who could get to grips with this week’s test.
Schwab has some decent Stateside form with a fourth at the Albertsons Boise Open and eighth in the KFT Tour Championship.
The 26-year-old was subsequently 12th at Wentworth and 15th last time at the Andalucia Masters when he recovered well from an opening 74, so he has enough in his locker to be a factor against modest opposition.
*All odds correct at time of writing.
