Bank of Utah Championship
Course: Black Desert Resort (7,421 yards, par 71)
Purse: $6,000,000
Winner: $1,080,000 and 500 FedExCup Fall Points
Tournament Preview
With the Presidents Cup now in the review mirror, the focus in golf is the race to lock up PGA Tour cards for next season. That will be taking place across multiple different tours as the Korn Ferry Tour has two more weeks left to determine the Top 20 that secure cards, the DP World Tour has six more events to figure out their 10 graduating players and of course the PGA Tour finalizes their standings after these next seven fall events. The Top 100 at the end of the RSM Classic in mid-November will earn full playing status again in 2027. Even for those who finish 101-125 it will be important to be as high as possible on the priority list going into next year. Players who finish outside the Top 125 after the FedExCup Fall without full or conditional PGA Tour status will have to decide where they want to play next year. Remember that 2027 is being used somewhat as a qualifying year for 2028 when the huge competitive model changes and the PGA Tour gets separated into Championship Series and Challenger Series, with massive differences in the purses.
As you can see there's still plenty left to play for the rest of the way and this tournament could be a big part of it. This will be the third Bank of Utah Championship at the Black Desert Resort. Matt McCarty won the first edition in 2024 after playing that year primarily on the Korn Ferry Tour. Last year it was Michael Brennan won at Black Desert after he spent most of the year playing on the PGA Tour Americas. Safe to say, Black Desert has been a prime spot for talented players to breakthrough.
Despite being a young player, we wouldn't even lable this his breakthrough if he were to win this week in Utah. That is 21-year-old Jackson Koivun who played a key role in helping Team USA take down the Internationals at the Presidents Cup last week. The former Auburn standout picked up his first PGA Tour victory this summer over Scottie Scheffler at the 3M Open. He is back in the field for this Fall event and many think he could be in for a huge 2027 season. Koivun alone makes this an event that casual golf fans might feel the need to tune into. Definitely a star in the making, if it isn't already made yet.
Other notables include International Presidents Cup players Nick Taylor and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, some young up-and-comers like Blades Brown, Ben James, David Ford and Luke Clanton, and experienced veterans like Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Max Homa and Maverick McNealy. The 120-man field is just barely stronger than the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World Tour this week that always draws top international players.
After some early week rain in Ivins, Utah, thinks will dry out for the tournament and the heat will pick back up. Temperatures each round should flirt with 90 degrees and wind is expected to be on the moderate end. With no huge changes to this resort course since last year, scoring should fall in a similar range as it has the first two editions of the championship when -23 and -22 won it, respectively.
Recent Champions
2025 - Michael Brennan (-22)
2024 - Matt McCarty (-23)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Putting/SG: Putting Bentgrass
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance
- SG: Approach/Proximity 150-200 Yards
- Par 4 Scoring/Birdie Average
Champion's Profile
With this only being the third trip to Black Desert we don't have a ton of data to work with unfortunately, but we do know there will be a few key stats to watch. First and foremost is SG: Putting. That has been the No. 1 biggest correlated stat to success at this course. Trying to find players in good form over the last few months with the putter as well as those who have long-term history of putting well on bentgrass is the way to go.
While this course actually plays decently short because of the elevation, there is a ton of room to work the ball on this course, and thus bombers should have the advantage. The rough won't be much of a problem, it will be more about avoiding the volcanic rock around the course. From an approach perspective, there will be challenges as well because of the elevation. Caddies will certainly be leaned on quite heavily to figure out the right club to hit into these very large greens. Proximity in the 150-200 yard range should be the key area to target.
We won't be super invested in scrambling numbers this week because the field will be hitting a very high percentage of greens. Birdie average and Par-4 Scoring should be a couple other stats that could be more useful in models. We know players have gone low here in the past and you're going to have to do that again to keep up.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Jackson Koivun ($12,200)
For most guys you'd probably expect some falloff this week, but for a young guy like Koivun he still probably has that chip on his shoulder like he has something to prove this week in Utah. He was terrific as a Presidents Cup rookie and finished T5 in the first fall event in Asheville the week prior. Koivun is No. 1 in this field in SG: Ball Striking over the last four months. He is also tops in SG: Par 4 and putting inside of 10 feet over the last six months.
