For most of its existence, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship has occupied an unassuming slot on the PGA Tour calendar — a late-fall tournament, overshadowed by bigger purses and bigger names. But this year’s edition at Port Royal delivered a Sunday that was a real head-turner. As most players struggled to qualify for next year’s 100-player limited field, Adam Schenk scrambled through. And for that, the event deserves all the attention. Maybe even a Signature event attention as suggested by this analyst.

Speaking on The Shotgun Start podcast, Andy Johnson‘s excitement was palpable. Calling it “the event of the year,” Johnson was particularly defensive when Brendan Porath quipped that the $6M event “shouldn’t even exist.”

“Hold on. I think you can’t make an argument after this year because this event can produce what happened on Sunday,” Johnson said. “It has the potential to produce Sunday. This event should be a signature event.”

His stance came after watching Schenk win his first PGA Tour title in his 243rd start. That victory not just required execution, but an urgent adaptation to Bermuda’s violent wind. So violent that Schenk had to change his traditional shot-making style. He’s known to putt with one hand because he’s shaky with the putter. But he couldn’t carry on with his approach, because the wind would have blown the putter out of his hand.

“That’s how windy it was. So, he’s got to go to the dreaded two-handed putting,” remarked Porath.

It was the final round when the wind surged between 15 and 30 miles per hour. The gusts produced were over 40. “It was incredible,” Johnson claimed. It was so severe that the tee times had to be moved up. But Schenk emerged as a seasoned wind player. He did miss several putts, particularly on the 17th. The wind hampered his 6-foot birdie attempt and spun it out of the cup. But the climax was on the 18th green as Schenk secured his victory.

“I can’t believe it’s over,” he said after the match. “It seems like the longest day ever.”

On the other hand, Chandler Phillips, who finished runner-up, was as honest as he could be. “It’s hard as hell, man. I love playing in the wind, but this was the most I’ve ever played in.” His saying this carries significant weight because he’s a Texan and an Oklahoman native. These are the two regions that are known for their high wind rush.

What elevated this tournament more was the course itself. Port Royal has always been a visual and strategic arena. But holes 15 and 16 were a test that was hard to conquer. The sixteenth was a 235-yard par-3, perched on cliffs above the Atlantic. It had to move its tee up to make it playable. Yet, it was “eating the player’s lunch,” as Johnson puts it. Further, the entire mental game prompted the players to constantly make strategic choices to move ahead.

“You were almost making educated guesses, and sometimes you just hit the wrong choice in the multiple choice. You hit the wrong button, you’re like ‘Whoops’…you’re popped,” Brendan Porath noted.

If so much were at stake, then imagine the excitement when the best players are on this course. The PGA Tour has been looking for variations in its stops, and Bermuda might offer them that. Port Royal in November proved it can produce world-class golf drama that can stand alongside any event on the calendar.

But the bigger question is, can the PGA Tour make such changes?

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Can the PGA Tour realistically make Bermuda a signature event?

Currently, the PGA Tour holds eight Sig Events with a ninth one starting from next year. The field is often limited to 72-80 players, with no cuts and a massive purse of $20 million. The Butterfield Bermuda Championship, by contrast, is a 120-player field, with a purse less than half of what is offered at the Sig Events.

But money is not really the factor. Many of the top-ranked players are already averse to the idea of multiple events being held in a year. Rory McIlroy has publicly said, “I think 47 or 50 tournaments a year is definitely too many.” In fact, he’s urged the Tour to scale back some of the events. “It might not be a bad thing,” he says. He’s already skipped most of the Sig Events this season.

But the strongest argument has come from Lucas Glover. Glover has been sharply calling out such events, terming them “selfish” and “a money grab.” The actual irony is that Andy Johnson and Brendan Porath themselves have pointed out the Tour’s problematic schedule several times.

Maybe Bermuda was exceptional precisely because it was not a sig event. Maybe what the Tour needs more are full-field events and not an extra sig event. Food for thought, maybe?