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FARMINGTON — The Utah Championship will tee off as originally scheduled next month.
Well, almost.
Utah’s only professional golf tournament will be played June 22-28 at Oakridge Country Club in Farmington, the Korn Ferry Tour formally announced Monday.
But the tour will be played without the general public for at least the first month of the restart to help halt the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As we look toward a return to golf, the health and safety of everyone associated with the Korn Ferry Tour and our communities will remain our No. 1 priority,” Korn Ferry Tour president Alex Baldwin said in a statement. “With the impact sustained thus far to our 2020 schedule, it was imperative that we strive to create new playing opportunities for our membership.”
The tournaments played without fans will begin June 8-14 with the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and run through the TPC Colorado Championship on June 29-July 5. The other two closed events are the Utah Championship and a tournament in St. Augustine, Florida, scheduled for June 15-20.
Last year's Utah Championship field included the two-time Utah amateur champion Preston Summerhays, as well as his uncle, PGA Tour regular Danny Summerhays, who finished sixth.
The tournament will go on, with some changes due to the pandemic. Players won’t arrive in Utah until Wednesday, the day of their scheduled practice rounds, and additional precautions are being taken by Korn Ferry Tour and Oakridge Country Club involving sanitization and testing for the virus.
But Oakridge head golf professional Rick Mears said his club is excited to host the tournament for the fourth-straight year. The Utah Championship will be the tour’s first live event back that will air on the Golf Channel.
“Our members have loved it,” Mears said. “It’s important to our members, and they take pride in having it. Quite a few of the members have even hosted players when they come into town in the past. They’ve struck up some great friendships and have kept in touch years later. It’s been great.”
Most importantly, it’s still golf — and golf will go on at a time when major sports have been suspended.
“Golf’s still pretty good without fans,” Mears said. “I think this will be a great step, and golf will get better fan support as people want to watch anything live. This year, I think if they promote this event, they’ll get a good following.”
Added Utah Sports Commission CEO Jeff Robbins: “Utah’s stunning mountain backdrop will provide an amazing showcase of the great Korn Ferry tour players returning to action on the Golf Channel.”
The PGA Tour previously announced plans to restart June 11-14 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, beginning a condensed season that will feature 36 tournaments instead of the original 49.
The Korn Ferry Tour will add five new events to this year’s calendar, bringing the total number to 23 events, including the six completed tournaments prior to suspending operations during the pandemic.
Because of the lengthy suspension, the tour also extended eligibility for exempt PGA Tour golfers from the 2019-20 season to play on the Korn Ferry Tour during the 2019-20 season.
As such, there will be no graduating class of 2020 from the tour.
Founded in 1990, the Utah Championship has been played at Oakridge for the past four years and includes such PGA Tour golfers as Patton Kizzire, Zach Johnson and John Daly among its winners.
Among the event’s sponsors are Zions Bank, the Utah Sports Commission, the Tony Finau Foundation and the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Utah State Amateur Championship, the longest continuously running tournament in golf history at 122 straight years, announced last week that it was moving the tournament to September. Qualifying rounds will begin in August.
