GEORGE TOWN, Exuma The Bahamas – Seven players with Kentucky ties will be among the 132-player field when the 28th season of the Web.com Tour launches on Sunday at the Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay. Lexington-based sports marketing company bd Global is managing two tournaments in The Bahamas to tee off the 2017 season.
The Web.com Tour fashions itself as the path to the PGA TOUR. Former members have gone on to win more than 450 tournaments on the PGA TOUR, including 22 major championships.
The seven players with Kentucky ties are:
- Matt Atkins – Owensboro resident and USC Aiken grad is in his third year on the Web.com Tour and won $138,748 last year placing him in the top-35 on the money list
- Kent Bulle – born in Glasgow and a Middle Tennessee State grad, captured the 2015 Kentucky Open
- Rick Cochran III – Paducah native and former MTSU teammate of Bulle, turned pro in 2009 and is nephew of Tour pro Russ Cochran
- Chase Parker – a native of Augusta, Ga., was a UK standout who made the cut at the 2016 U.S. Open finishing 64th
- Hunter Stewart – former Kentucky Mr. Golf for Lexington Christian Academy and a Vanderbilt grad who won more than $150,000 on the PGA Tour last season
- Josh Teater – Danville native and former Morehead State star whom has made more than 150 starts on the PGA TOUR
- Kyle Wilshire – former Scott County standout and Central Florida grad that has been competing most recently on the Mackenzie Tour (PGA TOUR Canada)
“Credit is certainly due to the guys that came before us like Russ Cochran, Steve Flesch and Kenny Perry,” said Teater, who turned pro in 2001 and has won nearly $5 million playing professional golf. “With JB Holmes playing on the TOUR and those of us here, I think the state of Kentucky deserves more credit than it typically gets for producing outstanding golf talent.”
bd Global, founded by Lexington-native Brooks Downing in 2012, will serve as the host organization for both events. The company currently manages numerous college basketball events across North America. It also will manage the Tour’s next stop when it travels to the Abaco Club on Winding Bay, Jan. 22-25, the first time in 18 years the Tour has started with two events in January.
“As a born and raised Kentuckian, it’s pretty special to launch our first professional golf event with such an influence from golfers with ties to the Bluegrass State,” Downing said. “When you look at this field in Exuma, it’s loaded with a golfers who have recorded big wins on the PGA Tour. It just shows that Kentucky is producing some terrific golf talent that can compete on an international stage.”
In addition to the seven from the Bluegrass State, this week’s tournament field boasts 13 PGA TOUR winners, including Robert Allenby, Erik Compton and Jonathan Byrd, along with major-winner Shaun Micheel, who captured the 2003 PGA Championship.
The tournament will be broadcast live on the Golf Channel, but for the first time, the Great Exuma Classic will be played starting on Sunday with the final round concluding on Wednesday. Airtimes are scheduled for 3-5 p.m. ET Sunday through Tuesday with the final round airing from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Hall of Famer Greg Norman, who designed the course at Sandals Emerald Bay, is scheduled to hit the ceremonial first tee shot on Sunday morning.