Jay Don Blake will play in this week’s Black Desert Classic.
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It’s week one on the PGA Tour.
That amount should only be expected with the start of the Tour’s newest competitive event, the Black Desert Classic at Black Desert Resort in Irving, Utah. The Classic is the second of two brand new events on the 2024 PGA Tour schedule, following in the footsteps of the Myrtle Beach Classic this spring.
But perhaps the most interesting story on the PGA Tour this week isn’t a first. No, the most interesting story is that of a potential PGA Tour last time. His name is Jay Don Blake, a 65-year-old professional from St. George, Utah — and on Tuesday morning at the Black Desert Classic, he got the best news of the week: He was on the court.
Blake took the ultimate sponsor’s exemption at the event, cementing a spot in the field in emotional — and personally historic — fashion.
“To be a part of the tournament, the first event for St. George,” Blake said in one video posted on the PGA Tour’s official social channels with tears in my eyes. “For me to be a part of this is a dream since I was little.”
The story of Blake’s journey BACK The PGA Tour begins in 2004, with a professional career on the horizon. Blake was an elderly 45 years old then, and for the first time in more than two decades in the golf profession, he could see the end. He had played in 14 events during the 2004 season and made the cut in just four, his best finish coming in a season-opening T41 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He went into PGA Tour qualifying at the end of the season and finished 109th, well out of contention for a Tour card in 2005.
At the time, Blake believed it was over. After leaving collegiate golf in State of Utahhe had been touring for more than two decades. He had had a fine career, managing one PGA Tour victory, five runner-up finishes, 18 top-5s and 36 top-10s. More impressive, however, was the statistic it showed true the depth of his skill: his number of starts, which weighed in at nearly 500.
Almost.
With his career begins the number of the PGA Tour stuck in 496Blake’s playing career continued in the years after the 2004 spinout. Primarily, his beginnings came as a member of the PGA Champions Tour, where he competed for the better part of two decades after 2004, but he never took off. the hope of reaching number 500 in the major tournament.
Slowly, over the years, the beginnings flowed. He qualified for the US Open in 2013 and earned a subsequent sponsor’s exemption at Barbasol in 2018. By the time 2020 rolled around, his career PGA Tour starts totaled 499.
With the PGA Tour returning to Blake’s hometown and Blake celebrating his 65th birthday, the Tour and Black Desert Resort knew what to do. They invited Blake’s family to come down to the tournament for a surprise, and when Blake arrived, they presented the PGA Tour Masters with the ultimate sponsor’s exception on the field.
Expectations this week are low for Blake, who has made just two professional starts any tournament from early 2023, but that may not matter at all. At 65, he’ll replicate it again in a PGA Tour event – and reach the finish line in 500 starts.
In a first week on the PGA Tour, the Black Desert Classic gave the Blake family one notable thing the last one — and the Utah crowd gathers with a hometown hero to cheer.
