The PGA Tour is headed to the Beehive State for the first time in more than 60 years.
The Tour and Black Desert Resort announced on Friday a new tournament, the Black Desert Championship, set to debut in 2024 during the FedExCup Fall. As part of a four-year agreement, the Black Desert Championship will mark the first PGA Tour event contested in Utah in more than six decades. A celebratory kickoff announcing the event was held in Greater Zion with Utah Governor Spencer Cox in attendance along with representatives from Black Desert Resort.
The Black Desert Championship will be part of the PGA Tour’s 2024 FedExCup Fall as a full-field event. Tournament dates will be announced at a later time. Black Desert will also host an LPGA Tour event in 2025.
Photos: Black Desert Resort opens gorgeous new Tom Weiskopf/Phil Smith course in Utah
“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,” said PGA Tour executive vice president Tyler Dennis.
Played against the 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.
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 Tom Weiskopf/Phil Smith-designed Black Desert Resort Golf Course opened in May of 2023 in Ivins, Utah. (Courtesy of Black Desert Golf Club/Brian Oar)
The historic Western Open, now known as the BMW Championship, made a stop in the Beehive State a decade later, when seven-time 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.
More: LPGA announces new stop in Utah beginning in 2025
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. Contested at Oakridge Country Club since 2017, past champions of the tournament include John 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+.