Kenny Leseur’s leaderboard charge derailed by late setback
A late collapse in difficult conditions undid local player Kenny Leseur’s good early work after he found himself tied for fourth during the opening round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course yesterday.
Cruising along at three under at the halfway stage of his first round, the professional came unstuck with four bogeys in six holes, including three consecutively on holes 13 to 15, to leave himself tied for 58th at one over when darkness halted his round with three holes still to play.
As it stands that position would be good enough for him to become the first Bermudian to make the cut in the PGA Tour event, with the top 65 players and ties after the second round making it into the weekend.
After play was suspended and the light had faded, Leseur was able to reflect on his roller-coaster day.
“I shot myself in the foot a little and it is what it is,” Leseur told The Royal Gazette.
“It’s playing tough out there in the rain and wind, but I am staying positive and have tomorrow to make up for it; I’m looking forward to doing that.”
Leseur had raised hopes of a Bermudian weekend challenger with four birdies on his front nine earning him a place in the top four. He might have fared even better had his par putt at the 4th and his birdie attempt at the 7th dropped.
“I played pretty good today and honestly I could’ve played a little better on the front nine,” Leseur said. “I missed a birdie on the 7th and on 4 I don’t know how my putt didn’t go in for par but I’m going to stay positive.”
The 21-year-old now hopes to bounce back when he resumes his first round on Friday morning.
“I’m looking forward to finishing the three holes tomorrow,” he said. “I’m going to get a birdie coming in and then go out and start on the back nine tomorrow. I know I am putting well and hitting the ball well, so I am going to do what I know how to do tomorrow.”
Also representing Bermuda at the event are amateurs Will Haddrell (+2) and Oliver Betschart (+6), who are tied for 68th and 114th and also have three holes left to play in their opening round.
“Today was a battle,” tournament debutant Haddrell said. “I think we got the worst of the winds and I didn’t have my best ball striking today, but I held it together with my short game and I’m reasonably happy with how I stand right now.
“I will need some more birdies tomorrow to have a chance of making the cut.”
The local trio resumed their first round this morning at 7.30am.
While most local eyes were on the Bermudian representatives, those keeping a close eye on the top of the leaderboard will have been impressed by Canadian Adam Hadwin, who carded seven birdies and is the clubhouse leader at six under.
“I hit a lot of really good-quality iron shots today and I gave myself a lot of good chances,” he said.
“I scrambled a little bit when I needed to and never really got into too much trouble. I hit a couple of bad shots on the back that I wouldn’t mind back.
“To birdie 8 and 13 with a three iron and then sticking a nice five-iron on 16 after making bogey on 15 settled things down a little bit.”
Tied for second a shot behind Hadwin is Japan’s Takumi Kanaya and American Braden Thornberry, who still has two holes to play in the first round.
Thornberry and compatriot Frankie Capan III, who is tied for fourth at four under with two holes to play, are the only bogey-free players in the 120-strong field.
Among those finding the going tough was defending champion Rafael Campos, who is tied for 104th at five over.
The Puerto Rican is among a trio of former champions participating in the PGA Tour event, including Séamus Power (2022) and Camilo Villegas (2023). Power is among a bunch of players tied for thirteenth at two under, while Villegas is tied for 43rd at even par.
Adam Hadwin 32-33—65
Takumi Kanaya 36-30—66
Ryo Hisatsune 34-33—67
Isaiah Salinda 31-36—67
Alex Smalley 33-34—67
Harry Higgs 35-33—68
Rikuya Hoshino 33-35—68
Chandler Phillips 37-31—68
Kris Ventura 34-34—68
Vince Whaley 33-35—68
Pierceson Coody 34-35—69
Nicolas Echavarria 37-32—69
Steven Fisk 35-34—69
Will Gordon 34-35—69
Max McGreevy 34-35—69
Thorbjorn Olesen 34-35—69
Jeremy Paul 37-32—69
Seamus Power 35-34—69
Adam Schenk 32-37—69
David Skinns 33-36—69
Jesper Svensson 36-33—69
Carson Young 36-33—69
Mason Andersen 36-34—70
Jonathan Byrd 37-33—70
Taylor Dickson 36-34—70
Harrison Endycott 34-36—70
Lee Hodges 33-37—70
Ben Kohles 33-37—70
Martin Laird 34-36—70
Matthew NeSmith 37-33—70
Greyson Sigg 36-34—70
Kevin Velo 36-34—70
Hunter Wolcott 36-34—70
Zac Blair 37-34—71
Michael Brennan 39-32—71
Blades Brown 37-34—71
Patrick Fishburn 35-36—71
Justin Hastings 34-37—71
Ryan Palmer 36-35—71
Thomas Rosenmueller 35-36—71
Kevin Roy 33-38—71
Hayden Springer 36-35—71
Jackson Suber 35-36—71
Sami Valimaki 36-35—71
Camilo Villegas 34-37—71
Tyler Watts 36-35—71
Dylan Wu 36-35—71
Eric Cole 34-38—72
Trevor Cone 38-34—72
Rico Hoey 36-36—72
Matteo Manassero 35-37—72
Francesco Molinari 37-35—72
Taylor Moore 35-37—72
Henrik Norlander 35-37—72
Matthew Riedel 38-34—72
Matti Schmid 39-33—72
Tyler Duncan 38-35—73
Doug Ghim 37-36—73
Mark Hubbard 37-36—73
David Lipsky 36-37—73
Trey Mullinax 37-36—73
John Pak 35-38—73
Scott Piercy 33-40—73
Andrew Putnam 37-36—73
Antoine Rozner37-36—73
Sam Stevens 35-38—73
Kevin Streelman 35-38—73
Adam Svensson 38-35—73
Matt Wallace 37-36—73
Danny Willett 38-35—73
Kevin Yu 37-36—73
Samuel Anderson 39-35—74
Joseph Bramlett 37-37—74
Austin Cook 36-38—74
Lanto Griffin 37-37—74
Matt Kuchar 37-37—74
Justin Lower 33-41—74
Ben Martin 36-38—74
Victor Perez 37-37—74
Paul Peterson 38-36—74
Ben Silverman 37-37—74
Andrew Zielinski 36-38—74
Ricky Castillo 36-39—75
Oscar Couilleau 38-37—75
Philip Knowles 36-39—75
Matthieu Pavon 36-39—75
Chad Ramey37-38—75
Sam Ryder 36-39—75
Brandt Snedeker 38-37—75
Rafael Campos 39-37—76
Cameron Champ 37-39—76
Luke Clanton 39-37—76
Quade Cummins 37-39—76
Nick Hardy 39-37—76
Chan Kim 35-41—76
Luke List 39-37—76
Patrick Rodgers 39-37—76
Sahith Theegala 38-38—76
Danny Walker 39-37—76
Beau Hossler 36-41—77
Henry Smart 39-38—77
Robert Streb 40-37—77
Hayden Buckley 41-37—78
Chase Johnson 40-38—78
Drew Doyle 40-42—82
Did not finish
Braden Thornberry
Frankie Capan
Jake Peacock
Noah Goodwin
David Ford
Taylor Montgomery
Cristobal Del Solar
Kaito Onishi
Vince Covello
Niklas Norgaard Moller
Kenny Leseur
Will Haddrell
Will Chandler
Paul Ferrier
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