Braden Thornberry has a shot at déjà vu in Bermuda.
The 28-year-old former Ole Miss NCAA champion, who dramatically earned his PGA Tour card last year with a clutch win at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, now shares the lead heading into Sunday’s final round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
It’s a familiar position for Thornberry, who needs another miracle finish. He arrived in Southampton sitting at No. 178 in the FedExCup standings, nearly 400 points shy of the top 100 that would secure his full card for next season.
“I feel like I’m very used to that type of pressure where a good week would go a long way,” Thornberry said Friday, before posting a solid 2-under 69 in Saturday’s brutal winds at Port Royal Golf Club.
How tough were the conditions? Co-leader Adam Schenk called them “laughable at times.” On the 124-yard par-3 16th, playing in what Thornberry described as “a hurricane basically,” he had to chip a 6-iron just to find the green and save par.
Thornberry managed two birdies on the back nine before eagling the par-5 17th, helping him tie Schenk at 12-under. They’re one shot clear of Max McGreevy (who entered the week at No. 100) and three others ranked between 101-150: Takumi Kanaya, Adam Hadwin and Chandler Phillips.
“I’ve told people before I feel like I play well a lot of times on easier golf courses with really hard conditions,” Thornberry said. “That’s kind of been my niche a little bit. There’s been signs in the last month or so of just really good golf, just excited to put it together here and have a chance tomorrow.”
Thornberry was a college powerhouse, winning an impressive 11 times at Ole Miss while adding prestigious amateur victories at the Jones Cup and Sunnehanna Amateur. He was part of the stacked 2017 U.S. Walker Cup team alongside Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa. Until this year, he was the only player from that 10-man squad who turned pro but hadn’t earned a PGA Tour card.
His breakthrough came last year when he needed a solo second or better at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship to crack the top 30. Thornberry did even better, firing a 6-under 66 at French Lick to win by a shot.
“Last year on Korn Ferry in the summer, I had a run where I was in second place like four times going into Sunday, and I kept shooting kind of even or 1 over, nothing crazy, but kind of falling down to 15th or so,” Thornberry explained. “Then I kind of finally figured it out in Boise. Same thing, I think I was second or third going into the round, ended up finishing fourth but played good on Sunday, and then a couple weeks later, was able to do that at the final tournament and win.”
“I was able to win a bunch in college, but I don’t know if I’d forgotten it or what, but it had been a while, maybe three or four years. Hopefully with that recent stuff at the end of last year, hopefully I can carry it over.”
Schenk, his 33-year-old co-leader, has played eight consecutive seasons since first earning his PGA Tour card, though he hasn’t won since his 2017 Korn Ferry Tour victory. Currently No. 134 in points, Schenk ranks No. 92 or worse in all four strokes-gained categories. His putting has been so frustrating that he’s mostly hit putts one-handed, though Saturday’s high winds required a slight touch from his left hand.
“A great opportunity to have for tomorrow,” Schenk said. “I know if I don’t, I have to go to Q-School if I don’t get inside the top 100, so that’s a pretty big motivator.”
