Bermuda invites Mack to return and compete in Bermuda’s PGA TOUR event October 27-30

SOUTHAMPTON, BERMUDA (October 13th, 2022) – APGA Tour star Willie Mack III emerged victorious, gaining a sponsor exemption into Bermuda’s PGA TOUR event. The Butterfield Bermuda Championship will be contested later this month (October 27-30) at Port Royal Golf Course. In a three-man playoff, thanks to a tap-in par on the first extra hole, Mack captured the Butterfield Bermuda APGA Championship Wednesday at Port Royal. It was the first international competition in the history of the burgeoning APGA Tour.

First round leader Joseph Hooks of Farmington Hills, Michigan, and Marcus Byrd of Washington D.C. joined Mack in the playoff after a competitive back nine left them all at four-under-par 138. The threesome replayed the 18^thhole, and Mack secured his par before Byrd and Hooks missed the putts needed to extend the battle. Mack won the first-place check of $15,000 from the purse of $60,000, the fourth largest in the history of the APGA Tour as well as gaining a sponsor’s exemption into the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in two weeks’ time. 

Mack sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the first hole Wednesday to start his charge from three strokes back, and all three held the lead down the stretch in windy conditions on the 6,842-yard par 71 Port Royal layout. He has upwards of 70 wins on the APGA Tour and mini-tours over the years and made the cut in two PGA TOUR events during the summer of 2021 as part of his journey in professional golf. Mack advanced out of the first stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School last month at Championsgate Golf Club in Championsgate, Florida. 

“I tried not to make mistakes today,” stated Mack, who battled injuries earlier in the year and is now feeling confident with next week’s challenge of the second stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School. This commences next week at Plantation Preserve Golf Club in Plantation, Florida, where he hopes to break through following multiple near-misses in recent years. At 34 years old, Mack from Flint, Michigan, now carries another tournament win into Korn Ferry Tour Q-School and has secured his position at Bermuda’s PGA TOUR event the week after. “My putting was there today when I needed it. Hopefully, I can bring what I accomplished this week into next week. It was good to play a PGA TOUR-level course these last two days.” 

Christian Heavens of Fairview Heights, Illinois, finished in fourth place at 71-68-139, with Joey Stills of Orlando in fifth at 71-70-141 and Ryan Alford of Shreveport, Louisiana, in sixth at even par 142. APGA Tour Player of the Year Kamaiu Johnson of Oviedo, Florida, and Aaron Grimes of Compton, California, tied for seventh. 

Among the Bermudian participants in the tournament, Damian Palanyandi shot 73-75-148, finishing 13th; Camiko Smith shot 78-76-154, finishing 18th; Oliver Betschart carded a 74-83-157 for 20th; and Cory Desilva registered a 87-78-165, placing 21st. 

The invitational tournament was hosted and sponsored by the Bermuda Tourism Authority, Butterfield, The Hamilton Princess and Beach Club and Life & Annuity Services (LAS). The APGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Fall Series resumes later this month with the APGA Tour Charlie Sifford Centennial at Kingswood Forest Golf Club, October 25-26, in Houston, Texas. Byrd, winner of the APGA Tour Valley Forge, and Brad Adamonis, winner of the Ascension Classic/APGA Tour St. Louis, are tied atop the Fall Series Point Standings with 600 points. The season culminates Nov. 8-10 with the APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Fall Series Finale at Tustin Ranch Golf Club in Tustin Ranch, California. 

The APGA Tour was established in 2010 to bring greater diversity to the game of golf by hosting and operating professional golf tournaments, player development programs, mentoring programs and introducing the game to inner-city young people. The Tour continues to grow from seven events with $200,000 in prize money in 2020 to 14 events with over $400,000 in prize money in 2021 to 18 events with over $900,000 in prize and bonus money in 2022. 

The Butterfield Bermuda Championship looks forward to welcoming Willie Mack III back to Bermuda in two weeks’ time to play in Bermuda’s PGA TOUR event.  

About Butterfield Bermuda Championship

The Butterfield Bermuda Championship, Bermuda’s first-ever PGA TOUR event, is an annual feature on the PGA TOUR calendar. Each year, a minimum of three local Bermudians earn exemption spots into the field by competing in the Local Qualifier event ahead of the tournament. Scheduled for October 27 to 30 at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship will feature a field of 132 players, 72 holes of stroke play and a purse of US $6.5 million prize money. The tournament’s charitable impact in Bermuda currently exceeds $1.1 million to local non-profits, with plans to significantly grow its impact on the community in years to come. This official FedEx Cup event will showcase Bermuda to its worldwide spectators. Golf Channel will provide live broadcasting throughout the Championship to boast Bermuda’s picturesque landscapes for all to see. For more information on the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, please visit butterfieldbdachampionship.com. Follow and subscribe to our social media channels for live news, updates, and event information. 

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About Butterfield 

Butterfield is a full-service bank and wealth manager headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, providing services to clients from Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, and Jersey, where our principal banking operations are located, and The Bahamas, Switzerland, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, where we offer specialized financial services. Banking services comprise deposit, cash management and lending solutions for individual, business, and institutional clients. Wealth management services are composed of trust, private banking, asset management and custody. In Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Guernsey, we offer both banking and wealth management. In The Bahamas, Singapore, and Switzerland, we offer select wealth management services. In the UK, we offer residential property lending. In Jersey, we offer select banking and wealth management services. Butterfield is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: NTB) and the Bermuda Stock Exchange (symbol: NTB.BH). Further details can be obtained from our website at: www.butterfieldgroup.com. About Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) The Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) is an award-winning, accredited destination marketing organisation that promotes Bermuda internationally and works to empower our tourism industry stakeholders. Explore Bermuda’s National Tourism Plan at BermudaNTP.com 

About Bermuda Tourism Authority

About Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) The Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) is an award-winning, accredited destination marketing organisation that promotes Bermuda internationally and works to empower our tourism industry stakeholders. Explore Bermuda’s National Tourism Plan at BermudaNTP.com

About PGA TOUR 

By showcasing golf’s greatest players, the PGA TOUR engages, inspires, and positively impacts our fans, partners, and communities worldwide.  The PGA TOUR, headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, co-sanctions tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Oct 27-30, 2022 Port Royal Golf Course Southampton, Bermuda Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Series-China. Members on the PGA TOUR represent the world’s best players, hailing from 29 countries and territories (94 members are from outside the United States). Worldwide, PGA TOUR tournaments are broadcast to 216 countries and territories in 28 languages. Virtually all tournaments are organized as non-profit organizations to maximize charitable giving, and to date, tournaments across all Tours have generated more than $3.2 billion.  Fans can follow the PGA TOUR on PGATOUR.COM, the No. 1 site in golf, on the PGA TOUR app and on social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram (in English, Spanish and Korean), LinkedIn, Twitter, WeChat, Weibo, Toutiao, and Douyin.