Adam Schenk came to Bermuda with just one sweater. It’s a tropical paradise, right? Why would one anticipate the need for layers?

With the extremely high winds and chilly breeze off the ocean, however, Schenk needed to bust out the same sweater a couple of times this week already – despite, well, a coffee stain here and a few others there.

“I'm a little embarrassed because these stains happened like on Friday,” Schenk said. “I haven't taken it off. I know for two rounds, I bet I've played 90 percent of the holes in this jacket this week. Probably doesn't smell too good.”

Alas, whatever works, works. That particular sweater now smells like victory.

Schenk, in his 243rd start on the PGA TOUR, is finally a winner. He captured the Butterfield Bermuda Championship by one shot on a blustery final day and an even-par 71 was good enough.

“Unbelievable. Was really hoping this day would come at some point in my life. Never really know if it is. That's what makes the journey so amazing, interesting, and it's a surreal moment when it finally does,” Schenk said.

Schenk was steady enough on a day that was anything but. Tee times were moved up an hour with the anticipated windy conditions, but it was still as tricky as ever at Port Royal Golf Course. Schenk was able to make one birdie in his first 14 holes, which was a solid start. He gave it back with a bogey on the par-4 15th but made three straight pars to come into the house for the win.

This was not the kind of season Schenk was looking for, or hoping for, as he had made just 11 cuts in 27 starts heading into the week. But the win catapulted him from No. 134 all the way to No. 67 in the FedExCup Fall standings – and not to mention a multi-year exemption on TOUR, to boot.

“Two sets of six missed cuts (in a row), I knew it was bad. I'll go through and look at my results every once in a while. I'm like, ‘Wow, that was an impressively bad stretch of golf,’” Schenk said of his 2025 campaign. “It's slightly embarrassing, but at the end of the day … I don't want to say I don't care what anybody thinks, but I have a belief in what I do and how I do things and that was, that was probably bigger than anything this week is just seeing that belief go through and how I do things.

“There is a method to the madness.”

To that exact point: He spent most of the week putting one-handed.

“I think the answer I came up with is there is no answer,” Schenk said with a smile at his putting strategy, or lack thereof.

Schenk stayed at a nearby hotel for the week and was quick to heap praise on the carpet, saying it was also a bit left-to-right as he putted towards the window and the water and right-to-left as he putted back towards his door. He practiced Saturday night between plays of college football with one hand. Although he admitted he knew just one hand was probably not going to cut it Sunday on the short putts with how windy it was set to be, so he decided to let his left hand just “rest on top” of the grip.

His premonition came true as he had a knee-knocker left on the 72nd hole for the win.

“It was so windy on the last hole, I did the same process but my best chance to hit it is just, get up, do your process and hit it. If you're going to miss it, miss it quick, but don't sit there and think about it forever,” Schenk said. “I took one peek at the hole. It's windy, it's blowing the putter around, but … I feel like if I make a smooth stroke and then release it, don't speed up, don't slow down, just make a smooth stroke and release it, it's going to have the best chance to go it, even if it blows the putter all over God's creation.”

Spoiler alert: He made it.

With the win, Schenk obviously gets to avoid going to PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry. It would have been another week away from his two sons and dog, Bunker. It’s a lot of weeks away already – he didn’t want to add in another one.

“Winning's great, it's awesome, but like not having to go to Q-School is so big and having two years (exempt) and hopefully this can catapult me because like I've said, I've told a lot of people, I'm still decent at golf. I still love it, I still care about it,” Schenk said. “It's just such a difference when you can get some putts to go in and have a few things go your way. The tides just turn. The tides just keep going your way in a sense. And I had a lot of things go my way this week, and I feel like good putting is such a result of that.”

Schenk admitted he’s not a big drinker – it’s hard to be when you’ve got two young kids who are up awfully early in the morning every day – but said he’d have a fine celebration with a few close TOUR friends on their way back to Sea Island from Bermuda.

He’s still leaving Bermuda with just one sweater.

But also a trophy.