ON THE RANGE — Before Tony Finau and the rest of the field at the PGA Championship could open the season's second major, they first began flying into Louisville, Kentucky, for practice rounds, media opportunities and dinner engagements from Valhalla Golf Club.

For former BYU standout Zac Blair, that included giving his young son a special lesson on the storied course's driving range.

Blair was caught by NBC Golf Channel's cameras giving his son Charles — he calls him "C.B.," like C.B. Macdonald, the famed golf course architect — on the driving range at Valhalla.

The reigning Utah Open champion who prepped at Fremont High was seen teeing up golf balls for young C.B., offering a few tips, and then lending a high five to the youngster.

Family has been important for Blair, who joined his father Jimmy among the nine players to have won the Utah state amateur championship and the state's professional Open championship when he held offer University of Utah senior Javier Barcos last August at Riverside Country Club in Provo.

"My dad's my hero," Blair said as he accepted the winner's check, his emotions catching in his throat while his wife Alicia and the couple's two sons stood with him on the 18th green. "I wish he was here, but that's just really cool."

Blair burst on the scene nearly a decade ago, some 30 yards after Jimmy Blair earned his PGA Tour card in 1984, when he earned six top-25 finishes to start his career and more than $600,000 in earnings as a rookie on Tour. He finished tied for 40th at the 2014 U.S. Open, his best finish in a major, but missed much of the past three years while recovering from surgery to repair two tears in his right labrum.

Still, after re-earning his PGA Tour card following an extended stay on the Korn Ferry Tour via medical exemption, Blair has made the cut in six of his 11 starts in the 2024 season.

He and playing partner Patrick Fishburn, another BYU and Fremont High alum, finished tied for fourth at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans back on April 28, taking a lead into the final round before faltering down the stretch

But teeing it up at the 7,609-yard, par-71 course that sits 20 miles east of downtown Louisville will be special for Blair, who last visited Valhalla when dad Jimmy played in the PGA Championship there as a club pro 24 years ago, he remarked on social media.

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