This week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship, the penultimate event of the inaugural FedExCup Fall and the 2022-23 season, bodes critical for those around the top-125 bubble.

The PGA TOUR heads to Port Royal Golf Course for the fifth consecutive year, and FedExCup points have never been more valuable. In past years, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship marked an early stop during the wraparound season. Now all eyes turn to the status-and-eligibility drama, as the top 125 on the FedExCup Fall standings after The RSM Classic (Nov. 16-19) will retain TOUR exempt status for 2024.

TOUR veterans jockeying for important points and positions will be joined in the field by someone whose typical schedule involves high school classes and junior golf events – 15-year-old Oliver Betschart.

Betschart is a local golf prodigy who earned a spot in the field via a 54-hole local qualifier, one of three Bermudians to qualify via the event.

The young star – who last year became the youngest winner of the Port Royal Golf Club Championship – will become the second 15-year-old to tee it up at the event in the last four years. Kenny Leseur, however, was six months older when he played in 2019.

Betschart missed qualifying for last year’s Bermuda Championship by just one shot but fired a final-round 68 this year to jump into a qualifying position.

“This has been my goal for the whole year,” Betschart told The Royal Gazette, Bermuda’s only daily newspaper.

When he hits his opening shot Thursday, Betschart will become the youngest player to compete on the PGA TOUR since 2014 and the fifth youngest since 2000. Michelle Wie West is the youngest since 2000, having competed in the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii at 14 years, 3 months, 7 days.

“Last year I was up here working with the tournament staff and seeing all the work that goes on,” Betschart told the local newspaper, “and I am really happy to be part of it this year.”

FIELD NOTES: Adam Scott will tee it up for the second time in the FedExCup Fall after finishing tied for 41st at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. This is his debut in Bermuda. Scott had four top-10 finishes this season highlighted by a tie for fifth at the Wells Fargo Championship. He’ll be keen to try to make a big leap into The Next 10 (Nos. 51-60 on the FedExCup Fall standings after The RSM Classic will qualify for next year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational)… Lucas Glover will tee it up for the second straight week in the FedExCup Fall. Glover, a two-time TOUR winner this season, has some good mojo at Port Royal: He won the 2009 Grand Slam of Golf at the course. He also teed it up at last year’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship, finishing T63… Glover and Scott are two of five major champions in the field including Stewart Cink, Jason Dufner and Jimmy Walker … October’s Sanderson Farms Championship winner Luke List is back in action… Ben Griffin returns to Bermuda to extract a little revenge on Port Royal. The TOUR rookie led last year’s event during the final round but played holes 12-16 in a combined 6 over, en route to a T3 finish… Camilo Villegas, the 54-hole co-leader at the World Wide Technology Championship, is set to jet over to Bermuda … Other notables teeing it up include recent TOUR winners Akshay Bhatia and Nico Echavarria, plus Mackenzie Hughes and Thomas Detry, who are both fighting to keep their spots in The Next 10… Brendon Todd, Brian Gay and Lucas Herbert – the 2019, 2020 and 2021 winners of this event, respectively – are all returning.

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: YouTube star George Bryan is set to make his PGA TOUR debut. Bryan's brother Wesley is a TOUR winner and will also be in the field. The Bryan brothers (“Bryan Bros”) have amassed more than a quarter-million followers on their successful YouTube channel … Bermuda native Michael Sims is back in the field. Sims counts Glover as a close friend and his return to action on TOUR in 2021 at this event (after nearly a half-decade of painting houses and re-surfacing houses, amongst other odd jobs) can be attributed to that friendship. This will be his fifth TOUR start… Fred Biondi will make his third TOUR start of the FedExCup Fall. Earlier this year, Biondi went 2-for-2 at the NCAA Championships: He helped the University of Florida to the Division I team title and also won the individual title… 2023 U.S. Amateur champion Nick Dunlap will make his non-major PGA TOUR debut (he has competed in the past two U.S. Opens). The University of Alabama sophomore had a trophy-filled summer in addition to the U.S. Amateur – he also won the Northeast Amateur and the North & South Men's Championship… Speaking of amateur standouts, the 2022 U.S. Amateur winner Sam Bennett is back in action on TOUR. This will be Bennett’s 10th start on TOUR this season. He missed the cut at the Sanderson Farms Championship in his other start in the FedExCup Fall… 15-year-old Oliver Betschart is set to tee it up after making it through a three-round qualifier along with other locals Scott Roy and Eric West… Chase Johnson is back in action on TOUR. Johnson, who made the cut at the World Wide Technology Championship after earning a spot via a September victory at an APGA Farmers Insurance Fall Series event in Cincinnati, has had a breakthrough campaign on the APGA with three wins and two runner-up finishes. He also won THE JOHN SHIPPEN earlier this year to earn a spot in the Rocket Mortgage Classic – where he also made the cut… Other veterans receiving sponsor invites include TOUR winner D.A. Points and former TOUR member Chris Baker.

