IVINS, Washington County — For more than a year, Jay Don Blake has been stuck on the cusp of a career milestone on the PGA Tour.

Thanks to some maneuvering and a sponsor exemption, the St. George native will reach it next month in the tour's first event in Utah in more than 60 years.

Blake, 65, will play as one of six sponsor exemptions at the Black Desert Championship, which tees off Oct. 10-13 as part of the FedEx Cup fall series at Black Desert Golf Course in Ivins.

For Blake, the 1980 NCAA champion at Utah State who has also competed regularly on the PGA Tour Champions since 2009, Black Desert will represent his 500th career start on the PGA Tour.

"This stuff makes me emotional," Blake said Tuesday at the event's media day. "This has made what is coming up a very special moment for me.

"I grew up a little less than a mile down the road, and I've come out to play this golf course quite a few times. There are areas and peninsulas on these rock quarries and lava rock that I feel like I've stood here before — way before the golf course. To have this special moment three weeks from now to be able to play out here is going to be pretty unbelievable for me. I'm very much looking forward to it."

After growing up in St. George and graduating from Dixie High, Blake turned pro shortly after winning medalist honors at the 1980 NCAA championship for Utah State. The 1981 NCAA Player of the Year first made it on to the PGA Tour in 1987, and earned a spot in the top 125 for 15 consecutive seasons despite winning just one event.

Blake finished in the top 10 on tour 36 times, including 18 top-five finishes, two third-place runs, and five runner-up appearances for a career earnings of $5.6 million over two decades. He also won the Utah Open in 1988, and picked up an international victory at the 1991 Argentine Open.

Since joining the PGA Tour Champions — the senior circuit of PGA Tour golfers for players age 50 and over — Blake posted 32 top-10 finishes, including five in the top five in 178 starts, with wins at the 2011 Charles Schwab Cup and Songdo IBD Championship, as well as the Boeing Classic in 2012 en route to cashing checks of just over $5.3 million.

But when Black Desert managing partner Patrick Manning arranged for Blake's 500th start at the course near his hometown, the emotion hit different.

Not only would the Hall-of-Fame golfer by the Utah Sports Hall of Fame and Utah Golf Association be able to finally scratch No. 500 off his bucket list, but Manning arranged to let the local golf legend know in May, giving him more than four months to fine-tune his golf game to compete in the inaugural FedEx Cup fall series stop in the Beehive State.

"I don't know how or why it's happened to me," he said, "but the appreciation I have and the excitement I have to have it happen, I keep thanking Patrick and everyone. But he went to a lot of leg work to get me a sponsor exemption, to announce it in May, and gave me four months to prepare my golf game the best I can. He went to a lot of work to give me some time to prepare and practice and be ready for the tournament."

The Black Desert Championship will unveil the course to professional golfers in October as the first of a four-year agreement between the PGA Tour and the 19-hole championship course. The last time the PGA Tour made a stop in Utah, Tommy Jacobs outlasted Don January by a stroke at the 1963 Utah Open Invitational — the fourth holding of the event that began in 1948.

Blake may only dream of such a finish for himself at Black Desert. But his route to No. 500 has already been a dream to cap a historic professional golf career.

"I've had a pretty crazy career of playing golf," Blake said. "I tried to put the numbers together, of what it takes to get to 500 PGA Tour events — in the simplest terms, that's 25 tournaments a year for 20 years. I've had a lot of great experiences out there, met a lot of different people, and even had a chance to meet this golf course designer, Tom Weiskopf. I wish he could've been here, but he's passed on. We're always keeping him in our thoughts around here."

"I've met some of the greats — from Arnold Palmer to Jack Nicklaus and on and one — with stories on stories. I've tried to get into events through Monday qualifiers, sponsor exemptions, to get that 400 number to change to 500. This scenario that has been created right here, where it's in my hometown, grew up less than a mile from here, for it to be my 500th PGA Tour event in my hometown at a golf course that is unbelievably beautiful and enjoyable to play, you can't dream anything like that up."

Sponsor exemptions

Former Masters champ among local exemptions for PGA's Black Desert Championship

Former 2003 Masters champion and 2024 Presidents Cup international captain Mike Weir, along with fellow Utah residents Zac Blair, Peter Kuest, Patrick Fishburn, Jay Don Blake and Kihei Akina will compete in the inaugural Black Desert Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, the first year of a contracted four-year cycle on the FedEX Cup fall tournament series that tees off in October.

Black Desert Championship pres. by Greater Zion

Black Desert Golf Course; Ivins, Utah

• Oct. 9 — Pro-Am tournament, open to the public
• Oct. 10 — First round
• Oct. 11 — Second round leading to cut
• Oct. 12 — Third round
• Oct. 13 — Final round, including trophy presentation

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