PGA Tour’s ISCO Championship a showcase for Kentucky golfers. Only one made the cut.
The first two rounds of the PGA Tour’s ISCO Championship — the event formerly known as the Barbasol Championship that was contested for a sixth time at the Champions at Keene Trace golf course in Nicholasville — created golf history.
This year’s ISCO Championship produced the lowest 36-hole cut-line score, -8 overall, in an individual, stroke-play event in PGA Tour history.
In its previous five editions at Keene Trace, this tournament had cut-line scores of -3 (2018), -4 (2019), -4 (2021), -5 (2022) and -4 (2023).
Safe to say, it took aggressive, low-scoring golf to be able to play the weekend in Nicholasville this year.
And only one golfer in the field with Kentucky connections was able to do that.
Of the eight golfers in the 156-player field with ties to the commonwealth, only Cooper Musselman made the cut at the ISCO Championship, which is a co-sanctioned PGA Tour and DP World Tour event.
Here’s a look at how each of the eight golfers with Kentucky connections fared at this year’s ISCO Championship.
The -8 cutline after 36 holes at the 2024 ISCO Championship is the lowest 36-hole cut-line score in an individual, stroke play event in PGA Tour history. The previous lowest cut line was a -7 score at the 2020 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.
England’s Harry Hall won the 2024 ISCO Championship, emerging from a five-man playoff to win the event. Hall, along with fellow playoff competitors Zac Blair, Rico Hoey, Matt NeSmith and Pierceson Coody, all finished the 72-hole event at -22 overall.
Cooper Musselman (-14)
The story of Friday at the ISCO Championship was Cooper Musselman, a Louisville native who played high school golf at St. Xavier and college golf at Kentucky.
Musselman carded a sensational round of 62 (-10) on Friday following an opening round 71 (-1) on Thursday to safely move inside the cut line. On Saturday, Musselman shot an Even par round of 72. He shot a 69 (-3) on Sunday.
For the tournament, Musselman recorded a -14 overall score, which earned him a tie for 31st place.
This is Musselman’s best-ever finish in a PGA Tour event.
“I’ve been playing great. I haven’t been playing any like, big major tournaments. I’ve just been playing some mini tour events and I’ve been playing really well,” Musselman said Friday afternoon. “I knew it (a 62) was in there. I’m just happy it came out today.”
Musselman enjoyed a distinguished playing career with the Wildcats: 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.
Musselman comes from an esteemed Kentucky golfing family. His father, Chester, and uncle, Tom Jr., both played golf at St. Xavier and Kentucky. Musselman’s cousin, Matt Liston, also played golf for the Wildcats.
Musselman’s grandfather, Tom Sr., and great uncle, Bill, are both members of the Kentucky Golf Hall of Fame.
While at St. Xavier, Musselman was high school teammates with two-time major champion Justin Thomas and future UK golfer Stephen Stallings Jr., who was also in this week’s ISCO Championship field.
“St. X — in my opinion, I’m obviously biased — but it’s the best high school in America,” Musselman said. “So happy to be a part of it. ... It’s so cool to be a part of the brotherhood.”
Musselman said he thinks the 62 he fired Friday was the lowest round of golf he’s ever played at Keene Trace.
At the 2018 ISCO Championship, Musselman finished in a tie for 57th while making his PGA Tour debut.
What does the 29-year-old Musselman think making the cut at the ISCO Championship could do for his future golf career?
“It just gives me a lot of confidence,” said Musselman, whose first child, a boy named Archie, turned 6 weeks old on Sunday. “I mean these are some of the best players in the world and now that I know that I can compete with them and play my best at the highest level, it just gives me a ton of confidence moving forward.”
Josh Teater (-7, missed cut)
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.
In the early afternoon Friday, it seemed likely that Teater’s -7 overall score — achieved after an opening-round 69 (-3) and a second-round 68 (-4) — would be enough to keep him around for the weekend at Keene Trace.
But the historically low cut line for this year’s ISCO Championship scuttled those plans. As such, Teater will rue the way his second round, and tournament, came to an end.
Teater bogeyed the final hole of his ISCO Championship: He hit his tee shot on the par 3 9th hole into the left greenside bunker and was unable to scramble for par from there.
Teater — who counted Kentucky baseball head coach Nick Mingione among the fans he had in the crowd Friday — has now missed the cut in consecutive editions of his hometown tournament.
