The Members of the Kentucky PGA Section are set to compete in their biggest competition. The 70^th Kentucky PGA Professional Championship will take place on August 23-24 from Bowling Green Country Club. Four spots in the 2022 PGA Professional Championship are on the line for the more than forty players competing on Monday and Tuesday. They are as follows.

John Bachman, PGA - The Director of Instruction at Lake Forest Country Club in Louisville. Bachman won this Championship in 2012 at Kearney Hill Golf Links and in 2014 at Greenbrier Golf & Country Club. He goes for his third Section Championship and first outside of the Lexington market this week in Bowling Green.

Jake Bennett, PGA - The Owner/Executive of The Range At Emory, a driving range located in Harriman, Tennessee. Bennett moved to Danville in 2020 and competed in his first Kentucky Section Championship last year at Valhalla Golf Club.

Robert Costello, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Nevel Meade Golf Club in Prospect. Costello is the two-time reigning recipient of the Section’s Public Merchandiser of the Year Award and a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University’s PGA Golf Management program.

Kyle Cramer, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. Cramer is nearing the end of his second year in this role after growing up across the river in Indiana. He has previously worked at major championship venues such as Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland and Crooked Stick Golf Club just outside of Indianapolis.

Chad Douglas, PGA - An Assistant Professional at The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green. Douglas is wrapping up his third year at what will be the home of the 2022 U.S. Girls Junior and has previously spent time at facilities in Kentucky such as Louisville Country Club and Oxmoor Country Club.

Ethan Fisher, PGA - The Director, Communications & Marketing at Golf House Kentucky. He is the person writing each of these bios, a task he is somewhat decent at. He will play golf at this week’s Section Championship, a task he is considerably not as good at.

Adam Gary, PGA - The Women’s Golf Coach for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in Bowling Green. This week serves as a home game for Gary and one of his last chances to focus on his own game before turning all of his attention towards a quality roster the Lady Hilltoppers will be fielding this year.

Eric Gilliland, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Audubon Country Club in Louisville. Gilliland has served in that role for more than twenty years and established himself as one of the top PGA Members in the Section throughout those decades. He has won twelve Section awards, including this year’s Bill Strausbaugh Award.

Josh Griffin, PGA - An Assistant Golf Professional at Wildwood Country Club in Louisville. Griffin won this year’s Assistant Professional of the Year award and chairs the Section’s Assistants Committee. He finished in the top-five at last year’s National Car Rental Kentucky Assistant PGA Professional Championship at Hunting Creek Country Club.

David Huffman, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at South Park Country Club in Louisville. Huffman has established himself as one of the most popular PGA Members in the Section and had what is arguably the Section’s quote of the year thus far following the Adidas Pro-Junior in July.

“Dear Local PGA Professionals,

It is our duty to manage our golf shops, know our merchandise, and continuously grow the game we love. Today (after the Adidas Pro-Junior), I was reminded that golf is a unique game that develops friendships and life skills. Just driving home listening to the three young golfers (that I played with) had me smiling and missing those days. I can’t wait to do it again and even further in the future with my own kids.

Grow the game by playing and making it fun. Instruction is important, but way more importantly, let yourself enjoy the game.”

Daniel Iceman III, PGA - An Assistant Golf Professional at Weissinger Hills Golf Course in Shelbyville. Iceman played collegiately for the University of Louisville and is a two-time winner of the ROLEX Assistant Player of the Year in Kentucky, having won in 2016 and 2018. He also competed on the Mackenzie Tour in 2018 where he logged eight starts north of the border.

Grover Justice, PGA - A Director of Instruction at Bluegrass Golf Academy in Lexington. Justice enters as the defending champion after winning the Section Championship for the first time in 2020 at Valhalla Golf Club in what was a dominant seven-shot victory. He won the ROLEX Larry Gilbert Player of the Year Award three straight times from 2017-2019 and recorded a T6 finish in last month’s Kentucky Open at Persimmon Ridge Golf Club.

Joel Kessinger, PGA - The Director of Instruction at Lincoln Trail Country Club in Elizabethtown. Kessinger has been with Lincoln Trail since the spring of 2019 and had previously worked at facilities in Kentucky such as Oxmoor Country Club, Golf Galaxy, Doe Valley Golf Club, Bardstown Country Club, and Crescent Hill Golf Course.

