New tournament date and field among changes to Barbasol Championship
Changes have come to Central Kentucky’s PGA Tour event, which will mean more is on the line for the winner and the new-look tournament field that will arrive in Nicholasville in early July.
The 2022 Barbasol Championship will be held July 7-10 at Champions at Keene Trace in Nicholasville, about 20 minutes to the southwest of Lexington.
Since the event’s debut in 2015, the Barbasol Championship was held as an alternate event to The Open Championship in Great Britain, with both tournaments occurring at the same time in early July.
That’s no more.
The 2022 event will be held the week before The Open Championship, which means this year’s Barbasol Championship will be played at the same time as the Genesis Scottish Open, a DP World Tour (also known as the European Tour) event commonly used by players to tune up for The Open.
The winner of the 2022 Barbasol Championship will earn the final qualifying spot in The Open, which will mark its 150th edition this year at St. Andrews in Scotland.
The change in tournament dates will likely make the Barbasol Championship field a stronger one.
This year’s tournament will feature 156 players (up from 132 players at the 2021 event), with 50 players from the DP World Tour. The tournament purse will be $3.7 million.
With more overseas players from Europe set to take part in this year’s event, there will be more international flavor to a tournament field chasing a qualifying spot in The Open.
This means players hoping to earn a spot in The Open, who aren’t in the Scottish Open field, will have a big incentive to come to Central Kentucky to play their way into a major that will be held at the birthplace of golf.
Media day today for the @BarbasolChamp in nearby Nicholasville, Kentucky.
Tournament no longer runs direct opposite to The Open Championship (now the week before) and the winner at the Barbasol gets a spot at the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews in Scotland pic.twitter.com/nzui3bJOJS— Cameron Drummond (@cdrummond97) May 16, 2022
Defending champion Power to miss event
Irishman Seamus Power — who won the 2021 Barbasol Championship after a six-hole playoff against J.T. Poston — will not be in the field for the 2022 tournament.
Power — who spoke to the media via Zoom on Monday morning while traveling to this week’s PGA Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma, — said he won’t be able to play the Barbasol Championship because he’s also eligible to play in the Scottish Open at the same time.
Since the Barbasol Championship began in 2015, the tournament has had six different winners in its six editions.
The event moved to Nicholasville from Alabama in 2018.
Kentucky native named as exemption into field
One of the 156 players that will be in the Barbasol Championship field is Josh Teater, a Kentucky native who played college golf at Morehead State from 1997 to 2000.
Teater, who played in high school at Henry Clay, will receive a tournament exemption to play in the Barbasol Championship.
The 43-year-old Teater was born in Danville and spent time on the Nationwide Tour (currently known as the Korn Ferry Tour) and later the PGA Tour.
As a native of the Commonwealth, what does Teater think some of the international players coming to Central Kentucky this summer will notice about the area?
“I think when you’re here every day you notice how beautiful it is and how welcoming it is. I think that’ll be the first thing that they’ll notice,” Teater said. “The good restaurants. The things to do off the course … see the Horse Park, maybe go do some bourbon tasting.”
Teater has one professional victory, the 2009 Utah Championship on the Nationwide Tour.
In 2011, Teater was inducted into the Morehead State Athletics Hall of Fame.
At last year’s tournament, Teater shot a 6-under 66 in the final round to finish the tournament at 17-under par. In the 2019 event, Teater finished sixth.
Tournament timeline
Monday (July 4) and Tuesday (July 5) will be the practice rounds for the Barbasol Championship.
There will be a First Tee clinic on Tuesday.
Wednesday (July 6) will be the pro-am and executive women’s day for the tournament.
Thursday (July 7) will be the first round of the Barbasol Championship, with gates opening at 7 a.m. It will also be Military and First Responders Day, although military and first responders can get into the event free of charge all four days.
Friday (July 8) will be College Day, Saturday (July 9) will be Family Day and Sunday (July 10) will be the closing round of the tournament.
