The 2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship was memorable for many reasons — a tearful winner, a record attendance and more local vendors involved than ever.
For the victorious Rafael Campos, the result was a dream come true — his first PGA Tour victory at the 80th attempt. Even more remarkably, he clinched his three-shot triumph just six days after his wife gave birth to daughter Paola.
He came into the event 147th in the FedEx Cup rankings and, with just two events to play in the season, looked likely to finish outside the top 125 and lose his PGA Tour card. Three days after his wife gave birth he flew into Bermuda on the event’s opening day, grateful that a delay-free journey just allowed him to make his 12.58 tee time.
After completing a four-round, 19-under-par total of 265, Campos was sprayed with champagne as the reality of his career-changing win sank in.
Danielle Carrera, Butterfield Bermuda Championship tournament director, said: “As Rafael said to me afterwards, he didn’t think he would have a job after that week. It’s an incredible story.”
In addition to the distinctive triangular cedar trophy, Campos bagged a $1.2 million winner’s cheque and secured his PGA Tour card for two years. There was another benefit that he was initially unaware of. “When I said, ‘Now you’ll have to prepare for that little event in April’, he paused and said, ‘What?’” Carrera chuckled. “He didn’t realise his win had earned him an invitation to the Masters!”
Adding to the poignancy of the occasion was that Campos became the first Puerto Rican to win a PGA Tour event since Juan “Chi Chi” Rodriguez, who had passed away just three months earlier at the age of 88. An emotional Campos spent an hour and 15 minutes doing media interviews in English and Spanish after his win.
“It’s incredible that he found the strength to play like that right after his daughter was born,” Carrera said. “He was so kind, he stopped for every autograph request, and spent a lot of time with the title sponsors, Butterfield and the Bermuda Tourism Authority. And he honoured his commitment to play the week after at the RSM Classic in Georgia, when he really did not have to — what an amazing champion and an amazing person!”
From Carrera’s perspective, 2024 was also a year when the Championship earned a whole new level of love from the Bermuda public. Record numbers descended upon the Port Royal Golf Course over the four days of play — in all, 7,986 attended, including 5,486 on general admission tickets and another 2,500 credentialed guests.
“We’re very proud of the growth we’ve seen over our first six years,” Carrera said. “In response to fan feedback, we introduced a few things that went down very well this year.”
These included the 50-seat MasterCard grandstand, a public viewing area overlooking the 18th green, upgrades to the Family Zone, located between the 16th and 17th holes, and the Goslings Club presented by MasterCard — all changes made with a view to enhancing the fan experience.
There was heightened interest in the tournament, with the butterfieldbdachampionship.com website attracting some 129,000 visitors in November alone.
This year, the Championship also held a contest for schoolchildren to design artwork to be featured on sustainable aluminium water bottles distributed on site. The winning drawing was submitted by 13-year-old, Bermuda Institute student Rhys Tucker Bowen. Rhys was invited to Port Royal on the Wednesday of tournament week, together with his mother Dayna Bowen and art teacher Richard Sutton, to meet some impressed PGA Tour golfers.
Among the expanded group of small island businesses involved in the 2024 Championship were Ahmani’s Cookie Company, Ashley’s Lemonade, Bermuda Cupcake Company, Bermuda Pie Company, Dandesign, J&B’s Wood Fired Pizza, The Play Company and Rich Designs.
“We tried to make this international tournament feel more like a Bermudian event, by welcoming more of these small- to medium-sized businesses that everyone loves to promote and sell their products on the tournament stage, not only to Bermudians, but also to visitors,” Carrera said.
“It really feels like this year we have embraced the Bermuda community and in return the community is embracing us back. And when there is a sense of pride in the PGA Tour coming to town and when the community feels a sense of ownership, that makes the event more successful than ever.”