Maverick McNealy ($11,600)
McNealy has gone winless since the 2024 RSM Classic. It's hard to win out here, but he is at the level of golfer where you should have more than just one win approaching age 31. Black Desert could be a great spot for him given his putting prowess. McNealy leads this field in SG: Putting over the last four months and is the top ranked player in my model this week. He has missed just one cut over his last 16 starts.
Ben James ($11,400)
James already has full status in 2027 as the No. 1 player in the PGA Tour University Rankings and he has flirted with that first PGA Tour win since turning pro last June. He finished T4 in Punta Cana, 3rd in Greensboro and 2nd in Asheville. James is known for being supreme ball-striker, but he has also gained strokes on the greens in his last seven starts. The 23-year-old is one that I expect big things from this week and into next season.
The Middle Tier
Kevin Yu ($10,800)
Yu was pretty quiet for most of 2026, but he has played a lot better over the last few months with top-25 finishes in five of his last seven starts. Over that stretch Yu hasn't stood out in any one area, but everything has just been a steady gain across the board. He finished T15 last year at the Black Desert Resort with one of the best putting weeks of his career.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout ($9,200)
Sitting 99th in the FedExCup Fall standings, Bezuidenhout doesn't have the luxury of taking some time off after the Presidents Cup. Bezuidenhout should excel on this golf course where putting is crucial to success. He has done very well over the last year on courses that play easy and have large greens such as this. Bezuidenhout is also 11th in this field in SG: Total over the last six months.
Ben Kohles ($9,200)
If you've paid attention to the last several editions of this column, Kohles has been one of my favorite DFS plays. He has split time between the Korn Ferry and PGA Tour over the summer and put up solid results wherever he has been. Kohles brings a lot of value as the sixth ranked player in my model this week. He is No. 1 in this field in SG: Total over the last six months and second in SG: Ball Striking over the last four months.
The Long Shots
Zach Bauchou ($8,900)
In this type of event down below $9,000, you want to get some players in lineups who can take it low and Bauchou fits that criteria. The former Oklahoma State Cowboy ranks 16th in birdie average, second in bounce back and is 31st or better in par-3, par-4 and par-5 scoring this season on Tour. Bauchou can tend to spray it with the driver at times, but there is plenty of room to miss out there, and the rest of his game has been very solid all year.
Denny McCarthy ($8,600)
McCarthy was known as a consistent finisher over the last handful of years, but in 2026 he has just three top-25s to his name. Thankfully all of those are all top-15s, including a T3 at the 3M Open, which puts him at 92nd in the FedExCup Fall standings. Black Desert should be a course he should fare well at given that he is No. 1 in this field in SG: Putting on bentgrass over the last 18 months. McCarthy is also 12th on Tour in putting from 10-15 feet, which is likely to be a key range.
A.J. Ewart ($8,100)
Ewart hasn't done a lot recently, but he had been a pretty reliable cheap DFS option through much of the year. He's among the top handful of players in this field in birdie average and has racked up 10 top-30s on Tour this season. I mentioned how important putting is this week and Ewart ranks eighth this year in SG: Putting and fifth in putting inside 10 feet.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
While there are some fascinating options towards the top of the board with a lot of upside, we also have to be careful about overdoing it and putting us in positions to have to spin the wheel of death that is this $7K range this week. That will likely be the balance we have to strike through most of this fall schedule. There will be a handful of studs, but they are hard to roster in a field of mostly duds. It will be fun to see which of these cheaper options are able to gain some momentum over this portion of the schedule and work their way into a reliable pick for DFS contests. There's always a few fall diamonds in the rough that reveal themselves.
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