With seven birdies and a single bogey, repeating the score of 65 strokes with which he started the tournament yesterday, Justin Lower (-12) has taken the solo lead in the standings of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, the penultimate points event of the season on the PGA Tour. The 35-year-old American golfer, with more than a decade as a professional, is enjoying his best playing moment and wants to take advantage of it in Bermuda, a place where in 13 of the 14 rounds he has played on the tour he has achieved scores below 70 strokes, to open his victory account and change his status.
He joined the circuit in 2022 and since then has accumulated a second place, last week, a third, in Mexico in February, and nine top ten finishes, four of them in this 2024. A year in which he has amassed more than two million dollars in earnings, finished 91st in the FedEx Cup, and climbed to 74th in this fall calendar, getting closer week by week to the positions between 51st and 60th that grant access to the first two designated events of 2025.
Educated at Malone University in Ohio, his home state, Lower faces the weekend as the favourite, something he tries to take in stride: “They are all learning experiences. I definitely feel more comfortable being at the top of the leaderboard. It’s tough, it’s not easy. Sometimes you feel like you have a lot of eyes on you and I know how the guys here are, they try to chase you. I just try to play the best I can, keep my head down and not make noise, I guess.”
Buckets from the beach 🏖️
@Streels54 holes it from the bunker for birdie on No. 16. pic.twitter.com/9ojwrHKFie— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 15, 2024
For now, and after his putting recital today (21 putts in total), tomorrow he will face the ‘moving day’ with a two-stroke lead over his compatriots Robby Shelton (-10) and Ryan Moore (-10). And his margin will be three over two other Americans, Sam Ryder (-9) and Kevin Kisner (-9). All four, outside the top 125 of the FedEx Fall before the tournament started and playing for full playing rights for 2025. Tough rivals due to the delicacy of their situation, joined by other names like David Lipsky (-8), Matti Schmid (-8), Francesco Molinari (-8), or Greyson Sigg (-8).
The Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas (-6), who was the only non-American player among the top 14 yesterday, saw his birdie production stall this Friday and lost ground, although he remains in the fight. The defending champion, Camilo Villegas (-2), made the cut, although he is far from the battle to retain the title. Meanwhile, Wesley Bryan (-3) will not have the company of his brother George (+6) over the weekend, who missed the cut on a Friday when some matches could not be completed due to lack of light.
