Former Tigers Blayne Barber and Patton Kizzire joined current Auburn golfer Ben Schlottman for a press conference on Wednesday, July 15, to discuss the upcoming Barbasol Championship.
Barber spoke about the excitement of getting to compete in Alabama’s first PGA TOUR event.
“We’re all just really grateful that Barbasol chose to pick Auburn as a spot to come and use the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail,” Barber said. “They do a great job with promoting golf in Alabama and bringing a lot of tourism and people to the state to play the trail. This is a great venue.”
While Barber is on the PGA Tour, Kizzire and Schlottman are playing in the event by way of a sponsor exemption.
Barber admitted his first season on the Tour has not gone according to plan so far, but the first-year Tour player said Grand National is the perfect place to get back on track.
“It’s an adjustment,” Barber said. “I’ve had a few good weeks, but I don’t really feel like I’ve played that well based off what I would say my expectations are for myself and what I feel I’m capable of … I feel fresh and ready to make a push to the finish for the season and it’s nice to start that being at home this week.”
The Barbasol Championship is the first PGA Tour event for Schlottman.
The SEC Freshman of the Year said playing close to campus could be a real advantage for him.
“Anytime you play a golf course you know well, it’s an advantage but you still have to hit the shots,” Schlottman said. “I think it’s more of an advantage for me just because being my first tour event, I’m going to be feeling a lot of different things, so to be able to be comfortable with the course will help me a lot.”
Barber agreed that being close to Auburn will provide some advantage.
“There’s an advantage maybe just from a comfort level … but really for me I think it’s more just being at home, being around my family,” Barber said. “It’s not like it’s a distinct advantage above everyone else, but it certainly helps and it just brings a comfort level. In golf, when you’re comfortable you’re going to play well.”
Kizzire thinks the biggest advantage for the players who have played the course before will be on the greens.
“The key is going to be getting in the fairway,” Kizzire said. “The greens do have some nice slope. Knowing how to use those slopes is going to be a big advantage, and like Blayne said, being at home per se and having a lot of family and friends and support will be huge.”
While Kizzire said he will have a slight advantage because of his familiarity with the course, he added that the course is much different than when he last played at Grand National.
“Everybody’s out there trying to learn it,” Kizzire said. “I’m still learning it. I actually haven’t played the course since they switched from bent to Bermuda [grass], which has been probably four or five years. The greens are great. The golf course is in great shape.”
The golfers said they hope this weekend’s event will promote golf in an area of the country that is dominated by football.
“I think you have a lot of people that are football fans that play golf, but it just brings some more interest at an earlier time of year, which is good,” Barber said.
Kizzire hopes hosting a PGA Tour event for the first time in the state’s history will boost interest in golf, especially in the Auburn area.
“It’s nice to bring golf to Alabama,” Kizzire said. “We’ve never really had a PGA Tour event here and I know everybody’s excited. It’s new, it’s fresh.”
All three players will begin tournament play on Thursday.
Schlottman and Barber will begin their rounds on the first tee at 8:39 a.m. and 1:06 p.m., respectively.
Kizzire will tee off on No. 10 at 8:28 a.m.
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