Ralph Landrum, PGA - The General Manager at World of Golf in Florence. In his days as a playing professional, he competed in eleven total major championships which was highlighted by a top-ten finish in the 1983 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. Landrum won this Championship in consecutive years in 1986 and 1987.

Andrew Lardner, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Polo Fields Golf & Country Club in Louisville. He spent nearly a decade before joining the Polo Fields team working at Seneca Golf Course. Lardner is an alumnus of Butler High School and St. Catherine University.

Josh Luster, PGA - An Assistant Golf Professional at Lake Forest Country Club in Louisville. This will be Luster’s second appearance in the Section Championship after debuting last year at Valhalla. He is a graduate of the PGA Golf Management program at Eastern Kentucky.

Myles Mahan, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Woodhaven Country Club in Louisville. Mahan, alongside the next person on this list, Jesse Massie, is a two-time defending champion of the Pro-Pro Series Championship presented by Golf Pro Payments. Mahan is a graduate of the EKU PGA Golf Management program and has previously worked at other facilities in Kentucky like World of Golf and Hurstbourne Country Club.

Jesse Massie, PGA - An Assistant Golf Professional at Woodhaven Country Club in Louisville. Massie is the two-time reigning winner of the Section’s ROLEX Assistant Player of the Year, which he also won in 2017. This will mark his first appearance in this Championship after being elected to Class-A PGA Membership earlier in the year.

Brad Maynard, PGA - The General Manager at Shelbyville Country Club. Maynard was elected to PGA Membership in the summer of 2020 and is a former golfer at Shelby County High School and Kentucky Wesleyan University.

Aaron McDowell, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Lakeside Golf Course in Lexington. McDowell finished in the top-five the last time the Section Championship was held in Bowling Green, as he finished T4 when Indian Hills Country Club played as host. He finished T34 in last month’s Kentucky Open.

Mitchell Moore, PGA - A Director of Instruction at Hopkinsville Golf & Country Club. Moore was one of three Kentucky PGA Members who competed in the PGA Professional Championship earlier this year in Florida. He earned that spot with a runner-up finish in last year’s Section Championship at Valhalla. His hot play has continued this year as he leads the ROLEX Larry Gilbert Player of the Year race entering this event.

John Mullendore, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Indian Hills Country Club in Bowling Green. He qualified for the 2019 PGA Professional Championship in Bluffton, South Carolina thanks to a top-five finish in the 2018 Section Championship at Kearney Hill Golf Links. Mullendore and his team at Indian Hills will host the 2022 edition of the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur.

Keith Ohr, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Lake Forest Country Club in Louisville. Ohr is the 2013 and 2015 champion of this event, having won at Valhalla Golf Club and The Club at Olde Stone those years. He also won the Kentucky Open in 2001 and 2012.

Chris Osborne, PGA - The General Manager at Bardstown Country Club. 2002 will mark the twenty-year anniversary of when he first joined the team at Bardstown as its Head Golf Professional. He served as President of the Kentucky PGA in 2012 and 2013 and was Golf Professional of the Year in Kentucky in 2018.

Barry Payne, PGA - A Director of Instruction at Hopkinsville Golf & Country Club. Payne has been at Hopkinsville for nearly a year now after previously spending five years with Golf Business Solutions, LLC. If he wins on Tuesday, the press release’s headline will be “Feel the Payne.”

Keith Reese, PGA - The General Manager at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. He was the  Section’s Golf Professional of the Year in 2008. He recently finished runner-up in the Kentucky Senior PGA Professional Championship at Hurstbourne Country Club, earning him a spot in this fall’s Senior PGA Professional Championship in Florida.

Jacob Schakat, PGA - The Assistant Golf Professional at Indian Hills Country Club in Bowling Green. Schakat was the runner-up in last year’s National Car Rental Kentucky Assistant PGA Professional Championship, which earned him a spot in the national championship last November at PGA Golf Club.

