While Utah PGA Section Champion Chris Moody will compete in the national Senior PGA Professional Championship next month in Florida, a new door has opened for Salt Lake City’s Tommy Sharp.
As the Section Championship runner-up this week at Toana Vista Golf Club in Wendover, Sharp, a PGA Teaching Professional at the Salt Lake Golf Academy, accepted the Section Champion’s exemption into the PGA TOUR’s Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort, set for Oct. 23–26 in Ivins.
Sharp and Moody each posted matching 6-under par 138 totals over 36 holes before Moody secured the Section Championship title with a birdie on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff. For Sharp, the disappointment of missing a short putt to win on the first playoff hole was softened by the news of his PGA TOUR start.
“Yeah, it definitely softened the blow from missing the 3-footer to win on the first playoff hole this week,” Sharp said. “This will be my second PGA TOUR event—I played in the 2016 PGA Championship. I am unbelievably excited to play in the event. My oldest boy was only 3 years old and we actually found out that we were pregnant the night before the first round of the PGA Championship with my youngest son in 2016. It has been my goal since then to get back to a PGA Tour event so that they would be old enough to remember seeing me play. Now they are 12 and 8 and I can’t wait for them to be there with me.”
That family perspective is fueling Sharp’s motivation. “I think I’ll be more comfortable and know what to expect this time around. I have no delusions of winning the event but I think I can make the cut if I play solid golf.”
Sharp was candid about his 2024 season, calling it one of his toughest years since his 2016 PGA Championship appearance. “Overall, my season has been an utter disappointment,” he admitted. “The game has definitely changed as my kids have gotten older because I pretty much only play with them or in tournaments. As a result, my game is nowhere near as sharp as it was (in 2016), but I wouldn’t change getting to play with them for anything.”
Sharp admitted that Bandon Dunes, the site of the 2026 PGA Professional Championship, was on his mind. “Bandon Dunes is my favorite place I have ever played and it actually put an added pressure on the Section Championship this year as I wanted to qualify so bad,”
“Making it back to the PGA Professional Championship,” Sharp said, “and the added bonus of getting to play a PGA TOUR event in my home state makes up for all of the poor golf this summer.”
In October, Sharp will get that chance at Black Desert Resort—on one of Utah professional golf’s biggest stages, with his kids finally old enough to see him tee it up against the world’s best.
Story and photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.