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Black Desert Championship: Opening Round

A quick handshake in the crosswalk next to Black Desert Resort’s Nos. 1/10 tee boxes captured a remarkable moment in Utah golf history.

With a special exemption from tournament administrators, Jay Don Blake teed up his 500th PGA TOUR career start at the Black Desert Championship in Ivins.

Jay Don Blake, a 1977 alumnus of St. George’s Dixie High School, briefly caught Kihei Akina, who will graduate from Lone Peak High in May, 48 years later.

Blake was not fully satisfied with his first-round results in the Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion. Yet he appreciated everything else about the opportunity to make his 500th career PGA Tour start in Ivins, near his hometown, among the nine golfers with Utah ties in the 132-player field.

Blake waved his familiar Titleist cap after hitting his opening tee shot on No. 10. He was 3 over par through 15 holes when first-round play was halted due to darkness Thursday evening. He birdied the par-5 No, 9 to complete a 2-over 73 on Friday morning.

Adam Svensson was the leader with 60, followed by Henrik Norlander and Matt McCarty at 62.

A few dozen relatives, wearing “Blake’s Birdies #500” T-shirts (Blake’s golf shirt also had commemorative stitching), followed him as PGA Tour players performed in Utah for the first time in 61 years. Blake, who will turn 66 on Oct. 28, last appeared in a PGA Tour event in 2018 and figured he would be forever stuck at 499 appearances.

But then came Black Desert Resort’s debut, and Managing Partner Patrick Manning’s awarding of a sponsor exemption to Blake.

“The way fate happens, to have it in my hometown, and bring back the PGA Tour to (Utah) … It’s nice to have that happen,” Blake said in August, when he played in the Siegfried & Jensen Utah Open in Provo. “The 500th, right there in my backyard.”

And that’s a significant number. Even among players with 20 starts (almost a full season), only 6 percent reach 500 starts, according to the PGA Tour. Utah Golf Hall of Fame member Billy Casper got there, but not Johnny Miller or 54-year-old Mike Weir, who shot a first-round 68.

Former Utah State Amateur and Utah Open champions Zac Blair and Patrick Fishburn are also in the field at Black Desert Resort.

Utah native Zac Blair, who also posted a 68 labeled Blake “obviously, like a legend.”

Weir said, “I remember when I first got on the tour in the late ‘90s, Jay Don was great to play practice rounds with and just to talk about life on the tour.”

Blake is an emotional person, and his voice caught as he expressed a lot of feelings during a Golf Channel interview while walking down the path from the par-3 No. 17 tee. He spoke of “a lot of exciting, enjoyable moments” this week, “and it’s been very emotional.”

He said he thought about an area “where I used to roam this lava, running around, chasing rabbits,” while performing in front of friends and family members, many of whom had never been able to watch him play competitive golf.

The winner of the tour stop near San Diego in 1991, Blake also has made 178 starts on PGA Tour Champions, with three victories. His legacy on the PGA Tour features his ability to remain among the top 125 players for 15 years, having eventually qualified in 1987 after his outstanding Utah State University career.

Akina finished his first-round 69 with two pars Friday morning.

2022 State Am champ Zac Jones will be looking for a better scoring round Friday at the PGA TOUR’s Black Desert Championship.

Other Utahns’ scores were 71 for PGA Tour rookie Patrick Fishburn, 73 for Corner Canyon High School’s Bowen Mauss, 74 for former BYU golfer Peter Kuest, 76 for BYU senior Zac Jones and 80 for Dustin Volk, Davis County’s Director of Golf and the Utah Section PGA champion.

PGA TOUR Black Desert Championship leaderboard.

Black Desert Championship opening round recap written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.