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Former BYU golfer Zac Blair watches his shot during the final round of the Utah Open at Riverside Country Club in Provo on Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022.

Randy Dodson, Fairways Media

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Former BYU golfer Zac Blair celebrates with his family after the final round of the 2023 Utah Open at Riverside Country Club in Provo on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.

Randy Dodson, Fairways Media

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From right, Zac Blair, Harold Varner III and caddie Rick Wynn observe a moment of silence to pay their respects to the memory of George Floyd on the 16th hole during the second round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, June 12, 2020. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

David J. Phillip, Associated Press

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Former BYU golfer Zac Blair watches his putt during the final round of the 2023 Utah Open at Riverside Country Club in Provo on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.

Randy Dodson, Fairways Media

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Former BYU golfer Zachary Blair smiles and gestures walking off the ninth green of the Silverado Resort North Course after finishing the second round of the Frys.com PGA Tour tournament in Napa, Calif., on Oct. 10, 2014.

ERIC RISBERG, Associated Press

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Former BYU golfer Zac Blair has been through the ups and downs of professional golf since he completed his career as a Cougar in 2013.

He made it to the PGA Tour in 2015 and has had 10 Top 10 finishes in his career, including in 2024 where he made it to a sudden-death playoff at the ISCO Championship in Kentucky in July and tied for fourth at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April.

When he sat down to cover a wide range of topics at the Fairways Media office in Orem last week, he said that his life has changed during that time but he still has the same passion for the game.

“When you have a family, the priorities change,” Blair said. “I never was never someone who practiced a lot, but I would play every day. Now with kids, it’s basically the ultimatum of do you want to be at the house when they’re awake? If the answer is yes, you can’t always play golf that day.”

Some of his best memories from 2024 involved being able to have his family be a part of his golf experience.

At the US Open at Pinehurst in North Carolina, Blair had his son Charlie out on the range with him hitting some golf balls.

“I remember all these people cheering for him every time he hit it,” Blair said. “It was pretty cool. He was just so in love with all those things.”

But he still loves getting out and competing on the links, and that comes with costs.

“I wish you just had to show up on Thursday and play golf for four days, that that was how professional golf worked,” Blair said. “But traveling and the whole aspect of Monday through Wednesday and sleeping in a hotel each week and being away from your family, those are definitely the downside that a lot of people don’t get to see. My hatred for all of that has definitely never changed. I never enjoyed any of that. But the passion side competing and playing professional golf, that’s the same.”

Blair enters 2025 in a familiar position, although not an ideal one.

He ended up at No. 126 in the tour rankings for the second time, just missing access to all Full-Field Events and the Players Championship in 2025. Instead, he earned conditional status for 2025, unless otherwise exempt.

“It’s pretty unfortunate,” Blair said. “It’s never the position you want to finish in, but you just go out the next season and play well anyway. The worst part is not being able to create your own schedule. I’m just looking forward to getting some starts and playing well.”

The PGA Tour is trimming the number of full qualifiers to the top 100 moving forward. Although it may make it harder for golfers like Blair in years to come, he supports the move.

“I’ve always been a fan of fewer people keeping their cards, even as someone who has been in the 100 to 125 range my whole career,” Blair said. “When my dad played, I think it was only 50 or 75 players who kept their tour cards. There will be more turnover and it’s something they can keep doing to get it closer to where it needs to be.”

Blair said that if he was made the commissioner of golf, he would look at trimming both the number of golfers with PGA Tour cards and trimming the schedule down to make the events mean more.

“If they could make it so there are just three events a month in good markets with really good fields, they wouldn’t have to have designated events or do other things,” Blair said. “That would be some of the first things I’d do.”

Blair has enough on his plate already. When asked how he balances his family, competing on the pro tour and making his vision of a destination golf resort at the Tree Farm in South Carolina become a reality, he laughed and said: “My wife would probably tell you I don’t.”

He said the Tree Farm is an accomplishment he takes a lot of pride in, seeing it find its place since it opened in 2023.

“I wish the weather was a little warmer right now,” Blair said. “But it’s been really cool and I’ve met a lot of really cool people who are members now or who have played the course. It’s been fun to see it be real.”

With all those things that he has going on, he doesn’t get a lot of time to practice but said that’s never been his top priority anyway.

“I haven’t really ever had a passion for practicing or casual golf,” Blair said. “I’m lazy on the practicing side. I can’t remember the last time I was like I’m going to grind on the putting green, even when I’ve struggled.”

What he likes is getting out on the course with something to play for.

“I love competing and playing golf for something,” Blair said. “That something is usually money, with that’s on the PGA tour or gambling with my friends. If there is nothing on the line, I’m not as into it.”

When asked what his best shot is — the “Zac Blair shot” — he said it is a 58-degree wedge from about 93 yards out.

“You don’t have to hit it hard and don’t have to take anything off,” Blair said. “I don’t get a ton of those on the PGA Tour unless it’s a layup, unfortunately. But that would be kind of the number that would come to mind. I feel like I have weeks where I’m a pretty good to elite iron player, just throughout the bag. It’s been putting that has really held me back maybe the last couple of years.”

In looking at the big picture, Blair thinks that the state of Utah is well-represented in professional golf and believes it will continue to do so.

“The Utah Junior Golf Association is as good as it gets in junior development, and the Utah Golf Association does a great job,” Blair said. “There are so many opportunities throughout the entire state, just tons of golf tournaments. The universities like BYU and Utah keep getting better and producing talent. I truly can’t think of that many more places that have kind of continually churned out PGA Tour players.”

Blair will kick off his 2025 season by heading to Honolulu, Hawai’i, this week as he looks to start strong at the Sony Open.