Black Desert Resort preparing for PGA tournament next month
Sep 17, 2024, 7:14 PM
ST. GEORGE — A new golf course in Southern Utah is getting a lot of attention, especially since it’s bringing the PGA back to the state next month, for the first time in six decades.
It’s the life many people would love to have — retiring to play golf in Southern Utah.
Jay Don Blake isn’t retired. At least, not yet. Not after the big surprise he recently received.
Blake, who grew up in St. George, has played in 499 PGA Tour events as a professional golfer. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get to 500 as the years went by, until he was offered a sponsor’s exception to play in next month’s PGA Tournament at the brand-new Black Desert Resort in town.
“When that happened, it just… I mean it was, it was unbelievable,” Blake said.
Patrick Manning, who is a managing partner of Black Desert Resort, worked hard to get Blake in.
“You can’t make that stuff up,” Manning said.
Just looking at the course, Manning is used to doing tough things.
“So many people said ‘This resort is impossible,'” Manning told KSL TV. “We’re not going to stop trying to accomplish the impossible. There are endless opportunities here at Black Desert.”
It’s the newest golf course in the St. George area, built in the middle of Ivin’s lava rocks, with beautiful views everywhere you look. It’s so striking, the PGA Tour is coming back to Utah next month for the first time in 60 years.
“The accomplishment that was felt by us, by getting the PGA Tour, was really about getting it for Utah,” Manning said.
There is no doubt Utah is becoming more of a big-time state in the sports world, with the NHL, another Olympics, and now professional golf.
Blake sure is happy for this course, allowing him to play a PGA Tour event one more time, in the town he grew up in.
“To end it at 500 is a scenario that’s unbelievable, and I’m excited for (it),” Blake said.
Blake told KSL TV he had been practicing here and feels good about where he’s at. It all gets going 20 days from now.
Not only is the PGA playing at the resort, but the LPGA, the Professional Women’s Tour, is scheduled for an event here next year as well. At the Black Desert Resort in Ivins.
