Brandon Hagy and PGA Tour rookie Chad Ramey carded rounds of 6-under 65 to share the first-round lead at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in Southampton, Bermuda.
Play was suspended Thursday evening due to darkness, and 13 players will complete their first rounds early Friday. Officials called for a brief five-minute delay in the early afternoon due to high winds and rain at Port Royal Golf Course.
Hagy and Ramey lead Vincent Whaley (66) by a shot. Six others are tied at 4-under 67.
Ramey finished bogey-free and made four of his six birdies on the front nine, his second nine after starting at No. 10. The 29-year-old earned his tour card in September after a successful Korn Ferry Tour season.
“I feel pretty comfortable,” Ramey said. “There’s 25 to 50 other guys that I played with that are out here every week. I feel pretty comfortable. It’s just new courses really. You know, the golf’s the same, it’s just (that) I kind of have to play a little more just to learn the new courses.”
Hagy tallied nine birdies but also suffered a double-bogey at the par-4 15th hole and another bogey at the par-5 seventh on his way in. He led the field in average driving distance (287 yards) amid a windy day.
“My mindset was just trying to hit solid balls and stay down and try and stay composed on the greens and just got to keep my head down, try to keep a solid strike on it,” Hagy said. “You know you’re going to get some gusts, some situations where you’re going to miss it.
“Like on my seventh hole there, I had like a two-and-a-half-footer and got gusted as I’m putting it. That stuff’s going to happen. You’re just going to have to decide before the round that everyone’s dealing with it and try the best you can.”
Hagy, ranked No. 191 in the world, is in search of his first victory on tour.
Patrick Reed, the highest-ranked player in the field, shot a 3-under 68 to join a tie for 10th three strokes back. Reed birdied his first three holes, but his main highlight came at the par-5 17th. After incurring a penalty for an out-of-bounds tee shot, Reed aimed for the green from the right rough. His ball bounced a few feet in front of the cup and dropped for eagle.
“Overcut it in the hazard, took a drop and we had 210 (to the) flag, 204 cover on the line, and I was thinking with how much wind was blowing, hit 7-iron,” Reed said. “And (coach Kevin Kirk) was like, ‘No, downwind,’ How hard it’s been blowing, the ball hasn’t really been traveling, into the wind’s getting killed.
“He said, ‘I like the 6, it’s a perfect 6.’ So I went with a 6 and I flushed it and it went in.”
Reed’s card featured a double-bogey, three bogeys and six birdies in addition to that eagle.
Brian Morris, a head pro in Bermuda who is dealing with stage IV brain cancer, is playing the event on a sponsor invite. Morris was 15 over through 15 holes when his round was suspended.
–Field Level Media
