Local golfing legend Jay Don Blake to play in Black Desert Championship, his 500th PGA Tour event

Written by Jeff Richards
May 7, 2024
Pro golfer Jay Don Blake is surrounded by family members as he receives PGA Tour exemption certificate from Patrick Manning at Black Desert Resort, Ivins, Utah, May 7, 2024 | Photo courtesy of Black Desert Resort, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Longtime pro golfer Jay Don Blake of St. George has been granted a PGA Tour exemption to compete at the Black Desert Championship this fall.

Pro golfer Jay Don Blake hugs Patrick Manning as he receives PGA Tour exemption certificate to play at Black Desert Championship in October, Ivins, Utah, May 7, 2024 | Photo courtesy of Jamie Andrew, St. George News

The 65-year-old Blake received the news on Tuesday morning when Patrick Manning, managing partner of Black Desert Resort, presented him with a framed exemption certificate on the course’s practice green.

The special moment came as a complete surprise to Blake, Manning said as he explained how he was able to lure Blake out to the course early in the morning, along with more than 15 of his family members.

“Greater Zion had filmed a documentary, an hourlong documentary on the rise of golf in this region, culminating in a PGA Tour stop at Black Desert,” Manning told St. George News. “I told Greater Zion that they should reach back out to Jay Don, because that documentary was filmed a while ago, and tell him that they forgot to get a picture for the documentary of him and his entire family, all of his kids and grandkids. That way, we could get them all out there on the Black Desert putting green.

“And so, while they were posing for pictures, I came up behind Jay Don and presented him with an exemption certificate to get him his 500th Tour start. It was a really, really cool moment.”

Manning said Blake was “very surprised” at the news. 

“He cried. His family cried. It was pretty awesome,” Manning added.

Blake told St. George News that he and his wife had gone out to the course around 5:30 a.m. to get ready to do “a little bit of camera work.” 

“They (the photographers) wanted to get some stuff with my wife, who has been my caddy,” Blake explained. “She carried my clubs for 10 years on the Champions Tour.”

Pro golfer Jay Don Blake is surrounded by family members after receiving a PGA Tour exemption certificate to play at Black Desert Championship in October, Ivins, Utah, May 7, 2024 | Photo courtesy of Jamie Andrew, St. George News

Unbeknownst to Blake and his wife, a number of other family members who had been made aware of the surprise ahead of time, began to gather on the putting green. 

Blake said as he drove the cart up to the putting green, he didn’t realize who was there at first.

“I went, ‘Wait, that’s my whole family,’” he recalled. “I had my kids and grandkids out there, about 17 or 18 of our family members. And you know, I kind of realized, when I saw my family there, I can get what’s kind of going on and what’s gonna happen. I got pretty emotional, you know, teary-eyed and excited.”

Manning said he’s been working on getting an exemption for Blake since last year, right after it was first announced that Black Desert Resort would be hosting a PGA Tour event in the fall of 2024.

The Black Desert Championship, which will be part of the PGA’s FedExCup Fall series, is scheduled for Oct. 9-13, Manning said.

“I thought it was a really good story, with Jay Don being born and raised in St. George and having a successful career in the PGA but falling short by one Tour start to get his 500th,” Manning said. “So I’ve been working on trying to get him an exemption into our tournament for nearly a year. We finally got approval from the PGA about a week ago.”

Blake called the moment a “pretty neat deal.”

“It’s a milestone to accomplish getting 500 PGA Tour events, and to top it all off, to have it be in my hometown,” he said.

Blake said he’s looking forward to playing competitively on the Black Desert course.

“I’ve played it three times,” he said. “Every time I go out there, I see new things, different things. Man, it’s a beautiful golf course.”

“It has some holes that are very demanding, where if you don’t hit the green grass, you’re going to be in that black lava rock and you can’t ever find your ball again,” Blake added with a chuckle. “But all in all, they’ve done a great job with (the) design of the golf course and I think the players are really going to enjoy it.”

Blake said he plans to get more familiar with the course over the next several months.

“I’ll definitely get out there quite a few more times, map it out and kind of get a little bit more accustomed to where to hit it and where not to,” he added. “And just kind of learn the greens a little bit.”

Photo Gallery

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!