By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
The field for next week’s Barbasol Championship keeps expanding.
Former FedExCup champion Billy Horschel has committed to play in the tournament set for July 19-22 at Champions at Keene Trace in Nicholasville. Horschel, 31, will join 1997 PGA Championship winner Davis Love III and the LPGA’s Brittany Lincicome in the 132-player field.
Earlier this year, Horschel and Scott Piercy captured the two-man Zurich Classic in New Orleans and also won the AT&T Byron Nelson title in 2017. Horschel was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year while at Florida in 2007 and 2009 and is looking forward to making a return trip to the Bluegrass.
“We are getting into the final stretch of the regular season, so I am focused on making a strong push beginning in Lexington toward improving my ranking for this year’s FedExCup Playoffs,” he said.
Tyson Alexander, Horshel’s teammate at Florida, also has been scheduled to compete in the four-day event. Alexander’s father was men’s golf coach at Florida from 1988-2014) and his Gators captured the 1993 NCAA title at Champions at Keene Trace. Alexander’s grandfather Skip won three events on the PGA TOUR before his career ended after he suffered severe burns in a plane crash.
“There are so many great stories with every player in the field,” Downing said. “It will be a really interesting cross-section of talent from top to bottom, and it’s anyone’s guess as to who will be on the top of the leaderboard after the final round. It will be really fun to watch.”
Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twitter @keithtaylor21.