John Daly shot 71-76 and finished 5 over at the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship. There were still golfers on the course playing their second rounds but Daly’s score would’ve been good for last place.
If not for fellow sponsor invite, 65-year-old Kim Swan.
Swan, who is from Bermuda, played college golf for Troy, where the Trojans finished fourth in the 1979 NCAA Division II National Championship. He later played professionally for two years on the then-European Tour. He was the teaching pro at Port Royal Golf Course, host of the tournament, until last year. He frequently gave lessons for free.
“This special opportunity comes as I celebrate my 65th birthday at Port Royal Golf Course, which I proudly serve as chairman of the Board of Trustees, as it enters its 53rd year of operation as a public golf course,” Swan told the Royal Gazette.
In 2019, Swan hit the honorary tee shot to celebrate the inaugural Bermuda Championship, the first official PGA Tour event on island.
Swan was one of 12 sponsor invites this week. His first-round scorecard had five bogeys, four double bogeys and a 9 on the par-4 12th hole, which led to an 89. He got a couple of birdies Friday and scored eight shots better with an 81.
Ben Crane, who was an alternate but was later offered a sponsor invitation, is at the other end of the leaderboard, taking the clubhouse lead Friday after posting a 9-under 62.
