Field is out for Kentucky’s PGA Tour stop. Here’s who’s playing this week in Nicholasville
A field of 156 golfers will descend upon Central Kentucky this week for the region’s annual PGA Tour event.
The Champions at Keene Trace golf course in Nicholasville will host the ISCO Championship — the event formerly known as the Barbasol Championship — from Thursday through Sunday.
While the event is sporting a new name, plenty about this year’s tournament will be familiar for golf fans in the area.
An international field of competitors will contest the ISCO Championship, which is one of two co-sanctioned events this week between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. The other is the Genesis Scottish Open, which will feature most of the world’s elite golfers as they prepare for next week’s British Open in Scotland.
Of the 156 golfers in the ISCO Championship field, about 50 are players from the DP World Tour. The top 65 players and ties will make the cut following Friday’s second round.
For those teeing it up in Nicholasville, there will be plenty on the line: The winner of this week’s tournament, which will have a $4 million purse, will receive benefits on both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
Last year, it was a PGA Tour rookie, Vincent Norrman, who won the tournament in a playoff over Nathan Kimsey, a player from the DP World Tour who was making his first career PGA Tour start.
Who will emerge from the field of 156 golfers this year to take home the newly named ISCO Championship?
Here’s a look at the complete field for the 2024 ISCO Championship, including the golfers in the field with ties to the commonwealth.
Players are listed in alphabetical order. Bold indicates a golfer with Kentucky connections.
▪ Thomas Aiken
▪ Tyson Alexander
▪ Aaron Baddeley
▪ Sam Bairstow
▪ Paul Barjon
▪ Erik Barnes
▪ Haydn Barron
▪ Daniel Berger
▪ Matthis Besard
▪ Zac Blair
▪ David Bradshaw
▪ Joseph Bramlett
▪ Ryan Brehm
▪ Jacob Bridgeman
▪ Wesley Bryan
▪ Hayden Buckley
▪ John Marshall Butler
Butler is from Louisville and graduated from Trinity High School. While with the Shamrocks, Butler won the KHSAA individual boys golf high school state championship in 2018 and was named Kentucky’s Mr. Golf later that year.
Butler also won the 2021 Kentucky Amateur.
He was a four-year college player at Auburn and ended his college career as that school’s all-time leader for rounds (46) shot in the 60s.
Butler’s distinguished amateur career included winning the 2024 NCAA men’s golf team championship with Auburn (he sank the winning putt) and reaching the semifinals of the 2023 U.S. Amateur championship. Butler is a member of the PGA Tour Americas, a new golf tour that resulted from a merger of PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour Canada.
PGA Tour Americas feeds into the Korn Ferry Tour.
This week marks Butler’s first PGA Tour start.
▪ Jonathan Byrd
▪ Rafa Cabrera Bello
▪ Rafael Campos
▪ Ivan Cantero Gutierrez
▪ Filippo Celli
▪ Cameron Champ
▪ Kevin Chappell
▪ Luke Clanton
▪ Parker Coody
▪ Pierceson Coody
▪ Austin Cook
▪ Spencer Cross
▪ Trace Crowe
▪ MJ Daffue
▪ Joel Dahmen
▪ Zecheng Dou
▪ Kevin Dougherty
▪ Jason Dufner
▪ Adrien Dumont de Chassart
▪ Tyler Duncan
▪ Manuel Elvira
▪ Harrison Endycott
▪ Patrick Fishburn
▪ Sebastian Freidrichsen
▪ Wilson Furr
▪ Tommy Gainey
▪ Stephen Gallacher
▪ Joel Girrbach
▪ Alex Goff
Goff, who won the 2020 Kentucky Amateur, was a five-year standout for the UK men’s golf program and was named a 2023-24 All-American Honorable Mention selection this summer. This made Goff the 11th All-American selection in Kentucky men’s golf history.
As a graduate student during the 2023-24 season, Goff had a 70.55 scoring average, which was the best single-season scoring average by a Kentucky men’s golfer since at least the 1993-94 season.
Goff was also named an All-SEC Second Team selection for the 2023-24 season.
For his Kentucky career, Goff had a 71.45 scoring average, which is the best mark at UK all-time (minimum 45 rounds) going back to the 1993-94 season.
Goff carded 80 rounds of par-or-better with the Wildcats, and he had one win and six runner-up finishes.
Former Kentucky men’s golfer Chip McDaniel — who is currently a UK men’s golf assistant coach — will be Goff’s caddie this week. McDaniel played in the 2023 ISCO Championship, carding rounds of 71 (-1) and 74 (+2) before missing the cut.
In 2019, McDaniel finished in 68th at the ISCO Championship. In 2018, McDaniel tied for 60th at the ISCO Championship.
▪ Will Gordon
Gordon, who turned professional in 2019, was born in Lexington before moving to North Carolina as a young child.
A standout college golfer at Vanderbilt, Gordon was named to the 2016 SEC All-Freshman Team and was the 2019 SEC Player of the Year.
Gordon was coached at Vanderbilt by then-Commodores assistant men’s golf coach Gator Todd, who is now the head coach for the UK men’s golf program.
Gordon’s immediate family holds ties to Central Kentucky through both UK and Henry Clay High School.
Gordon previously played the ISCO Championship in 2021.
▪ Ricardo Gouveia
▪ Cody Gribble
▪ Lanto Griffin
▪ Scott Gutschewski
▪ Chen Guxin
▪ Bill Haas
▪ Chesson Hadley
▪ James Hahn
▪ Blaine Hale Jr.
