LEXINGTON, Ky. – Three of Kentucky’s top professional golfers, Chip McDaniel, Cooper Musselman and Kent Bulle, will be among the field of the Unbridled Tour (www.unbridledtour.com) next week at University Club of Kentucky. The 54-hole, three-day tournament launches with a pro-am on Monday, Oct. 12 followed by tournament rounds on Tuesday-Thursday. The mini-tour’s first event was played in May at Boone’s Trace National Golf Club in Richmond.
“Next week’s tournament will be like an all-star event for young professional golfers in the Bluegrass,” said Brooks Downing, CEO of bdG Sports (www.bdglobalsports.com) which operates the Tour. “Our state has produced some of the best golfers in the world over the past decade and Chip, Cooper and Kent are all on-track to have long careers on the professional circuits.”
McDaniel, a former University of Kentucky star and Manchester native, won the inaugural Unbridled Tour event at Boone’s Trace National Golf Club in Richmond this past May and has spent the 2020 season playing on the Korn Ferry Tour. Musselman, who won one of the PGA Tour’s LocalIQ series events in Auburn, Ala., last month, also was a standout at UK and his family is considered by many to be the “First Family of Golf” in Kentucky. Bulle, a Glasgow native, has competed in two majors in the past five years at the U.S. Open (2016) and British Open (2017) and made the cut in the latter of the two.
“And it’s not just these professionals that will be part of the field,” Downing added. We will have some of the top amateurs in the state testing their mettle against the pros, including UK senior Jacob Cook, who was our low amateur at Boone’s Trace back in May and is one of the leaders on the Wildcats’ nationally ranked team.”
Other locals appearing in Lexington next week include former Scott County and WKU standout Billy Tom Sargent as well as Scott County and Central Florida standout Kyle Wilshire, both of which are competing professionally now. The three previous Unbridled Tour stops have featured impressive professionals such as Ollie Schniederjans, a veteran of the PGA TOUR with more than $3 million in winnings, Scott Jamieson, a past winner on the European Tour, Chase Koepka, the younger brother of Brooks, and Jack Nicklaus award-winner Norman Xiong.
The local support from sponsors has been critical as it allows the tournament to keep more than 90% of entry fees directed toward the purse which is important to the professional players. Tournament sponsors, which will compete in Monday’s Pro-Am at University Club, include:
- Gimmie Golf
- Republic Bank (republicbank.com)
- GCH Insurance (gchinsurance.com)
- Advanced Turf Solutions (advancedturf.com)
- The Prather Team (pratherteam.com)
- The Livesay Group, PLLC (livesaygroup.com)
- Bluegrass Sotheby’s Agent Steve Klein (bgsir.com)
- Campbell House – Official Hotel (https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/lexqqqq-the-campbell-house-lexington/)
The Unbridled Tour will be played on University Club’s Big Blue Course (par 72, 7,013 yards) which is the home course for the University of Kentucky golf teams. There will be no cut after the second round.
The Unbridled Tour event will be hosted in compliance with all local and state public heath guidelines to include:
- Social distancing will be required by players and club/tournament staff
- Only one person will be permitted in a golf cart if utilized
- Clubhouse access will be restricted
bdG Sports, a Lexington-based sports management firm that annually manages the Korn Ferry Tour’s Great Exuma Classic and Great Abaco Classic events in the Bahamas, owns and operates the Unbridled Tour.
Full event information and daily scores can be found at www.UnbridledTour.com. Registration for professional and amateur golfers is open until Oct. 11 at midnight.