This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Black Desert Championship
Course: Black Desert Resort (7,371 yards, par 71)
Purse: $7,500,000
Winner: $1,350,000 and 500 FedExCup Fall points
Tournament Preview
For the first time since 1963 the PGA Tour is heading back to Utah. The inaugural Black Desert Championship is the third of eight FedExCup Fall tournaments and will be set at breathtaking Black Desert Resort. The Tom Weiskopf and Phil Smith design had its front nine open in November of 2022 and then the back nine follow in May of 2023. These wide open fairways will welcome a field of players looking to improve their FedExCup Fall position and earn full status for the 2025 season. Black Desert Resort will also host an LPGA Tour event in 2025.
This week's field features some Utah natives like Zac Blair and Patrick Fishburn who teamed up to tie for fourth at the Zurich Classic earlier this year. 65-year-old Jay Don Blake will receive a sponsor's exemption to make his 500th PGA Tour start in his home state. Blake's lone PGA Tour victory came in 1991 and his last start came back in 2018. Procore Championship winner Patton Kizzire is in the field looking to move closer towards the Aon Next 10 who received exemptions into the two early Signature Events in 2025, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational. Seamus Power, Patrick Rodgers, Harris English and Nick Taylor all currently hold an Aon Next 10 spot and are teeing it up in Ivins, Utah. PGA Tour University No. 1 Michael Thorbjornsen is coming off his second PGA Tour top-10 last week and will tee it up in Utah. Matt McCarty will make his second straight PGA Tour start following his three-win promotion on the Korn Ferry Tour.
It's vintage desert weather for the 132 players in the field at the Black Desert Championship. After cool mornings in the mid-60s, the temperatures will rocket up to the low-90s by afternoon. Combine the afternoon heat and the elevation at around 3,000 feet above sea level, balls will be flying on this course listed at 7,371 yards on the card. One thing to watch will be the wind rising when the heat does. We could see gusts from 15-20 mph in the afternoons, which will surely get the attention of the players around this unfamiliar property.
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR percentage
- SG: Putting/Putts per GIR
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Total Driving
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
Champion's Profile
The views of the towering red rock cliffs of Zion National Park can certainly be distracting, but the players will have to keep their focus and stay in control of their golf ball at elevation. The fairways are spacious, but one bad swing and desert native area is waiting to cause havoc. Length will certainly be an advantage like it is every week, but given the dangers straying from green and added distance with heat and elevation, your control players will thrive around this course. The greens are well protected at Black Desert Resort, whether that be by closely mown areas or greenside bunkers. Failing to find the putting surface is going to result in a tricky shot in order to make a par.
All that being said, I do think we should see plenty of good scores. Wide fairways and a lot of short irons are going to lead to birdies. Typically at new venues, ball-strikers are favored because of the unfamiliar greens. That said, I do think players who have shown a good trend with the flat stick lately are going to be important to target on a course where I think you're going to have to make a lot of putts to contend.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Seamus Power ($11,400)
At an unfamiliar venue, Power is the type of player I'm targeting. He has been very consistent of late making the cut in his last eight starts, six of which were top-30 finishes, including a T11 last week in Jackson. Power has gained strokes on the greens in nine of his last ten starts and gained off the tee in seven of his last eight. There's plenty of upside here for a guy that has shown an ability to gain strokes in every area at times in 2024.
Patrick Fishburn ($10,900)
He didn't have his best showing in Jackson with a T48, but going back to his home state of Utah should give Fishburn some extra juice in pursuit of his fifth top-15 in his last eight starts. Last week was the first time Fishburn has lost strokes off the tee since the Valspar Championship in March. He continues to rank eighth in SG: Off-the-Tee and 16th in total driving this year. Fishburn is fourth on Tour in bogey avoidance, a lot of which is because he hits 72.5 percent of the GIR's, good enough for third this season.
Harry Hall ($10,200)
Hall is a birdie machine because of who well he rolls the rock. The Englishman has gained strokes in his last nine starts worldwide and ranks 16th in putts per GIR. On top of that his short-game is incredible as well ranking second in SG: Around-the-Green. The only question for Hall is keeping the ball in play, but these wide fairways could help him in that regard. Hall has finished top-25 in five of his last seven starts including the win at the ISCO Championship.
The Middle Tier
Andrew Novak ($9,900)
Novak leads off what is a pretty uninspiring $9K range overall. He's a consistent ball-striker putting up consistent results and that is good enough for me to pay this number. Novak has made his last seven cuts with five top-25s in that span, including last week in Jackson. The 29-year-old also ranks top-25 in SG: Approach, SG: Tee-to-Green, GIR percentage and proximity. Novak is a hot putting week away from his first PGA Tour win.
Justin Lower ($9,600)
Lower brings a similar profile to Hall. He has gained strokes on the green in his last eight starts, all of which were made cuts. Lower also ranks 28th in SG: Putting and 13th in birdie average this season. The Ohio native's ball striking continues to improve ranking 26th in GIR percentage and fifth in proximity 125-150 yards, likely a popular approach range this week.
Max McGreevy ($9,000)
McGreevy is in as good of form as just about anyone in this field. He scored his seconde Korn Ferry Tour win at the Magnit Championship in August and closed out the season going T3-T23-T7. McGreevy will be heading back to the PGA Tour in 2025, but the exemption he received this week could pay off big for DFS players. He ranked top-20 on the KFT in total driving, GIR percentage, scrambling and putting average.
The Long Shots
Henrik Norlander ($8,300)
It starts to get bleak early in scrolling further down the salary board, but it's rare we find a player that is such a reliable ball-striker in this range. Norlander is just that ranking 17th in SG: Approach, ninth in GIR percentage and 25th in driving accuracy. The Swede is also top-30 in par-3, par-4 and par-5 scoring this season. Norlander comes in having made eight of his last nine cuts.
Carson Young ($8,100)
Young has been scuffling of late, but provides enough reasons for optimism to take a flyer on. The main reason for that is his putting has taken a nose dive, something he was quite reliable with for much of the year. One thing that is still there for Young is his ball-striking, ranking 25th in SG: Off-the-Tee, 10th in driving accuracy, 41st in GIR percentage and 15th in proximity. He was T8 at the Mexico Open which I think will be a similar test to what the players will face this week.
Brice Garnett ($7,800)
Garnett has been a resort course killer throughout his career and if ever he were going to pop up and score a high finish it would be a venue like this. This year's Puerto Rico Open champion has shown quality form with his iron play and short game over a sustained amount of time, gaining strokes on approach in six of his last nine starts and around the green in nine of his last 12 starts. Garnett feels like one of the few reliable players in the $7K range.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
You'll notice I used the word "reliable" a lot. Our biggest goal in a field as weak as this is to try to get everyone to the weekend. It's certainly a lot easier said than done, but with so many inconsistent players in this field, sometimes it's just easier to look at traits. They might really struggle in one area, but when you find players that you know no matter what they are going to hit their irons great, or hit a lot of fairways or sink a lot of putts, that gives you something to lean on. Not having course history to go off of certainly does make the challenge a little tougher, but a player who has performed well in the past on resort courses certainly wouldn't hurt the cause.
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