Patrick Fishburn chasing 2027 PGA Tour security in home state of Utah

Patrick Fishburn's 2026 season looked like it might be headed nowhere fast. The Utah native missed six cuts in his first eight starts, putting himself in an early hole. Since then, though, the BYU product has flipped the script, reaching the weekend in nine of his last 11 events and giving himself a legitimate chance to play his way into full PGA Tour status for 2027.

The next opportunity comes close to home at the Bank of Utah Championship.

The good news for Fishburn is that his game is trending in the right direction. The challenge is making sure he doesn't let the moment become bigger than the tournament itself. Playing in his home state, in front of family, friends and plenty of familiar faces, has brought added emotions in the past. This week, as he tries to keep his late-season surge alive, staying level-headed may be just as important as anything he does between the ropes.

"I've always loved St. George," Fishburn said. "I've been coming down here probably since I was 8 or 9 years old. I remember playing my first ever Utah Junior Golf Association event at Dixie Red Hills when I was about 9 years old. I remember being so nervous to play in it ... that tournament that I couldn't even tee the ball up. St. George has always been a fun place to come down to. Especially for us northern Utah guys, we like coming down to St. George. But it's a special place and I love the state of Utah, I love playing in front of friends and family, so this week's really awesome for me."

Fishburn is one of many players with local ties during this week's event at Black Desert Resort. Now in its third year on the PGA Tour schedule, the event has given the Utah contingent a chance to shine. Beehive State natives Rhett Rasmussen and Carson Lundell got into the field through Monday qualifying and BYU's Kihei Akina got in through a sponsor's exemption.

"It's really cool. It's really cool to see the level Utah golf is at. It's kind of just a nice nod to the Utah Junior Golf Association, the PGA Junior Section, Utah Golf Association, all these associations that I grew up playing in that has developed all these great players. So it's awesome," Fishburn said. "There's very talented. I know we had a couple more Utah guys get through the Monday qualifier yesterday, so I think there's probably 10 or, 10 maybe Utah players and they're all amazing college players, high school players, and so the state of Utah golf is really good.

"There's a lot of guys that can get to the PGA Tour and excited to see what they do, for sure."

And then, of course, is the golf course. Opened in 2023, Black Desert was the last course designed by Tom Weiskopf before his death from pancreatic cancer. Phil Smith, Weiskopf's partner in golf architecture, finished the job.

The layout has quickly climbed the rankings and is No. 1 in Utah on Golfweek's Best list of public-access courses, No. 30 among all resort courses in the U.S. and No. 101 among all modern courses in the country.

There have been a few hiccups with pace of play at this event since the rocks make it difficult to find strays

"First of all, it's beautiful. We don't have anything like this on Tour, probably in the world. You don't see features like this anywhere. The course is, it's very tricky. It's very intimidating off the tee. You can't see some of the landing areas, so you're picking targets on the hillside and just trying to trust your swing. So that's a challenge," Fishburn said. "Then I feel like these greens are very tricky. Very rarely do you have a pitch that just breaks one way. So you have to factor in a 10-, 15-footer and it's going to break both ways, and so it's really important to have your speed correct so it's catching both those breaks.

"But it's such a great test. I think my fellow players, PGA Tour players, I've heard nothing but great reviews and great things about coming here to St. George."

Tim Schmitt is the managing editor of Golfweek and the golf coordinator for the USA Today Network.