{"id":865259,"date":"2026-09-29T23:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T23:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865259\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T23:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T23:48:11","slug":"10-utahns-will-play-in-pga-tour-event-in-utah-this-week-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865259\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Utahns will play in PGA Tour event in Utah this week \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

IVINS, Utah \u2014 Ashley Dove, newly named executive director of the Bank of Utah Championship, allowed herself to do a little wishful thinking a few weeks ago when she was asked what the PGA Tour event needs in order to attract more golf fans to Black Desert Resort this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig names,\u201d Dove said. \u201cThe fans want big names. \u2026 So there\u2019s a lot of interest in those Utah players, but fans also want to see those big names that they\u2019ve seen on TV, those recognizable stars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly, Tony Finau fits that bill<\/a>. There is no bigger name in the Beehive State when it comes to golf than Finau, the Salt Lake City native<\/a> who committed last week to play in the event for the first time in its three-year existence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more excited about the incredible group of PGA Tour players teeing it up in \u2026 the Bank of Utah Championship,\u201d Dove said in a news release last Friday after Finau signed up. \u201cThe strength of this year\u2019s field is a tremendous reflection of how quickly the (tournament) has grown, with major champions, multiple-time PGA Tour winners, some of the game\u2019s most recognizable names and a strong contingent of Utah players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finau, 37, who is scheduled to speak to reporters Wednesday, before the 72-hole tournament begins Thursday, is a six-time Tour winner <\/a>who has played on three Presidents Cup teams and two Ryder Cup teams for the United States.<\/p>\n

He has not been at the top of his game the past year<\/a>, having missed all four majors and the FedEx Cup Playoffs in 2026. Finau is on the FedEx Cup fall bubble, sitting at No. 100 on the current points list. <\/p>\n

\"\"USA teams’ Jackson Koivun reacts to his birdie putt on the 12th hole against the International team during a Presidents Cup golf tournament final round singles match at Medinah Country Club, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Medinah, Ill. Koivun will be among the field in this week’s Bank of Utah Championship. | AP Photo\/Matt Slocum <\/p>\n

Other top players in the field, which has been reduced to 120 players because of the lack of daylight hours in St. George at this time of year, include 21-year-old Jackson Koivun, who just participated in the Presidents Cup for the United States, and Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Maverick McNealy, Blades Brown and the past two winners \u2014 Michael Brennan and Matt McCarty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reduced field actually came with the tour\u2019s blessing,\u201d Dove said. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to play here. There\u2019s lava that doesn\u2019t show a lot of love. It causes a lot of delays in play, and so a smaller field just makes it better for everyone, especially considering the amount of daylight we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dove, who was the second employee ever hired to work at Black Desert and the vice president of tournament business before being promoted to executive tournament director last January, said rounds in each of the past two tournaments have been suspended due to darkness.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we expect to experience that again this year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The field also includes 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, Canadian Nick Taylor and seasoned veterans Chris Kirk and Joel Dahmen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited. This is what we plan and work for all year round,\u201d Dove said. \u201cThis is a year-round undertaking for us. We start planning the next year the day after the tournament ends. \u2026 It\u2019s such a sense of pride for us to bring an event like this to the state of Utah. We want to make sure that we make it special. We want to make it fun and engaging for our fans and our sponsors. We have high expectations, and we aim to deliver on them, so we\u2019re excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenty of Utahns in the field this year, including State Am champ Bowen Mauss<\/p>\n

Since its inception, the tournament has been committed to providing opportunities for Utahns to tee it up on the big stage, and this year is no exception. Ten Utahns are in the field, which has to be some sort of record for products from Utah high schools in a PGA Tour event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a huge priority of ours, and a big goal. We want to provide pathways to those Utah golfers and that Utah talent, so that they have access to the Tour,\u201d Dove said. \u201cThis is a big opportunity for them, and we want to provide them with that access to that possibility to shine.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the PGA Tour regulars \u2014 Finau and former BYU golfers Zac Blair<\/a> and Patrick Fishburn, who are also battling to retain their Tour cards for 2027 \u2014 one of the first Utahns in the field was Draper native Bowen Mauss, a Corner Canyon High product.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bowen Mauss receives his winning trophy during the 128th Utah State Amateur Championship at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway on Saturday, July 11, 2026. | Lukas Katilius, Deseret News <\/p>\n

