LEXINGTON, KY – The Rotary Club of Lexington held its weekly meeting Thursday, June 8, at The Mane on Main, Chase Bank building on Main St. The program’s guest speaker was Darren Nelson, Director, Babasol Tournament.
This meeting was also be on Zoom. For the Zoom link please email, trafton@rotarylexky.org.
If you would like to have lunch, please contact Jenny@rotarylexky.org to reserve your meal.
The Barbasol Championship, a sanctioned PGA tour event came to Lexington in 2018, becoming the first such event to be held in Kentucky since 1959, with the exception of the PGA Championship held at Valhalla.
Today’s speaker, Darren Nelson, took over as Tournament Director of the Barbasol Championship in February of 2022. Prior to overseeing Kentucky’s annual PGA TOUR event he spent the previous twenty years also in the golf industry including fifteen years with the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) and three years with the PGA TOUR. While with the AJGA Nelson spent five years in the Atlanta home office as a Tournament Director and ten years in the Dallas office as Regional Director of the South Central region. During his time with the AJGA he oversaw national junior golf events partnering with many PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour players including Jordan Spieth, Jimmy Walker, David Toms, Sergio Garcia, Hale Irwin, and Stacy Lewis. He also became certified in the rules of golf and had a personal high score of 99 out of 100 on the PGA of American/USGA Rules of Golf Exam in 2007.
In 2019 Nelson joined the PGA TOUR’s Tournament Leadership Initiative program and spent the next three years receiving on-site training at PGA Tour Headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida and several tournament sites throughout the US.
Nelson who is originally from Lindsborg, Kansas, grew up on the family farm raising corn, wheat, milo, soybeans, and helping his dad recondition John Deere farm machinery. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Kansas State University in 1999 and a Master of Education in Sport Administration from Wichita State University in 2001. During his time at Wichita State, Nelson worked in the athletic department, including one year as Sports Information Director for the Shocker Baseball team and one year in the Marketing and Promotions Department.
While with the Barbasol Championship Nelson has been tasked with overseeing one of only forty-four PGA TOUR events in the world and the only PGA TOUR event in the state of Kentucky. His role includes overseeing all aspects of the event including sales, marketing, operations, title sponsor relations, volunteers, food and beverage, Golf Channel broadcast, media, PGA Tour rules, and event philanthropic efforts.
This year’s Barbasol Championship will be hosted July 13-16 at Champions at Keene Trace in Nicholasville, and will be the 5th annual event.
Please welcome Tournament Director of the Barbasol Championship – Darren Nelson