For the first time in over 60 years, the PGA Tour will be visiting the Beehive state.
Black Desert Resort and the Tour announced on Friday the Black Desert Championship. It will debut in 2024, during the FedExCup fall. The Black Desert Championship, which is part of a 4-year agreement with Black Desert Resort, will be the first PGA Tour tournament to take place in Utah for more than 60 years. The announcement of the event took place in Greater Zion, with Utah Governor Spencer Cox and representatives from Black Desert Resort in attendance.
The Black Desert Championship, as a full field event, will be included in the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Fall 2024. Dates for the tournament will be announced later. Black Desert will host a LPGA Tour event as well in 2025.
Images: Black Desert Resort unveils stunning new Tom Weiskopf/Phil Smith golf course in Utah
“We look forward to collaborating in the Black Desert Resort’s vision of professional golf for the Greater Zion Community. Tyler Dennis, executive vice president of the PGA Tour, said that our members would enjoy the Black Desert Golf Course’s challenges and views.
The par-72 Black Desert Golf Course, set against the red rock mountains of southern Utah, was designed by Phil Smith, and the late Tom Weiskopf. This is the final design of the World Golf Hall of Fame inductee 2024.
Harry “Lighthorse Cooper” of the World Golf Hall of Fame won the Salt Lake Open in 1930. In 1937, Al Zimmerman, who won back-to-back Utah Opens, brought the Tour to Salt Lake City seven years later.
The Black Desert Resort Golf Course, designed by Tom Weiskopf and Phil Smith, will open in Ivins in May 2023. (Courtesy Black Desert Golf Club/Brian Oar).
Ten years later, the Western Open, which is now the BMW Championship, stopped in Beehive state when Johnny Palmer, a seven-time Tour winner, won the 1947 tournament at Salt Lake City.
In 1948, Utah was the host of the Utah Open Invitational. Lloyd Mangrum beat George Fazio by a stroke in a play-off. The event was held three times more (1958, 60, and 1963), with the 1963 version – won Tommy Jacobs, by a stroke, over Don January, being the last Tour to play in Utah.
More: LPGA announces a new stop in Utah starting in 2025
The Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank has been held in the Beehive state since 1990, when the Tour began. The tournament has been held at Oakridge Country Club in Utah since 2017. Past champions include John Daly, Zach Johnson, Brendon Todoll and Cameron Champ.
The 2024 Black Desert Championship is scheduled to be televised by Golf Channel, Peacock, and PGA Tour Live via ESPN+.
