Butterfield Bermuda Championship Round 2: Hadwin Scrambles, Survives and Keeps the Lead

Adam Hadwin did not have Thursday's swing on Friday. Hadwin still has the lead, which tells you everything about how the 38-year-old is approaching this week.

Hadwin shot a 5-under 66 at Port Royal to reach 11-under 131 and carry a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Chandler Phillips (64) and Braden Thornberry (65) are tied for second at 10 under. Max McGreevy (64) and Noah Goodwin (67) are two back at 9 under, and Adam Schenk sits alone in sixth at 8 under after a 65. Six players were still on the course when darkness fell, and the round was completed early Saturday morning.

Scrambling to the Top

"A little bit more scrambly than yesterday, didn't quite hit it as well," Hadwin said, per the AP. The card backs that up. Starting on the back nine, Hadwin made a double bogey at the par-3 13th, only the fourth hole of the day, and suddenly the overnight lead looked fragile.

What followed was patient, not pretty. Hadwin leaned on the short game and the putter, and the big swing came at the short par-4 sixth. From the rough, Hadwin pitched in for eagle, a shot Hadwin said came off exactly as planned. That eagle was the difference between sharing the lead and owning it.

The 131 is Hadwin's lowest 36-hole total of the season, one off a career best, and it is Hadwin's fourth 36-hole lead or co-lead on TOUR and first since the 2023 WM Phoenix Open, per tournament notes. For a player who started the week at No. 147 in the FedExCup, needing to get inside the top 100 after next week's RSM Classic, every one of those numbers matters.

Phillips and Thornberry Close In

Phillips had one of the cleanest rounds of the day, a season-low 64 that tied a career-low 36-hole score of 132. Phillips arrived at No. 139 in the standings, so a weekend like this is not a bonus. It is the whole plan.

Thornberry went bogey-free for a 65, with birdies at the 15th, 17th and 18th to close. That finishing stretch has been Thornberry's friend all week. It is also the best position through 36 holes of Thornberry's TOUR career, in the 36th start of it. The former NCAA champion is a TOUR rookie sitting deep outside the top 100, so only a big finish changes the picture.

McGreevy Rolls With It

McGreevy might have had the hardest assignment in the field. The tee times put McGreevy in the worst of the wind, late Thursday and early Friday, and the response was a 64, the lowest of 14 career rounds at Port Royal.

"You've just got to kind of roll with it," McGreevy said, per the AP. McGreevy came in at exactly No. 100 in the FedExCup, which makes this about as literal a bubble as it gets.

Goodwin, who made two eagles in the opening round, shot 67 to stay in the hunt from No. 148 in the standings. Schenk's 65 moved into the top six with a quietly efficient round.

Low Round, Long Week

The low score of the day belonged to Doug Ghim, who followed a 73 with a 63, one shot off a career low, to jump into a tie for ninth at 6 under. Sahith Theegala went the other direction in a hurry, following an opening 76 with a 65 that included five straight birdies from Nos. 7 through 11.

Tyler Watts provided the feel-good story. The 18-year-old amateur from Huntsville, Alabama, headed to Tennessee next year, shot 69 to get to 2 under and make the cut for the second straight start. Watts earned the spot on a sponsor exemption as the top performer in the Men's Elite Amateur Cup.

The Cut and the Casualties

The cut fell at even-par 142, with 70 players advancing. Defending champion Rafael Campos missed at 1 over. All three Bermudian players missed as well, and no player from the island has made the 36-hole cut in the event's history. Luke List withdrew before the second round because of illness.

The broader bubble picture is wild. According to tournament notes, 21 players finished at 5 under or better, and 17 of them came into the week outside the top 100 in the FedExCup. Seamus Power, the 2022 champion here, is among the crowd at 5 under.

The Weekend Setup

Saturday's forecast called for more wind, from the west-northwest with gusts to 30 mph. That favors the players who can grind, and Hadwin just proved on Friday that a scrambling round can still protect a lead. The difference now is that Phillips, Thornberry and McGreevy have already shown they can go low in the same conditions.

Hadwin is also chasing a strange bit of history. Each of the last four winners here came from a different country, and a Canadian winner would make it five.

Catch up on Thursday in our Round 1 recap. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the AP's second-round story (opens in a new tab) on PGA TOUR has more.

Sources: AP, PGA TOUR, Golf Channel, Butterfield Bermuda Championship tournament notes. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.