Butterfield Bermuda Championship Round 2: Blanchet and Kensei Hirata Share the Lead Before the Wind Arrives

Port Royal's best defense still has not shown up for work, and through 36 holes the Butterfield Bermuda Championship has turned into a crowded sprint with nobody able to break away.

Chandler Blanchet and Kensei Hirata share the lead at 13-under 129 after Friday's second round. Blanchet followed his opening 62 with a 4-under 67, while Hirata matched the day's best among the leaders with a bogey-free 64. One shot back at 12 under sit five players: Seamus Power, Corey Conners, Ben Silverman, Danny Walker and Eric Cole. Austin Smotherman, Ben Kohles, Greyson Sigg, Denny McCarthy and David Skinns are among those two back at 11 under, and the wind is finally expected to arrive.

Blanchet Finds a Way

Thursday was the highlight reel. Friday was the grind, and Blanchet handled it like a player who has been here before.

The 67 had no fireworks to match the two eagles from the first round, but the finish showed some real craft. On the par-4 18th, Blanchet tugged the drive and was left with an uphill lie, the ball above the feet and no view of the flag. Blanchet hit a wedge over the hill to about 5 feet and made the birdie to get back to a share of the top.

"Had a pretty uphill, above-the-feet lie and completely blind shot," Blanchet said, per the AP. "It was kind of a fun creative one, which I think you've got to be pretty solid at this week with the wind. Can't just take your stock shots. So it was a good way to end it."

That last line is the whole tournament in a sentence. Port Royal on a calm day is a birdie fest. Port Royal in a real breeze asks for shots nobody practices on the range. Blanchet, who arrived at No. 114 in the FedExCup Fall standings, has now shown both looks in two days.

The Rookie Joins the Party

Hirata had never shared the lead after any round in his rookie season on the PGA TOUR. That changed with a clean card on Friday. An opening 65 and a bogey-free 64 put the Japanese rookie at 129 and squarely into the conversation, with plenty of golf still to play.

It is also a reminder of how the fall works. A rookie with a hot week here can change the entire shape of next season, and two rounds in, Hirata has done the hard part of getting into position.

Power Plays for His Card

The most compelling story on the board might be one shot back. Power won this event in 2022, back when he was a top-50 player in the world. Now Power is No. 103 in the standings, three spots on the wrong side of the line for full status in 2027.

After a sloppy finish to Thursday's 66, Power responded with a bogey-free 64 on Friday. Power explained that the hardest part of this season was not the golf. It was never knowing which events he would get into.

"But it was the unknowns," Power said. "Not knowing where I was going to get in and when I was going to get in was the tough part."

Power finished No. 114 a year ago and still got into most events outside the Signature Events. The goal now is cleaner: get back inside the top 100 and start January without wondering. "So like that's going to be the big goal," Power said.

A Canadian Logjam

Conners and Silverman both shot 67 to stay one back at 12 under, so the Canadian contingent has two players sitting right on the shoulder of the leaders heading into the weekend. Conners, the highest-ranked player in the field, has been steady more than spectacular, and that is a profile that tends to age well when the conditions get nasty.

Walker matched that 67 and closed with birdies on his last two holes to jump into the pack, and Cole posted a 65 to join them. Cole already sounds ready for the weather.

"Just try and stay patient and have fun with it a little bit," Cole said.

Smotherman stayed right in the mix with a 66, and Skinns had the low round among the contenders with a 63 to vault to 11 under. Kohles, the co-runner-up after Thursday, slowed to a 68 but remains two back.

The Cut and the Casualties

The scoring was so low that the cut fell at 5-under 137, a number that would make a lot of tournament directors nervous. Defending champion Adam Schenk missed it. So did Chandler Phillips, a painful one for a player who came in at No. 98 in the standings and needed every point he could find.

Davis Thompson, 10 back after an opening 72, answered with a 65 and survived right on the number. Adam Hadwin, who led this event after the first two rounds last year, shot 64 and climbed back into the field for the weekend at 7 under.

Here Comes the Wind

This is the fourth event of the FedExCup Fall, with four tournaments left after Bermuda for players to finish inside the top 100. And for the first time all week, the forecast is calling for the conditions that make this place famous, with gusts stronger than anything the field has seen so far.

That changes the math. A one-shot deficit on a calm day is nothing. On a windy day it is either nothing or everything, depending on who can control the ball. A board this bunched means Saturday is less a moving day than an elimination round.

Catch up on Thursday in our Round 1 recap. The PGA TOUR's Round 2 recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (AP Round 2 recap), AP via The Canadian Press, ESPN leaderboard. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.