Austin Smotherman Wins Again, Beating Seamus Power in a Monday Playoff in Bermuda

By The Arena Staff

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda, Oct. 26, 2026 — Three weeks ago, Austin Smotherman had never won on the PGA Tour. Now he has won twice in a row, and the second one took a Monday morning and a lot of wind.

Smotherman beat Seamus Power with a par on the third playoff hole Monday to win the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, which was cut to 54 holes after the final round at Port Royal Golf Course was canceled. The two were tied at 16-under 197, Smotherman on rounds of 65, 66 and 66 and Power, the 2022 champion, on 66, 64 and 67, BBC Sport reported. The win follows Smotherman's first tour title, at the Bank of Utah Championship, which the Associated Press noted came in his 100th career start.

The playoff was played on the par-3 16th, with the wind gusting off the Atlantic to the left of the green. Power had the first real chance, missing a 20-foot birdie putt for the win on the first extra hole, then needed an 8-foot putt to save par from a bunker on the second. Officials moved the hole to the front of the green for the third trip. Smotherman stayed with his 8-iron, left himself about 15 feet and two-putted. Power's tee shot buried in deep rough left of the green, he chopped out to just outside 15 feet and missed the par putt, the AP reported.

"We're out here playing an incredible sport in a beautiful spot," Smotherman, 32, told BBC Sport. "Whatever things are going to be thrown at us, Zak and I were going to be on top of our game," he added, referring to his caddie, Zak Williamson.

The back-to-back wins carry real weight. According to the AP, they get Smotherman into next year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and move him to No. 51 in the FedEx Cup standings, which assures him spots in the first two $20 million Signature Events of 2027, at Pebble Beach and Riviera. He is also the first PGA Tour player to win a 54-hole event shortened by weather since Wyndham Clark at the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Power, 39, was trying to become the tournament's first two-time winner. He came in 103rd in the fall standings, where the top 100 keep full status, and the runner-up finish secures his card for 2027. "Hit some good shots in the playoff, just didn't quite judge the wind right, but that's golf sometimes," he said. "I'll move onwards."