IVINS, Utah — The Black Desert Championship PGA Tournament in southern Utah is only 22 days away. For some, it's a dream come true to see all this come up from what was just brush and lava rock five years ago.
For one person in particular who grew up in St. George, the tournament will help achieve a dream he thought was impossible.
Jay Don Blake started playing on the PGA Tour in 1987 and ended up playing in 499 events, winning one time at San Diego's Torrey Pines in 1991.
But he always wanted to play in his 500th. No one would give him the chance, until now.
“I was aging out, thinking that this ain't gonna happen so for a while. I just almost forgot about even trying to get to that number,” Blake said. “And then all of a sudden, the stories and the talk about having an event here and I thought, 'Well, man, that's going to be kind of cool.'"
Blake has received a special exception to play in the first PGA Tour event in Utah since 1963. It begins on Oct. 9 at the new resort in Ivins, next to St. George.
There were still plenty of construction vehicles and workers throughout the site and roads were still being paved during a media tour Wednesday. But Black Desert managing partner Patrick Manning, who has spent 20 years and countless city council meetings trying to make his Black Desert vision happen, said it will be ready.
“We're definitely under the gun, but we're not under the gun to have enough done,” Manning said. “Seven restaurants will be open, we'll have a convention center, we'll have over 200 rooms open. It'll be the biggest hospitality offering in southern Utah in three weeks.”
Manning said he has been all about making impossible things happen.
Blake grew up just a mile from what is now the Black Desert Resort and remembers being an 8-year old aspiring golfer playing on the lava rock. In his wildest dreams, he never imagined he would be playing in a PGA Tour event here, let alone his 500th event.
“Nothing was there,” Blake said. “So I wandered all over the hills and valleys and the lava rock and just having fun as a kid, you know, just about a little over half a mile from here. I never thought a golf course would be here at all.”
Black Desert, along with Pebble Beach, is only one of three American courses hosting both men's and women's pro tour events. And like Pebble Beach, the scenery will be the biggest star. Manning said once the golfing world and national TV catches a glimpse at Ivins, it will be inevitable that it will become one of the top stops on the tour, and he's already made overtures to move Black Desert to a more prominent spring spot on the tour.
“These grandstands that you see out here, if we can pull this into the spring, then maybe we can leave all of this up for both the men and the women, and we don't have to put it up and take it down every six months," he said.
For those concerned about traffic issues, the plan is to have specialized parking spaces all over town where people can park and then take a shuttle to the course. They hope this will alleviate any possible traffic concerns.
