Ivins • When you talk to Phil Smith, he can almost trick you into thinking he’s a golf everyman.He’ll lament to you — almost like he’s your buddy — that he doesn’t get out on the course as much as he’d like these days.

For St. George native Jay Don Blake, the Black Deseret Championship put a cap on his 500th career start. Blake, a former NCAA champion playing at Utah State, grew up in the Dixie Downs neighborhood a short distance from this spectacular resort and golf course where he lived in a trailer court.

You’ve got the makings of a Utah coup in a sports world that’s typically dominated by metropolitan regions along the coasts.