Welcome to our weekly PGA Tour gambling-tips column, featuring picks from GOLF.com’s expert prognosticator, Brady Kannon. A seasoned golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a host and regular guest on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio network devoted to sports and sports betting, and is a golf betting analyst for CBS Sportsline. You can follow Brady on Twitter at @LasVegasGolfer, and you can read his picks below for the 2025 Bank of Utah Championship, which gets underway Thursday in Ivins. Along with Kannon’s recommended plays, you’ll also see data from Chirp Golf, a mobile app that features both free-to-play and daily fantasy golf contests where you can win cash and prizes with each round and tournament.
With four more events remaining as a part of the FedEx Cup Fall, the PGA Tour returns stateside this week, settling into Ivins, Utah for the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort. Just outside of St. George, Utah, and about two hours northeast of Las Vegas, Nev., this is quite the growing area of the Southwest. Matt McCarty is your defending champion, winning the inaugural event at Black Desert last fall with a score of 23 under par. The winning score proposition bet at Westgate Las Vegas Superbook this week, is Under/Over 262.5, which translates to 21.5 under par.
Black Desert Golf Course is a par 71 that stretches to nearly 7,400 yards. The golf course will play a bit shorter than this however, with the area being more than 3,100 feet above sea level. This was Tom Weiskopf’s final design before he passed away in 2022. It is not uncommon for the wind to really whip around and blow right through this elevated, mountainous, desert terrain. With that in mind, Weiskopf built the golf course to cater to the resort player. He made the fairways extremely wide and the greens very large, so that even in high winds, one could safely find the landing areas. This week, the forecast is not calling for much wind at all. Sunday is currently showing the highest expected breezes, but still, only around 10-15 mph.
Without much wind, players ought to be able to find fairways and greens on this golf course without much trouble. I believe this will come down to gaining strokes off the tee, on approach, hitting the ball close to the pin, and then holing some putts. With the fairways being so wide, I feel distance off the tee will trump accuracy. With the greens being so large, hitting them in regulation should not be difficult, but hitting the ball close to the hole and making birdies is what should separate one from the pack this week.
2025 Bank of Utah Championship odds: Ryder Cup snub leads betting favorites
As for correlations, I looked for other golf courses that have wide fairways and large greens. Vidanta Vallarta (Mexico Open) and El Cardonal at Diamante (World Wide Technologies) should be good examples of that, along with TPC Craig Ranch (Byron Nelson), which also happens to be another Weiskopf design. I also looked at Valhalla, where the 2024 PGA Championship was played, and Congaree, where the CJ Cup of South Carolina was played in 2023.
Being close to home here in Las Vegas, I have been to the Black Desert Resort in the past. Let’s see if that in any way helps us land on a winner!
Kurt Kitayama (20-1)
Kitayama lives in Las Vegas and went to UNLV. He is very familiar with desert golf, golf at elevation, and golf in Southern Utah. He finished runner-up at Congaree in 2023 and was fifth earlier this season at TPC Craig Ranch. Kitayama has been playing especially well as of late with two top-10 finishes, two top 20s, and a win, all coming in his last seven starts. Over the last 36 rounds, he ranks 13th in this field for SG: Off the Tee, is ninth for Hole Proximity from 125-150 yards, eighth for Birdies or Better Gained, and is No. 1 in SG: Approach.
Rico Hoey (25-1)
Like Kitayama, Hoey too is one of the best in this field off the tee and has been in excellent form as of late with three top-10 finishes in his last six starts. He ranks second in this field for SG: Off the Tee over the last 36 rounds and is seventh on approach, and ranks 19th on the 400-450 yard Par 4s.
Taylor Montgomery (60-1)
Also like Kitayama, Montgomery lives in Las Vegas and played collegiately at UNLV. He has two top-10 finishes and a top 15 over the course of his last five starts, and was 13th at Congaree in 2023. Over the last 36 rounds, he ranks ninth in this field for Birdies or Better Gained, is third on the 400-450 yard Par 4s, and ranks second for SG: Putting (Bentgrass).
Aldrich Potgieter (66-1)
With the connection to Vidanta Vallarta, I immediately thought of the young, big-hitting South African as a possible fit this week, noting his hard-luck loss in a playoff at the Mexico Open earlier this season. His length off the tee ought to be a big weapon here at Black Desert. He ranks 15th in the field for SG: Off the Tee over the last 36-rounds, and is third for Birdies or Better Gained. After winning the Rocket Classic at the end of June, Potgieter went sideways for a few weeks but has righted the ship in his last two starts. He could be ready to fire again here in Utah.
Carson Young (80-1)
Young is the guy that jumps off the page at me this week with how well he’s done at the correlated courses, along with the fact that he finished 11th here last year. He finished eighth at the Mexico Open last year and was runner-up at the World Wide Technologies last November. Over the last 36 rounds, Young ranks 17th in this field for SG: Approach.
Who Chirp Golf users are picking this week
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