Teater famously 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 him on the PGA Tour.
This season, Teater has missed the cut in 13 of the 15 PGA Tour events in which he’s played.
Despite the end result, this year’s PGA Tour event in Nicholasville still carried special importance for Teater: He’s a longtime friend of Jimmy Kirchdorfer, the CEO of ISCO Industries, the tournament’s new title sponsor.
ISCO has also been one of Teater’s personal sponsors for several years.
“Jimmy’s been great to me for, I don’t know how many years,” an emotional Teater said following Thursday’s first round. “We played together in state amateurs and state opens back when I was a mini tour player. The last five or six years being part of team ISCO on the golf course has been a blessing and we try to get together and we play golf when we can. He’s just a great human.”
Stephen Stallings Jr. (-7, missed cut)
Stallings is another Louisville native who went to St. Xavier High School before embarking on a college golf career at Kentucky.
Like Teater, Stallings was also an unfortunate victim of the historical low scoring this week at Keene Trace. Stallings — who entered this week’s tournament having made three of the last four cuts at the ISCO Championship — carded an opening-round 70 (-2) and a second-round 67 (-5).
But that combined -7 overall score wasn’t enough to get him to the weekend.
And like Teater, Stallings’ tournament also came to an excruciating end: He had a 34-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, the final hole of his second round, to make the cut on the number. Stallings missed that putt by just 10 inches.
While at St. Xavier, Stallings was the 2011 individual Kentucky boys golf state champion and was teammates with the aforementioned Musselman.
John Marshall Butler (-6, missed cut)
Butler — a Louisville native and Trinity High School graduate who starred at Auburn and won the 2024 NCAA men’s golf team championship with the Tigers — made his PGA Tour debut this week.
The 2021 Kentucky Amateur champion and 2018 recipient of Kentucky’s Mr. Golf award carded a 71 (-1) on Thursday and a 67 (-5) on Friday, missing the cut at the ISCO Championship by two shots.
Butler finished his four-year Auburn playing career as that school’s all-time leader for rounds (46) shot in the 60s.
“A bunch of guys from Louisville came over this morning, and friends and family. It’s special. I think we had the biggest following on the golf course today,” Butler said after playing his first-ever PGA Tour round Thursday. “But, yeah, it was awesome. Just hearing them scream and having their support all the way through. That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day is family. Yeah, just really blessed and really grateful to have them.”
Vince Whaley (-3, missed cut)
The 29-year-old Whaley was born in Lexington, but then moved to Florida and Texas during his childhood. He played college golf at Georgia Tech and has five career top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour.
He carded an opening round 73 (+1) before following that up with a second-round 68 (-4) to miss the cut at the ISCO Championship with a -3 overall score.
Whaley has previously shown well at his hometown event, with finishes of tied-26th in 2021 and solo fifth in 2022.
Alex Goff (-2, missed cut)
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.
He made his PGA Tour debut this week at the ISCO Championship, but missed the cut by six shots. Goff started strong Thursday, carding an opening-round 69 (-3).
“I tried to tell myself it’s just golf, but it’s different. It’s a lot different,” Goff said Thursday afternoon. “These guys are so good and, just everything behind the scenes and (having) friends and family watching me that typically don’t get to come.”
On Friday, Goff shot a 73 (+1) and only made two birdies during the entire round.
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.
During his two-round experience at the ISCO Championship, Goff had Chip McDaniel — who is currently a UK men’s golf assistant coach — as his caddie.
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.
Will Gordon (-1, missed cut)
Gordon, who turned professional in 2019, was born in Lexington before moving to North Carolina as a young child.
He carded an opening-round 74 (+2) followed by a second-round 69 (-3) to ultimately miss the cut with a -1 overall score.
Gordon was a standout college golfer at Vanderbilt who was named the 2019 SEC Player of the Year.
Gordon — who 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 — also has immediate family ties to Central Kentucky through both UK and Henry Clay High School.
Daniel Iceman (+2, missed cut)
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. He carded an opening round of 75 (+3) and a second round of 71 (-1) en route to missing the cut with a +2 overall score.
Iceman, who is now an assistant professional at Weissinger Hills Golf Course in Shelbyville, was the runner-up at the 2016 Kentucky Open at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville.
Iceman was in the ISCO Championship field as a result of being the PGA Section Champion/Player of the Year.
This story was originally published July 12, 2024 at 8:12 PM.
