COEO Sponsored Athlete Nick Tenuta Wins Bourbon Open Championship

Nick Tenuta, a professional golfer and COEO-sponsored athlete, captured a victory last weekend by winning the 80th annual Bourbon Open Championship in Bardstown, Kentucky. The event took place on May 16 and 17, 2025, at the historic Old Kentucky Home Country Club.

The Bourbon Open, held each year in the heart of Kentucky, typically draws a field of between 20 to 40 professional golfers. This marks Tenuta’s third appearance at the tournament and his second win of the year.

Professional golf career

Nick Tenuta turned pro in July of 2022 after receiving his Latin America Tour Card, the first step in his professional journey, which locked in his status as a member of the PGA. This is similar to minor league baseball and allows Tenuta to officially receive points credited toward acquiring his PGA Tour Card.

Additionally, Tenuta received Canadian Tour status during his first year at the professional level.

In his second season, he went to Europe to participate in the DP World Q School. During his time there, he completed the first stage, shot 11 under in the second stage, and missed the cut by one stroke.

Tenuta, now participating in his third professional season, has already won 2 with the Bourbon Open Championship being his second win.

Tenuta credits his previous two years of experience for his continued improvement and this year’s success, saying, “Each failure kind of helped me learn where to go and how to play going forward. It’s nice because every year I’ve gotten better.”

The road to the PGA Tour is a difficult journey filled with significant amounts of training and travel between tournaments. Because of this it can be difficult for younger pro golfers to stay focused while balancing all aspects of professional golf.

One of the ways that Tenuta stays focused during tournaments is remaining present in the moment and not getting ahead of himself. “It’s easy to play well early or play bad early and make that feel like it’s your whole round, where, in reality it’s just a couple of bad holes or a couple of really good holes,” says Tenuta.

In addition, golf, unlike most sports that have an offseason, is 365 days a year so it can be difficult for pro golfers to balance their golf career and their personal life. To make it even more challenging, Tenuta’s fiancé, Lauren Hartless, is also a professional golfer playing on the LPGA Tour.

“We try to find time together to balance golf and life, especially trying not to take golf home with us. So, when you go home, it’s home, and you’re not thinking about your golf swing or your golf game or how you played,” Tenuta says.

Next steps to learning more about COEO

COEO decided to sponsor Tenuta in September of 2022 to help support his road to the PGA tour. We are very excited to help support Tenuta with what is a challenging journey to the PGA tour.

“I’m very appreciative of COEO’s support because they have helped me get to where I am today, and that’s enabling me to play in all of these tournaments to gain the experience necessary to ultimately qualify for the PGA Tour,” says Tenuta.

COEO is proud to continue sponsoring Nick Tenuta and are thankful for our partnership. We wish him luck in his future tournaments.

If you would like to learn more about Nick Tenuta, check out his website by clicking the link here or read the article below to learn about his career through high school and college on his way to professional golf.

• Meet Our Sponsored Athlete and Brand Ambassador: Nick Tenuta

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