Mauss earned a sponsor exemption because he won the 2026 Utah State Amateur for the second-consecutive year<\/a> last July at Soldier Hollow Golf Club in Midway. Mauss is currently a sophomore at Arizona State.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith our partnership with Bank of Utah, they\u2019ve created a fund that will benefit amateur golfers in the state of Utah and provide access to them,\u201d Dove said. \u201cIt is a really exciting foundation that they\u2019ve created to really provide financial support and access to those youth that are coming up and interested in the game of golf that maybe don\u2019t have the financial means to purchase all of their equipment and pay for the coaching and the classes and all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sponsor exemptions were also given to current BYU golfer Kihei Akina<\/a>, St. George native Boston Bracken of Arizona State, and Zach J. Johnson, a Cottonwood High graduate who was the Utah Section PGA qualifier. A late addition to the field is former BYU golfer Tyson Shelley, a new pro who prepped at Skyline High in Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

\"\"BYU freshman Kihei Akina, right, lines up a putt during photo day Sept. 2, 2025. | Olivia Taylor\/BYU <\/p>\n

Two more Utahns joined the field on Monday via the Monday-qualifying route: Former BYU star Carson Lundell shot 8-under 64 at The Ledges Golf Course in St. George to tie for medalist honors, and former BYU golfer Rhett Rasmussen shot 7-under 65 to get in along with San Diego\u2019s Seonghyeon An and Matt Snyder of Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

According to Utah golf historian Kurt Kragthorpe, Utahns are 3 for 17 in making the 36-hole cut at the event \u2014 Blair in 2024 and 2025 and former Weber High star Connor Howe in 2025. Akina also played in the 2024 and 2025 events, just missing the cut in 2024 by a single shot.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the future of the tournament at Black Desert Resort?<\/p>\n

The Black Desert Championship officially became the Bank of Utah Championship in July of 2025 when the PGA Tour announced a three-year sponsorship with the Utah-based bank. Dove declined to comment on whether that partnership will be extended beyond 2027, saying she did not want to distract from the two years remaining on the deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really focused on just making the next two years incredible and hitting it out of the park for the state of Utah, and then we\u2019ll kind of go from there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

PGA Tour restructuring is also coming in 2028, as the tour moves to a two-tiered, merit-based system featuring promotion and relegation. How that will affect the Utah event is unclear.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the question of whether the tournament will continue to be played in October and fight for spectator interest with the NFL and local college football, or move to a less crowded place on the Utah sports calendar.<\/p>\n

Dove said she could \u201cnever say never\u201d about the tournament moving to a different month, but added that the sponsorship from Bank of Utah has strengthened the event and kept ticket prices reasonable.<\/p>\n

So here’s the challenge to Tony Finau, Patrick Fishburn, Zac Blair, Zach Johnson, Tyson Shelley, Kihei Akina, Bowen Mauss, Boston Bracken, Lundell and Rasmussen: Utahns are 3-for-17 in making the cut at Black Desert Resort (Blair in 2024\/25, Connor Howe in 25) the past 2 years. https:\/\/t.co\/1KPWS8yqlu<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Kurt Kragthorpe (@UtahGolfers) September 28, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been huge. It\u2019s unmeasurable, really. These events are not cheap, as you can imagine, and they have supported and stepped up in every way you can imagine,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s so much synergy between the Bank of Utah and Black Desert Resort, and Reef Capital Partners, and they\u2019re committed to being good community partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want this game to have an impact that extends beyond just tournament week,\u201d she continued. \u201cSo having them as a title sponsor has not only provided some legitimacy to our event, but (gives us) someone to walk alongside us and really make this something that we are proud of. It has been incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Michael Brennan poses with the championship trophy after winning the PGA Tour’s Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. | Fairways Media\/Garrit Johnson and Randy Dodson <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IVINS, Utah \u2014 Ashley Dove, newly named executive director of the Bank of Utah Championship, allowed herself to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,3125,99],"class_list":["post-865259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-news-feed-local","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}