2009 Champions Tour rookies: Jay Don Blake

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Jay Don Blake turned 50 on Oct. 28, 2008 and can make his first start in the 2009 season.

Dec. 3, 2008
By Lauren Deason, PGATOUR.COM Editorial Coordinator

Some of golf's favorite names and most familiar faces will be joining the Champions Tour in 2009. Over the next three weeks, PGATOUR.COM will take a look at the former PGA TOUR winners who turned 50 in late 2008 or who will hit the half-century mark in 2009 and likely make their Champions Tour debut.

What do Ben Crenshaw, Jay Haas, Curtis Strange, Scott Simpson, David Edwards and Jay Don Blake have in common?

The obvious answer: They are all over the age of 50 and thus are on the Champions Tour.

The not-so-obvious answer: They all won the individual NCAA Men's Division I Golf Championship.

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In the early 1990s, Jay Don Blake earned one win and a victory in Argentina.

The Basics

NAME: Jay Don Blake

HT: 6-2 WT: 180

BIRTHDATE: October 28, 1958

BIRTHPLACE: St. George, Utah

RESIDENCE: St. George, Utah

TURNED PRO: 1981

TOUR WINS: 1

Photo gallery

Click here for a look back at Blake's TOUR career.

Blake is the latest on that impressive list -- which also includes Jack Nicklaus and Hale Irwin -- to join the Champions Tour. He turned 50 on October 28th, which was too late for him to participate in any events in the 2008 season.

He did, however, attend the Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament in late 2008, where he attempted to gain fully-exempt status on the Champions Tour for 2009. Blake was tied for third heading into the final round of q-school -- where the top five players earn their cards -- but shot a 76 on the final day to drop into eighth place. By finishing inside the top 12, though, Blake did earn conditional status for '09.

It's a far cry from 1980, when Blake won that NCAA title as a junior at Utah State University. The following year he finished second at the NCAA Championship and earned NCAA Player of the Year honors. He turned pro in '81, as well, but didn't join the PGA TOUR full-time until 1987.

Over the next two decades, Blake went on to win once on the PGA TOUR and once internationally. His lone PGA TOUR victory came at the 1991 Shearson Lehman Brothers Open, where he closed with rounds of 67-67 to defeat Bill Sander by two strokes. That season was an especially good one, as Blake notched five other top-10 finishes and finished 21st on the money list. He also won the Argentine Open in 1991.

While he didn't capture another trophy on the TOUR, Blake did remain consistent. From 1987 to 2001 -- a span of 15 consecutive years -- Blake finished inside the top 125 each year on the money list to retain his PGA TOUR card.

Despite a steady career on the TOUR, Blake battled a number of injuries over the years and didn't quite reach the pinnacle like fellow NCAA Champs Nicklaus, Irwin and Strange. In the late 1980s, Blake started having back problems, which he later attributed to injuring his lower back muscles by returning to action too soon following his appendix removal.

He also experienced elbow problems later in his career, but Blake still made a few appearances at the top of leaderboards in the 2000s. He even held the early first-round lead at the U.S. Open in 2003, where he discussed his physical ailments.

"I've had some back problems for probably 12, 13 years," Blake said in 2003. "Probably seven or eight years ago it really was kind of a bad problem. And lately I've worked on it to where it's not as bad. And then a couple of years ago I developed an elbow problem, where I couldn't even straighten my right arm out. So hitting a shot down through the hitting area, trying to get your arms to extend, I couldn't really do that. I kind of got swinging, protecting, and didn't want to damage my arm anymore."

He opted not to have surgery to fix his elbow and did stretching and strength exercises to improve his condition. While the elbow improved, he had developed bad habits in his swing due to those injuries and his game suffered.

Now, though, Blake will be one of the youngest players on the Champions Tour. With a fresh start -- and positive momentum gained from a strong showing at q-school -- this rookie might add a few more wins to his resume.

Five things you may not know -- or may have forgotten -- about Blake

1. Blake is passionate about driving...cars, that is, not just clubs. He has his own drag-racing car and, whenever golf gets frustrating, loves to "go out there and just stomp on the gas and go as fast as you can down the track". Blake has been racing for about 15 years and says he's always enjoyed cars, motors and anything that can go fast.

2. Blake is so crazy about racing that we had to devote two facts to his drag-racing hobby. He occasionally races in some National Hot Rod Association events in the "Supercomp" class, where drivers are given an "index of 8.90 seconds, you have to make your car around, a quarter mile at 8.90, at 163 miles an hour," Blake explained. He's won a couple of local divisional races and has even had professional drag racer Bob Vandergriff Jr. caddy for him.

3. On June 28, 2004, Blake did something strange for a golfer -- he shot 85 on purpose. About 90 minutes before the final round of the Boaz Allen Classic, Blake found out that his 85-year-old mother had passed away. He decided to pay tribute to his mother by shooting her age and purposefully putted the ball seven times around the hole before finally tapping in for a 10 on the final hole and a last-place finish.

4. Blake, a father of four, was born in St. George, Utah and graduated from Dixie High School in the same town. Blake attended Utah State University in Logan, Utah, and still makes his home in St. George. He won the Utah State Open in 1988.

5. His best finish in a major championship was a tie for sixth at the U.S. Open in 1992. He last competed in a major at the 2003 U.S. Open, where he led early but eventually dropped into a tie for 64th. Blake has played on the Nationwide Tour for the past several years.