▪ Harry Hall
▪ Chase Hanna
▪ Nick Hardy
▪ Jim Herman
▪ Angel Hidalgo Portillo
▪ Garrick Higgo
▪ Joe Highsmith
▪ Rico Hoey
▪ Daan Huizing
▪ Daniel Iceman
Iceman is a 38-year-old from Louisville who attended St. Xavier High School in that city and played collegiately at both Morehead State and U of L.
Iceman is now an assistant professional at Weissinger Hills Golf Course in Shelbyville.
He was the runner-up at the 2016 Kentucky Open at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville.
▪ Casey Jarvis
▪ Andrew Johnston
▪ Sam Jones
▪ Sung Kang
▪ Chan Kim
▪ Michael Kim
▪ S.H. Kim
▪ Marcus Kinhult
▪ Kevin Kisner
▪ Patton Kizzire
▪ Alexander Knappe
▪ Russell Knox
▪ Jeong Weon Ko
▪ Espen Kofstad
▪ Kelly Kraft
▪ Jacques Kruyswijk
▪ Francesco Laporta
▪ David Lipsky
▪ Adam Long
▪ Ryan McCormick
▪ Mac Meissner
▪ Troy Merritt
▪ David Micheluzzi
▪ Edoardo Molinari
▪ Ryan Moore
▪ James Morrison
▪ Cooper Musselman
Musselman is a Louisville native who played high school golf at St. Xavier and college golf at Kentucky.
As a college senior during the 2017-18 season, Musselman won the Crooked Stick Invitational. Across 129 rounds of college golf, Musselman posted a scoring average of 72.9 strokes.
His father, Chester, and uncle, Tom Jr., both also played at St. Xavier and Kentucky. Musselman’s cousin, Matt Liston, also played at Kentucky.
Musselman’s grandfather, Tom Sr., and great uncle, Bill, are both members of the Kentucky Golf Hall of Fame.
Musselman was high school golf teammates at St. Xavier with two-time major champion Justin Thomas and future UK golfer Stephen Stallings Jr., who is also in this week’s ISCO Championship field.
At the 2018 ISCO Championship, Musselman finished in a tie for 57th.
▪ Lukas Nemecz
▪ Matt NeSmith
▪ James Nicholas
▪ S.Y. Noh
▪ Henrik Norlander
▪ Sean O’Hair
▪ Ryan Palmer
▪ Renato Paratore
▪ Andrea Pavan
▪ Marco Penge
▪ Raul Pereda
▪ Scott Piercy
▪ Chad Ramey
▪ David Ravetto
▪ Chez Reavie
▪ Kyle Reifers
▪ Max Rottluff
▪ Sam Ryder
▪ Adrien Saddier
▪ Lorenzo Scalise
▪ Jayden Schaper
▪ Marcel Schneider
▪ Matthias Schwab
▪ Matt Sharpstene
▪ Braden Shattuck
▪ Robby Shelton
▪ Neal Shipley
▪ Greyson Sigg
▪ Ben Silverman
▪ David Skinns
▪ Roger Sloan
▪ Alex Smalley
▪ Austin Smotherman
▪ Brandt Snedeker
▪ Clément Sordet
▪ J.J. Spaun
▪ Hayden Springer
▪ Stephen Stallings Jr.
Stallings is another Louisville native who went to St. Xavier High School before embarking on a college golf career at Kentucky. While at St. Xavier, Stallings was the 2011 individual Kentucky boys golf state champion.
Stallings was teammates at St. Xavier with Cooper Musselman, another ex-UK golfer who is also in the ISCO Championship field this week.
At UK, Stallings had a scoring average of 74.27 strokes across 35 events.
The 29-year-old Stallings has made the cut in three of the last four editions of the ISCO Championship.
▪ Kevin Streelman
▪ Justin Suh
▪ Andy Sullivan
▪ Callum Tarren
▪ Ben Taylor
▪ Josh Teater
A longtime fan favorite at the ISCO Championship, the 45-year-old Teater is a native of Danville who went to Lexington’s Henry Clay High School and played college golf at Morehead State.
Teater finished in a tie for sixth at the 2019 edition of the ISCO Championship, which was part of a three-week run of top-15 finishes for Teater on the PGA Tour.
This season, Teater has missed the cut in 12 of the 14 PGA Tour events in which he’s played.
Last year, Teater missed the cut at the ISCO Championship for the first time since the event (formerly known as the Barbasol Championship) moved to Kentucky in 2018.
▪ Michael Thorbjornsen
▪ Alejandro Tosti
▪ Martin Trainer
▪ Kevin Tway
▪ Tom Vaillant
▪ Johannes Veerman
▪ Camilo Villegas
▪ Paul Waring
▪ Nick Watney
▪ Vince Whaley
The 29-year-old Whaley was born in Lexington, but then moved to Florida and Texas during his childhood.
Whaley played college golf at Georgia Tech and has five career top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour.
In three previous appearances at his hometown event, Whaley has shown well with finishes of tied-26 in 2021 and fifth place in 2022.
▪ Tom Whitney
▪ Gunner Wiebe
▪ Andrew Wilson
▪ Brandon Wu
▪ Dylan Wu
▪ Carson Young
▪ Carl Yuan
▪ Fabrizio Zanotti
This story was originally published July 8, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
