2021 PGA Barbasol Championship guide: The favorites, what to watch and what’s at stake

The PGA Barbasol Championship returns to Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville this week and, even though the British Open will capture most of the golf world’s attention Thursday through Sunday, there’s a lot on the line in Kentucky’s annual Tour event.

The winner will claim $630,000 of the four-day tournament’s $3.5 million purse, along with 300 points toward the FedExCup and an all-important two-year exemption to the PGA Tour.

Here are some things to keep an eye on this week:

The favorites

▪ Jim Herman, who won the PGA Barbasol Championship the last time it was played in 2019, has to be considered a threat, having won on this course before. Two other former Barbasol winners are also in this year’s 132-player field: Grayson Murray won it as a Tour rookie in 2017 and Aaron Baddeley the year before. Back then, the tournament was played in Opelika, Ala. The past two have been in Nicholasville.

▪ Three of the most recognizable names in the field are major winners John Daly (1991 PGA Championship, 1995 British Open), Jason Dufner (2013 PGA Championship) and Charl Schwartzel (2011 Masters).

▪ In this week’s Official World Golf Ranking, Schwartzel, at No. 99, is the highest-rated player in the PGA Barbasol field. Stephan Jaeger (121) and Henrik Norlander (135) could also be in the hunt. Herman checks in at No. 140 in the world, followed closely by Wilco Nienaber (151), Luke List (153) and Nick Taylor (159).

Also in the field is Morehead State graduate and Danville native Josh Teater, who tied for sixth here in 2019.

Weather

The forecast for the PGA Barbasol looks like, well, mid-July in Central Kentucky.

Wednesday’s pro-am day checks in at 84 degrees and partly cloudy. Thursday’s opening-day forecast calls for 87 degrees and mostly sunny. A chance of scattered thunderstorms joins the forecast late Friday and continues through Sunday, with temperatures in the 80s all three days.

John Daly

Daly, 55, returns to the PGA Barbasol after missing the cut with a two-round score of 1-under-par 143 in 2019. This week’s tournament marks only his third PGA Tour event this season. He missed the cut at both the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the PGA Championship.

Daly was a hit with the crowd in 2019, working the course on pro-am day paired with University of Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops.

“John’s a great guy. Really fun to be around, real easy to play with and he can still rip the ball, that’s for sure,” Stoops said after their round. “Getting to play with John Daly was a real experience.”

Young talent

Three players in the PGA Barbasol via sponsorship exemptions should attract attention this week:

▪ Preston Summerhays was the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur champ and played in the 2020 U.S. Open. He has signed to play golf at Arizona State.

If the name sounds familiar, it’s because the family has played a lot of high-level golf.

Preston’s father, Boyd, and his uncle, Daniel, both played on the PGA Tour. Boyd’s uncle, Bruce Summerhays Sr., won three PGA Champions Tour events, and Bruce’s daughter, Carrie, played on the LPGA Tour, according to Golf.com.

▪ Former University of Georgia All-American and 2021 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year Davis Thompson, has already made some noise on the PGA Tour. He took the early lead in the 2020 U.S. Open with a 69.

Thompson tied for 35th in this year’s Palmetto Championship and for 58th in the Rocket Mortgage Classic and has stacked $49,912 in winnings in his first pro season. He opened eyes at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit by shooting a round of 63.

▪ Another former college All-American, Sahith Theegala, will also be gunning for a check this week in Nicholasville. The 2020 national player of the year at Pepperdine boasts a ninth-place finish on the Korn Ferry Tour this season. He’s known for having a long backstroke, a swing he calls “unconventional.”

Playoffs

The top 125 players in the PGA Tour’s FedExCup standings are eligible for the FedExCup Playoffs.

With only three weeks left in the regular season, seven players coming to Kentucky are on the bubble and could use a big week in Nicholasville: Chase Seiffert (No. 120), Seamus Power (No. 123), Cameron Percy (No. 126), Anirban Lahiri (No. 127), Austin Cook (No. 129), Bo Hoag (No. 130) and Sam Ryder (No. 132).

The course

Here’s how the PGA Tour describes the Champions Course at Keene Trace:

“This is the third time the 1987 Arthur Hills design will play host to the PGA Tour. It’s one of the top courses in the state of Kentucky. Scoring is at a premium at Keene Trace and the final hole, the par-4 18th, is built for drama as it’s got a ton of water risk around the edge of a lake.”

The par-72 course stretches 7,328 yards.

Herman, who totaled 262 in winning the 2019 championship, holds the 72-hole record. Kelly Kraft, who shot a 61 in the third round in 2019, holds the 18-hole mark.

2019

The 2020 PGA Barbasol was called off because of COVID-19.

In 2019, Herman’s 26-under-par 262 defeated Kraft by one stroke. Sepp Straka finished third at 23-under, followed by Austin Cook and Matt Jones at 22-under. Teater tied for sixth at 21-under with Martin Laird and D.J. Trahan.

PGA Barbasol Championship

When: Thursday through Sunday

Where: Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville (Champions Course)

TV: Thursday-Friday, 5-7:30 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 4-7 p.m. (Golf Channel)

Tickets: Visit BarbasolChampionship.com/Tickets (Thursday or Friday grounds pass, $30. Saturday or Sunday grounds pass, $40. Thursday through Sunday grounds pass, $100. Children under age 15 free when admitted with a ticketed adult.)

PGA Barbasol odds

Here are the top betting choices for this week’s PGA Barbasol Championship, according to Bet MGM (+2000 means a bettor would win $2,000 on a $100 bet):

Charl Schwartzel +2000

Seamus Power +2000

Luke List +2200

Russell Knox +2200

Stephan Jaeger +2500

Taylor Pendrith +2500

Greyson Sigg +2800

Nick Taylor +2800

Adam Schenk +3300

Brian Stuard +3300

Henrik Norlander +3300

Jim Herman +3300

Lee Hodges +3300

Mito Pereira +3300

Patrick Rodgers +3300

Richy Werenski +3300

Tom Lewis +3300