STORYLINES

1) AN IMPORTANT WEEK FOR MANY

Nick Hardy, Ben Griffin, Alex Smalley, Hughes, List and Detry are all currently ranked inside The Next 10 on the FedExCup Fall standings, are all set to compete in Bermuda. Nos. 51-60 on the FedExCup Fall standings, finalized after The RSM Classic, will qualify for next year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational. Many eyes will also turn to the top-125 bubble, which will determine exempt TOUR status for 2024. Players around this bubble headed to Port Royal include Chesson Hadley, Doug Ghim, C.T. Pan, Erik van Rooyen, Marty Dou, Jimmy Walker, Patton Kizzire and Harry Higgs.

2) PUTT FOR DOUGH

Putting has been key to success at Port Royal in recent years. Only one winner has ranked outside the top five in putts per round (Herbert in 2022), and he ranked T6 in that stat. The narrow, winding Port Royal layout offers plenty of wedge opportunities, generally leading to several mid-range birdie putts in the 10- to 15-foot range. Players know they’ll likely need to convert several in this range to have a chance on the back nine Sunday.

3) BEN GRIFFIN IS BACK

A year or so removed from working as a mortgage loan officer, Griffin was close to breaking through for his first PGA TOUR title at last year’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship. A back-nine collapse would hinder him from doing just that; he made four consecutive bogeys on Nos. 12-15 on Sunday, followed by a double bogey at No. 16, en route to a tie for third, two back of winner Seamus Power. Griffin has produced a steady campaign otherwise, and he just recently lost in a playoff at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Between his solid play of late, his tidy season-long effort with the flatstick and perhaps some good karma, this could be the week Griffin will break through.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points.

COURSE: Port Royal Golg Club in Southampton, Bermuda, par 71, 6,828 yards. This is the fifth year for Port Royal to host the PGA TOUR (it also hosted the Grand Slam of Golf from 2009 to 2014), and while it’s short by PGA TOUR standards, it’s the longest course on Bermuda. Elevation changes and sea-side winds, plus unpredictable weather – there have been more than six hurricanes/tropical storms in the area over the last three months – still makes it a challenging test.

72-HOLE RECORD: 260, Brendon Todd (2019)

18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Taylor Pendrith (second round, 2021)

LAST TIME: Power won for the second time on the PGA TOUR, taking the Butterfield Bermuda Championship by one over Detry. Detry, who had holed a bunker shot on the closing hole to post 18 under for the week. Power, who finished at 19 under, took the lead for good after a birdie on No. 14 on Sunday, and despite a bogey on the penultimate hole, his 1-under 70 was good enough. Kevin Yu, Patrick Rodgers and Griffin tied for third. Griffin was in the driver’s seat at the halfway point on the final day; he surrendered a two-stroke advantage with four straight bogeys on Nos. 12-15, followed by a double bogey on the par-3 16th that ended his chances. The nail in the coffin for Griffin came on 14. He took a penalty drop and made his third straight bogey while Power made birdie for a two-shot swing. Power’s previous TOUR title came at the 2021 Barbasol Championship.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Television: Thursday-Friday, 1-4 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel)

Radio: Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio)