With a new name and an uncertain future, PGA Tour golf remains in Central Kentucky in 2024
While the long-term future of the PGA Tour in Central Kentucky is uncertain, the event formerly known as the Barbasol Championship will remain on the schedule in 2024.
Earlier this month, the PGA Tour announced the return of professional men’s golf’s summer stop at the Champions at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville.
Now called the Kentucky Championship, the tournament will be contested from July 11-14 at Keene Trace. The course has hosted this event since 2018.
“The tour all along really wanted to be committed to remaining here in the commonwealth,” Dan Koett, the director of media and public relations for the Kentucky Championship, told the Herald-Leader last week.
“So that’s how we’re moving forward, through the tour’s commitment.”
It wasn’t a given that the PGA Tour would be back in Central Kentucky. The event’s sponsorship deal with Barbasol, an American shaving brand, expired following the 2023 tournament.
Koett said work is ongoing to secure a title sponsor for this year’s event: The PGA Tour’s stop in Central Kentucky is only confirmed for 2024, with no further editions of the tournament guaranteed.
“Conversations continue to secure a title sponsor for both 2024 and beyond,” Koett said. “The hope would be to secure someone for the short play, but then also for the long term.”
The Kentucky Championship will also feature a new tournament director: On Feb. 5, it was announced that T.R. Hollis would serve as the tournament director for the 2024 Kentucky Championship.
Following the 2023 Barbasol Championship, Darren Nelson — who served as the tournament director for the 2022 and 2023 tournaments — was named the tournament director for the Myrtle Beach Classic, a new PGA Tour event that will be held in May in South Carolina.
Nelson will be helping as a consultant for this year’s Kentucky Championship.
Both the Kentucky Championship and the Myrtle Beach Classic are managed by Sportfive, a global sports marketing agency. Hollis, the Kentucky Championship’s new tournament director, is also a vice president with Sportfive.
Despite the doubts that surrounded the PGA Tour’s return to Nicholasville, Koett told the Herald-Leader the PGA Tour was always going to have an event from July 11-14, which represents an alternate, opposite field event that is held at the same time as the Scottish Open (which is held the week before the final major championship, the British Open).
The only question was where that opposite field event would be held: The PGA Tour’s initial 2024 schedule contained the words “TBA” in that slot.
But ultimately, the PGA Tour opted to continue in familiar surroundings.
“The numbers have been great. Each year we’ve seen an increase in our crowds, in ticket sales,” Koett said. “We’ve enjoyed higher ratings each year as far as viewership goes of the event …
“I think there were just so many things being done right, that the tour said, ‘Hey, this could be a long-term venture, long-term partnership for us.’”
The Kentucky Championship will feature several similarities to its past editions.
The tournament will again provide a platform for players from both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to compete for benefits on both tours. The event will feature a field of 156 players (with 50 players from the DP World Tour) vying for a $4 million purse. The winner will receive 300 FedExCup points (PGA Tour) and 500 Race to Dubai Ranking Points (DP World Tour).
While plenty is still up in the air with the tournament’s opening tee shots less than six months away, Koett said Central Kentucky golf fans can expect several carryovers — such as themed event days like College Day and Family Day — from when the event was known as the Barbasol Championship.
“Like any year, I would say that there will be enhancements over the previous year’s event,” Koett said.
PGA Tour history in Kentucky
The event previously known as the Barbasol Championship moved to Kentucky from Alabama in 2018, and it has been contested five times at Keene Trace.
When the tournament arrived in Kentucky, it became the state’s first non-major PGA Tour event since the Kentucky Derby Open was held in Louisville from 1957-59. The 2024 PGA Championship will be contested in May at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville.
The 2018, 2019 and 2021 editions of the Barbasol were all held at the same time as the British Open.
That changed in 2022, when the Barbasol was moved to the week before the British Open and was held as an opposite field event at the same time as the Scottish Open.
The winner of the 2022 Barbasol Championship — former University of Alabama golfer Trey Mullinax — received the final spot into the British Open field. Mullinax finished in a tie for 21st in the 150th edition of the British Open.
Vincent Norrman, who won the 2023 edition of the Barbasol in a playoff over Englishman Nathan Kimsey, didn’t receive a spot into last year’s British Open.
This story was originally published January 29, 2024 at 10:44 AM.
