The First Look: Barbasol Championship

The Barbasol Championship is set to return to Kentucky for the fifth time, in its second year as a co-sanctioned event with the DP World Tour.

That means upwards of 50 DP World Tour pros will head to Keene Trace Golf Club for a chance to earn non-member FedExCup points in the pursuit of PGA TOUR cards.

With just six events remaining in the FedExCup Regular Season, and several TOUR pros looking to secure Playoffs berths, it’s set to be another exciting week in the Bluegrass State.

FIELD NOTES: Notables from the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai Rankings include No. 32 Julien Guerrier, the top-ranked player from the DP World Tour teeing it up, along with No. 40 Aaron Cockerill and No. 44 Marcus Helligkilde… Recent PGA TOUR winners set to compete in Kentucky include Cameron Champ, Chad Ramey and Erik van Rooyen… Kevin Streelman, who finished second at Keene Trace a year ago, is back in action. Other notables via the FedExCup standings include TOUR winners Adam Long, Russell Knox, Patton Kizzire and Martin Trainer, along with 2022 Presidents Cup International Team member Taylor Pendrith… TOUR Special Temporary Members Akshay Bhatia and Ryan Gerard will chase more non-member FedExCup points, as they look to equal or surpass No. 125 by season’s end to cement full 2024 membership… Four past Barbasol winners are in the field, including Grayson Murray, who won the Korn Ferry Tour’s AdventHealth Championship earlier this season.

HIGHEST-RANKED PLAYERS IN THE FIELD

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: Lexington, Kentucky native Trey Cox will tee it up at his hometown event. He played college golf at Indiana Wesleyan University… David Ford, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina, was the 2023 ACC Player of the Year and is rewriting the Tar Heel record books. He’s currently fourth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking… TOUR veterans Bo Hoag and Wes Homan earned sponsor exemptions… Louisville’s Stephen Stallings Jr. will play in his third TOUR event this season, while fellow Kentuckian Josh Teater is back in action… Teater, 44, is 23rd on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List and lost in a playoff at the BMW Charity Pro-Am earlier this year. Teater also finished tied for 29th at this year’s Puerto Rico Open and grew up less than an hour from Keene Trace.

STORYLINES: Watch out for the international contingent this week in Kentucky. With almost 50 DP World Tour pros in the field at the co-sanctioned event, a breakout global star could be in the making… For those on the FedExCup Playoffs bubble, this is yet another key week to earn valuable points as the PGA TOUR sprints towards its 2023 Regular Season conclusion… The Barbasol Championship has yielded back-to-back first-time TOUR winners in Seamus Power and Trey Mullinax. Look for that trend to likely continue again this week.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 300 FedExCup points.

COURSE: Keene Trace Golf Club (Champions), 7,328 yards, par 72. The 1987 Arthur Hills layout will host the PGA TOUR for the fifth time. Keene Trace is one of the top-ranked courses in Kentucky, located just south of Lexington, and is laid out through the rolling hills of the state. Big greens and plenty of bunkers are the signatures of Keene Trace, while the par-4 closer is a dramatic 18th built around the edge of a lake.

72-HOLE RECORD: 262, Jim Herman (2019)

18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Kelly Kraft (Round 3, 2019)

LAST TIME: Trey Mullinax birdied the 72nd hole to win on the PGA TOUR for the first time, topping a hard-charging Kevin Streelman to win the 2022 Barbasol Championship. Mullinax, who earned the final spot in the 2022 Open Championship with his win, was 3 under through four holes in the final round and added three more birdies on his back nine, including the emphatic closer on the par-4 18th to shoot a closing 6-under 66 and get to 25 under for the week. Streelman had a chance to tie Mullinax but his 9-foot birdie try on 18 slid by. Mark Hubbard carded the final round’s low score, a 7-under 65, to finish third at 22 under.

HOW TO FOLLOW:

Television: Thursday-Sunday, 4 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)