IVINS, Utah (ABC4 Sports) – Patrick Manning has been waiting two decades for this moment.
“I’m so excited,” he said. “It’s been 20 years I’ve been working on this.”
The PGA Tour is returning to Utah for the first time since 1963 with the Black Desert Championship in three weeks. The LPGA Tour will play here in April, 2025.
Black Desert opened just last year, and to have the PGA and LPGA Tours to hold events here for at least the next four years will help put St George on the map.
“I don’t view Black Desert as a resort or a golf course,” said Manning, the Managing Partner of Black Desert Resort. “I view it as a tool to impact community, so being able to give to Utah something as fun and as important as bringing the PGA Tour back to Utah, and for the fans of golf, it means a lot. We know that this is going to be a tournament that’s going to build year over year. We’re planning it to be here for the next 50 years, not four.”
Some of the best players in the world will play at the Black Desert Championship, and there will be a strong local contingent. Jay Don Blake will make his 500th career start on the PGA Tour. 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir will play, as will former BYU stars Peter Kuest and former Cougar teammates and Utah natives Zac Blair and Patrick Fishburn.
“It’s great because we’ve got a really tight knit Utah golf community,” said Fishburn, a rookie on the PGA Tour. “We’re always rooting for each other. Those guys have always been so good to me, giving me advice and helping me along the way. It’s going to be an exciting week. There will be a lot of support from the community.”
“I want this to be for Utahns to consider this their tournament, their resort,” Manning added. “So it really is central to that feeling. Having all those Utahns here just gives it that real central Utah flavor.”
The most successful Utah golfer of them all, Tony Finau, will not play because he has a commitment with his son in California.
“[Tony] is really disappointed,” Manning said. “He really wants to come. He’s reached out to others and just said, let’s pull for the Utah guys. I’m pretty sure he’ll be here the following year.”
As for the course itself, there is no other course like it in the world, with lava rocks and red rocks surrounding the 18 holes.
“It’s an amazing golf course,” Fishburn said. “It’s only been open for a little bit over a year, and it’s pretty rare that the PGA Tour would choose a place that has been open that long. It just shows you how great of a track it is.”
“You can look around and see the red rock and the black mountain and the black lava,” Manning said. “There’s so much contrast of colors. That’s why I, Steve Wenzloff of the PGA said, ‘Patrick, there are spectacular golf courses on the PGA Tour, there’s epic holes, but nothing will pop on international television like Black Desert.”
The Black Desert Championship runs from October 13-15.
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