The PGA Tour heads to Utah for the first time since 1963, when a new tournament – the Black Desert Championship, tees off on Thursday (from 2.40pm, Sky Sports Golf).
The tournament, which forms part of the PGA Tour’s 2024 FedExCup Fall tournament as a full-field event, will be played at an almost brand-new course, with the Tom Weiskopf Black Desert Resort Golf Course only opening last year.
A new course and a new tournament means there is little to go on for this one and everyone will fancy their chances of taking home a share of the $7.5 million purse, with the winner collecting $1.35m.
As usual, during the FedEx Cup Fall events, players are competing for places in the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings after its eight events have concluded which will secure full PGA Tour cards for the 2025 season.
The players only face the threat of water on two of the holes and will enjoy the wide fairways, and for those watching on TV the scenery is pretty impressive as the course is set in a lava field.
The highest-ranked player in the field is World No.41 Chris Kirk, who is looking for his seventh PGA Tour win, his last victory having come at The Sentry in January.
Betting sites don’t rate his chances all that highly though, pushing him out to 40/1 in some places, the same price as Lucas Glover, Marc Meissner, Andrew Novak and Michael Thorbjornsen. The favourite for the title on betting apps is Keith Mitchell at 20/1, who came agonisingly close to winning his second PGA Tour event last week.
The 32-year-old finished just one shot behind Sanderson Farms Championship winner Kevin Yu, and that was all down to the fact he took three putts on the 72nd hole when one would’ve won him the title.
The man nicknamed ‘Cashmere Keith’ due to his choice of snazzy knitwear shouldn’t be should of motivation in Utah and has looked in decent touch recently having finished 12 at the Procore Championship.
Black Desert Championship prediction 1: Keith Mitchell – 20/1 e/w bet365
It’s worth having a look at Matt McCarty, who is playing only his third PGA event and didn’t have the best time of it at the Sanderson Farms Championship when finishing in a tie for 63rd.
However, his record in Utah is pretty impressive, finishing second in the Korn Ferry Tours Utah Championship earlier this year. He’s also shot rounds of 62 and 61 in Utah, so the weather and altitude shouldn’t affect him.
The three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner is an interesting each-way contender at odds of 50/1 on a couple of golf betting sites.
Black Desert Championship prediction 2: Matt McCarty – 50/1 e/w Unibet
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