The pressure on players to finish inside the top 100 of the FedEx Cup Fall standings at the end of the PGA Tour season is beginning to ramp up.
The Butterfield Bermuda Championship is the penultimate chance for players with work to do to scramble above the threshold and ensure full playing privileges on the PGA Tour in 2026.
After this week’s event, only the RSM Classic remains – and for one player, it appears to be a case of desperate times calling for desperate measures.
Adam Schenk began the event 134th in the standings, not just well below the top 100 but even leaving a battle ahead to finish inside the top 125 of the standings to earn conditional PGA Tour status for next season.
However, things were looking up for Schenk with one round to play at Port Royal as he shared the lead with Braden Thornberry at 12 under.
Schenk will be well aware that a solid end to his tournament will take him inside the top 100 with one to play, while a win will remove any doubt over his future with a PGA Tour card for the next two years.
As a result, he tried an unorthodox putting technique during a windy third round in Bermuda, at times putting one-handed!
The decision very nearly came off for him at the eighth, when, with just his right hand on the club and putting from off the green, his ball agonizingly lipped out. A hole later, he went with both hands on the putter as he made par.
Perhaps with those mixed results in mind, he backed off his putt three times at the 10th, considering both options along the way, before finally taking the conventional route and stroking in his ball for birdie with a confidence that belied his earlier indecision.
Two holes later, he seemed to have settled on a compromise, getting in position with his right hand lower on the putter before gently resting his left above it. The result was a narrow miss left, before he responded with a long birdie putt at the 13th.
So, what exactly was going on? Schenk explained while being interviewed during his round.
“It just releases really nice with one hand and I don’t pull putts,” he said. “I’ve been fighting the pulls for a while now. I don’t think I’ve made any one-handed today, but I’ve got two hands on the wheel, but the left hand’s barely on the top.”
Afterwards, Schenk expanded on his approach, saying: “I could talk about it for hours. I should write down all my putting thoughts so I could look back at them in 10 years and laugh at myself.
“Just been putting mostly one-handed. This week, today it was too windy at times when the wind was - when we were protected from the wind I could use one hand and hit a lot of nice putts. Had a couple lip-outs.
“I don't think I made any today with one hand, but I would put the left hand just barely on top so it was basically like putting right-handed. Made a nice putt on - two par putts on 8 and 9 and then 10 and 11 were bonuses, hit a great putt on 12, didn't go in, and then made a bonus putt from really far away on 13.”
It’s not the first time we’ve seen Schenk employ an unusual technique when the need has arisen. On the 72nd hole of the 2023 Valspar Championship, he played a left-handed approach with his right-handed club after his ball landed beside a tree stump.
On that occasion, it didn’t help him win, with Schenk finishing second behind Taylor Moore.
He’ll be hoping that, this time, his unconventional putting approach will be enough to seal his maiden PGA Tour win, or at the very least, a place in the top 100 of the FedEx Cup standings with one tournament to play.
