Black Desert Resort hosted the inaugural Black Desert Championship October 9 - 13, 2024. As part of a four-year agreement, the Black Desert Championship will mark the first PGA TOUR event contested in Utah in more than 60 years. The Black Desert Championship is part of the PGA TOUR’s 2024 FedExCup Fall as a Full-Field event.
“We are thrilled to partner with Black Desert Resort in bringing PGA TOUR golf to the state of Utah,” said PGA TOUR Executive Vice President and President Tyler 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 is one of two professional golf events at Black Desert Resort, which will also host an LPGA Tour event in 2025. Played against the stunning backdrop of southern Utah’s red rock mountains, the par-72 Black Desert Golf Course was designed by Phil Smith and the late Tom Weiskopf, the final design from the World Golf Hall of Fame 2024 inductee.
“We are honored to host the world’s most prestigious professional golf tours at Black Desert Resort,” said Black Desert’s managing partner Patrick 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 number one.”
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, 1963), with the 1963 edition – won by Tommy Jacobs by a stroke over Don January – the last time the TOUR played in the state. While the PGA TOUR returns to Utah for the first time since 1963, the Beehive State has been home to the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank since the Tour’s inaugural season in 1990.
