John Rogers
Just a month after the LPGA Tour announced that it would return to Utah for a regular-season tournament — 60 years after the last time the ladies had a tour stop in the state — the PGA Tour said it will do the same thing. The inaugural Black Desert Championship will be held on the Black Desert Resort golf course in Ivins, near St. George, in the fall of 2024. The tournament will also mark the first PGA event in Utah in over 60 years.
As part of the FedEx Cup Fall Tour, the Black Desert Championship will follow the FedEx Cup Playoffs, which will be held in August. The event will be a full-field FedEx Cup event, with points counting toward the year-long championship that continues with the PGA season in January. Tournament dates will be announced later.
PGA Tour President Tyler Dennis joined Black Desert’s managing partner Patrick Manning and Gov. Spencer Cox in announcing the event at a kick-off event held at the resort. The 2024 tournament will be played under an initial four-year contract between the PGA Tour and Black Desert Resort, Dennis said.
“We are thrilled to partner with Black Desert Resort in bringing PGA Tour golf to the state of Utah,” said Dennis. “In introducing the PGA Tour — and the LPGA the following year — to a new market, we look forward to collaborating with the Black Desert Resort team in their vision for professional golf in the Greater Zion community. Competitively, our members will enjoy the challenges and incredible views that define the Black Desert Golf Course.”
The Black Desert Championship will be played against the backdrop of Southern Utah’sredrockmountains. The par-72 Black Desert Golf Course was designed by Phil Smith and the late Tom Weiskopf. It was the final course that Weiskopf designed before he died last year. He will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2024.
Currently in various stages of construction, Black Desert Resort will feature a 150-room hotel, 1,050 residences, on-property trails, a wellness spa and 80,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
“We are honored to host the world’s most prestigious professional golf tours at Black Desert Resort,” said Manning. “Bringing the best from the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour to Black Desert and them having the best experience imaginable, along with their fans, is priority No. 1.”
The PGA Tour first appeared in Utah in 1930 when World Golf Hall of Fame member Harry “Lighthorse” Cooper won the Salt Lake Open. Seven years later, the tour returned to Salt Lake City in 1937, when Al Zimmerman won the first of back-to-back Utah Open titles.
The historic Western Open, now known as the BMW Championship, made a stop in the Beehive State a decade later, when seven-time PGA Tour winner Johnny Palmer captured the 1947 tournament in Salt Lake City. In 1948, Utah hosted the Utah Open Invitational, where Lloyd Mangrum edged George Fazio in a playoff. The event was played three more times (1958, 1960 and 1963), with the 1963 edition — won by Tommy Jacobs by a stroke over Don January – being the last time the tour played in the state.
WhilethePGATourreturnstoUtahforthefirsttimesince1963,theBeehiveStatehasbeenhome to theKornFerryTour’sUtahChampionshipsincethetour’sinauguralseasonin 1990.ContestedatOakridgeCountryClubsince2017, pastchampionsofthetournamentincludeJohn Daly (1990), Zach Johnson (2003), Brendon Todd (2008) and Cameron Champ (2018).
The 2024 Black Desert Championship will be televised on Golf Channel, Peacock and PGA Tour Live on ESPN+.
