Preparations are well underway for the 2016 Barbasol Championship, a PGA Tour event to be held July 14 – 17, 2016, at the Lake Course at RTJ Grand National in Opelika, Alabama. The Celebrity Pro-Am will be held on July 13.
This is the second year for the Barbasol Championship in Opelika and things are getting bigger and better. 132 golfers will compete in 72 holes of stroke play for a total purse of $3.5 million.
There will be live Golf Channel coverage each day: Thursday and Friday 4 to 7 p.m. Central; Saturday and Sunday 2 to 5 p.m. Central.
Tickets: Admission is $20 per person per day, including Pro-Am on Wednesday. Active and retired military are free. Children 15 and under are admitted free.
Pro-Am Celebrities:
· New addition – Auburn Softball Coach Clint Myers and Assistant Coach Corey Myers. They will sharing golf duties.
· Auburn Football Coach Gus Malzahn
· Baseball legend Tim Hudson – 1997 National Player of the Year for MLB.
· NFL RB & 3 Time Pro Bowl Player Joe Cribbs – 8 seasons
· Former Auburn QB Ben Leard
· Super Bowl XL Champion Kendall Simmons – 8 seasons
· Retired Major League Baseball Player Gabe Gross – 7 seasons
· Captain of Auburn’s 2000 SEC Western Division Team Cole Cubelic
· Aubie will hit first tee shot in Pro-Am at 6:50 a.m.
As for PGA Tour wins, the current field has a total of 121 wins on the PGA TOUR including three Masters Champions (Angel Cabrera 2007, Trevor Immelman 2008 and Lucas Glover 2009), two U.S. Open Champions (Angel Cabrera 2007 and Lucas Glover 2009) and one PGA Championship winner (David Toms 2001). Masters winner Mike Weir in 2003 is an alternate.David Toms is the player with the most wins as he has 13 PGA TOUR victories, including the 2001 PGA Championship. Auburn’s Patton Kizzire is the highest ranked player in the current field. He is ranked 40th on the FedExCup Rank and 70th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
The state of Georgia is well represented in the field with:
Roberto Castro- Former Georgia Tech golfer and currently 41 in the FedEx Cup standings.
Chesson Hadley – Former Georgia Tech golfer and won the 2014 Puerto Rico Open.
Brian Harmon – Former University of Georgia golfer, has one PGA Tour victory.
Hudson Swafford – Former University of Georgia golfer
Brendon Todd – Former University of Georgia golfer, won the 2014 HP Byron Nelson.
Come out and watch the golf or volunteer. Volunteers Needed: The tournament still has a great need for volunteers and is partnering with the Jason Dufner Foundation to help recruit volunteers to pull off this international event. To volunteer, visit www.barbasolchampionship.com.
