TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2017
Tim Philpot is a family court judge in Lexington, Kentucky, and former Kentucky state senator. As a golfer, he competed at the University of Kentucky and in the British Amateur, and he currently serves as a volunteer assistant with the UK men’s team. Last week, the PGA TOUR announced it would be moving the Barbasol Championship, which is played opposite the Open Championship, to Tim’s home course, Champion Trace, in Lexington. For Tim, this creates a dilemma, because he is an aficionado of the Open. Where will he be in 2018?
Tell us about Champion Trace, where the Barbasol will be played.
“Arthur Hills design, built in 1988. Built with the hope of having a major someday. On a really good piece of property and a really good golf course from the very beginning. It was built with the intention of being the best golf course in Kentucky for sure. But interestingly, within two or three years, Valhalla was built. Valhalla had more money behind it. Arguably a little bit better golf course, not much. So all the wind to get a major at Champion Trace was sucked out of the air when Valhalla started getting stuff like that. So that basically eliminated Champions as a place that could get that kind of event. They did get the finals of the NCCA tournament, they did get the US Senior Amateur tournament, won by Gordon Brewer, that kind of stuff. Several Kentucky State Opens, those kind of minor things.
“So just about the time everybody had given up on the dream of anything big coming to Champions, we got new ownership in the last three years, Evan Mossbarger and B Frye. Both are Christian guys who bought the course with very specific intention of using it for Christian purposes, and they’re both also entrepreneurs and big thinkers. So when this began to be a possibility, they started working on it, and next thing you know, it’s going to happen.”
But what’s a golf fan like you supposed to do? This tournament will run opposite your beloved Open Championship.
“I‘ve sort of got mixed emotions because you’d sort of like to be here for the Tour event, but honestly for me I’ll probably be in Scotland, just because that’s how much I love golf over there.
“I like it so much primarily because of the bounce of the ball, the wind is always blowing, I’ve got skinny arms and I get to put a sweater on, I have ugly legs and I get to wear long pants. I love it so much that when you come back home after you’ve been to Scotland or Ireland, the ball doesn’t bounce and they’ve had to water the greens to keep them healthy and the ball just plops. The way I describe it, the golf shot back home lasts about two seconds because you already know when the ball is in the air exactly what’s going to happen, whereas over there, the golf shot lasts about 20 seconds because you hit it and it rolls and you start wondering is it going to roll in the bunker, am I going to get a bad kick or a good kick, you know, where’s the ball going to end up, and you spend 20 seconds just watching the ball roll. I’m sort of addicted to having fun with that kind of golf. The ball in the air, plop on the green, fix your divot kind of golf is almost no fun for me anymore.
“So I’m going to have a big decision to make, but honestly I’ll probably go to Scotland while the tournament’s going on here.”