Chris Schuler, PGA - An Assistant Golf Professional at Louisville Country Club. Schuler recently joined the team at Louisville Country Club after spending more than two years with Oxmoor Country Club up to this summer. He has worked with Louisville Country Club before and also has spent time with Nevel Meade Golf Club.

Steve Shafer, PGA - The Director of Golf at Persimmon Ridge Golf Club in Louisville. Shafer served as President of the Kentucky PGA in 2010 and 2011 and is a four-time Section award winner, including the 2007 Golf Professional of the Year Award.

Kyle Sheffer, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Oldham Country Club in La Grange. Sheffer took this position earlier in the year after spending the previous three years as an Assistant Professional with Wildwood Country Club. He is an alumnus of the PGA Golf Management program at Eastern Kentucky University.

Daniel Soehren, PGA - The Head Golf Professional and Host Professional this week at Bowling Green Country Club. This is Soehren’s second year in Kentucky having previously worked at clubs in the Mid-Atlantic Section and at the Mississippi State PGA Golf Management program. He is an alumnus of the PGA Golf Management program at Campbell University.

Nicholas Spath, PGA - An Assistant Professional at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville. Spath is a product of Eastern Kentucky’s PGA Golf Management program and completed a notable collection of internships by working at Congressional Country Club along with The Club at Las Campanas in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Andrew Stephens, PGA - The Director of Instruction at Stephens Golf Center in Burlington. Stephens won this title three years ago at Kearney Hill Golf Links and was last year’s ROLEX Larry Gilbert Player of the Year within the Section. As part of that honor, he received an exemption to compete in the PGA TOUR’s Barbasol Championship last month.

Corey Stith, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Elizabethtown Country Club and a decorated Section award winner, having won the Private Merchandiser of the Year honor in 2020 which was preceded by Public Merchandiser of the Year recognition in 2017 and 2018 when he worked at Tates Creek Golf Course in Lexington.

Chad Stocker, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at University of Louisville Golf Club in Simpsonville. Stocker won the Section’s Assistant Golf Professional of the Year Award in 2006 and has made the cut multiple times in both the PGA Professional Championship and National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship.

Carson Stone, PGA - A Director of Instruction at Bluegrass Golf Academy in Lexington. Stone graduated from Eastern Kentucky’s PGA Golf Management program and worked in both the Southern Ohio and Tennessee Sections after graduating. He has been with Bluegrass Golf Academy since this spring.

Dan Utley, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Owl Creek Country Club in Louisville. He has worked there since 2016 after spending the early years of his time in the golf industry coaching. Utley won the 1994 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur at Country Club of Paducah

Michael Vick, PGA - The Director, Junior Programs at Golf House Kentucky. Vick is finishing up his first season at the helm of the Kentucky PGA Junior Tour after working in part-time roles with Golf House Kentucky in 2019 and 2020. He was the subject of a viral tweet from Random College Athletes earlier this spring.

Eric Voss, PGA - An Assistant Golf Professional at Bowling Green Country Club. Voss was born and raised in Decatur, Alabama where he did internships at golf courses which directed him in the direction of obtaining PGA membership through the Mississippi State PGA Golf Management program. He joined the staff at Bowling Green earlier this year and will now compete in his first Kentucky Section Championship at his home facility.

Tom Walters, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Summit Hills Country Club in Crestview Hills. He chairs the Section’s Tournament Committee and is Kentucky’s District 1 Director. He relocated to Kentucky to take his position at Summit Hills in 2018 after spending several years in the Southern Ohio Section and worked in Florida before becoming a PGA Member.

Blake Watts, PGA - The Head Golf Professional at Wildwood Country Club in Louisville. Watts has won this title four times previously, obtaining victory in 2010, 2016, 2017, and 2019. If he wins this week, he will join the legendary Larry Gilbert as the only players to win this trophy at least five times.

Logan Watts, PGA - An Assistant Golf Professional at Louisville Country Club. In 2013, Watts made a hole-in-one at the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship and won $25,000 in the opening round.

Colby Wollitz, PGA - The Director of Instruction at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville. Wollitz has won multiple awards within the Kentucky Section, including this year’s Teacher of the Year Award and last year’s Player Development Award. He graduated from Methodist University’s PGA Golf Management program in 2008.