Utah’s Fishburn, Blair excited for state’s new PGA Tour stop

Salt Lake City was awarded the 2034 Winter Olympics earlier this year. The team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes relocated to the city and temporarily rebranded as the Utah Hockey Club, which begins regular-season play Tuesday night.

Now, Utah is about to host its first PGA Tour event since 1963 when the inaugural Black Desert Championship begins on Thursday at Black Desert Golf Course in Ivins, in the southwestern corner of the state.

Two of the nine players in the field with strong ties to Utah, Patrick Fishburn and Zac Blair, are thrilled for the opportunity to play a proverbial home game during the FedEx Cup Fall.

"It's exciting," Fishburn said on Tuesday. "Utah is kind of the state of sport, so another big event coming to Utah is awesome."

Teeing it up in the altitude of the Rocky Mountain range is a unique challenge, as golfers who played the BMW Championship playoff event outside Denver in August could attest.

"Playing at altitude is definitely different for sure. I grew up in Ogden, playing Ogden Country Club, which is probably 4 000 feet elevation and we're probably 3 000 here," Fishburn said. "The ball just does different things.

"With the heat this week, there are just a lot of different factors. If you're maybe not used to that it'll cause a few more calculations going on in the brain, which for me personally, less calculation is better."

Blair warned that the course's distinguishing feature, black lava rock that pervades much of the property, could be dastardly for first-timers.

"Some places you might go and (landing on rock) might be a hazard or you might go to Arizona and hit it in the desert and you can still find it and chip it out," Blair said.

"Here, you're not going to find it most of the time. Especially in the rocks. So I think it's very unique, very different. People are all kind of seeing it and learning it for the first time."

Fishburn and Blair were both born and raised in Utah and attended BYU, overlapping for one season. They were fast friends who went on to compete at the PGA Tour's team event, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where they finished tied for fourth this spring.

Though he's yet to win on the PGA Tour, Blair reached a five-man playoff at the ISCO Championship this past July where Englishman Harry Hall ultimately prevailed. Fishburn, still a tour rookie, has four top-10s this season and began the FedEx Cup Fall slate by placing third at the Procore Championship.

That helped vault Fishburn to where he stands now, No 85 in the points standings. Blair is No 110 entering the week. The top 125 players secure their PGA Tour cards for 2025, while Nos. 126-150 only get conditional status.

"Just been a process throughout the year," Fishburn said. "Lately I've been playing pretty consistent and I like playing in the state of Utah. Got a lot of experience playing at altitude obviously. The dry desert air, a lot of factors I just feel comfortable with. Bent greens and things like that. Hopefully it turns out."

"Been playing good," Blair added. "Kind of just keep doing the same thing. You know, hopefully go have another good event or two in the fall and be nice to do it here at home."