Our experts’ 5 favorite options

Welcome to our weekly PGA Tour gambling tips column, featuring picks from GOLF.com’s expert forecaster Brady Kannon. An experienced golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a host and frequent guest on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio network dedicated to sports and sports betting, as well as a golf betting analyst for CBS Sportsline. You can follow Brady on Twitter: @LasVegasGolferyou can read below his picks for the 2025 Bank of Utah Championship, which takes place Thursday at Ivins. In addition to the dramas recommended by Guanyin, you can also see the following data: Chirp Golf, a mobile app offering free tournaments and daily fantasy golf tournaments You can win cash and prizes in every round and tournament.

With four events remaining in the FedExCup Fall Series, the PGA Tour returns stateside this week for the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah. Just outside St. George, Utah, and about two hours northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, is the growing region of the Southwest. Matt McCarty is the defending champion, having won the inaugural event at Black Desert last fall at 23 under. The winning score bet for this week’s Westgate Las Vegas Superbook is Under/Over 262.5, which is 21.5 under.

Black Desert Golf Course is a par 71 course that stretches for nearly 7,400 yards. However, golf course play will be shorter than this, with the area being over 3,100 feet above sea level. This was Tom Weiskopf’s final design before his death in 2022. It’s not uncommon for the wind to howl through this high, mountainous, desert terrain. With this in mind, Weiskopf built the golf course to cater to resort players. He made the fairways very wide and the greens very large so that even in high winds one could safely find the landing zone. Not much wind is expected this week. Sunday is currently seeing the highest expected breezes, but wind speeds are still only around 10-15 mph.

Players should be able to easily find fairways and greens on this golf course without too much wind. I believe it’s going to come down to getting strokes off the tee, hitting the ball close to the pin at impact, and then making some putts. Since the fairways are so wide, I feel distance off the tee will trump accuracy. With the green so large, it shouldn’t be difficult to hit in the regular season, but hitting it close to the hole and making birdie will be the key to setting it apart from the crowd this week.

As for relevance, I looked for other golf courses with wide fairways and large greens. Vidanta Vallarta (Mexican Open) and Diamante (Global Technologies)’s El Cardonal would be good examples, as well as TPC Craig Ranch (Byron Nelson), which also happens to be another Weiskopf design. I also looked at Valhalla, site of the 2024 PGA Championship, and Congaree, site of the 2023 South Carolina CJ Cup.

I’ve been to Black Desert Resort before since it’s so close to home in Las Vegas. Let’s see if this helps us find a winner in any way!

Kurt Kitayama (20-1)

Kitayama lives in Las Vegas and attends the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is very familiar with desert golf, highland golf and southern Utah golf. He was runner-up at Congaree in 2023 and fifth at TPC Craig Ranch earlier this season. Kitayama has been particularly good of late, with two top-10s, two top-20s and one win, all of which have come in his past seven starts. Over the past 36 rounds, he ranks 13th in SG: Off the Tee, ninth in hole approach from 125-150 yards, eighth in birdies or better, and first in SG: Approach.

Rico Hoy (25-1)

Like Kitayama, Hoy is one of the best servers in the field and has been in great form of late, finishing in the top 10 three times in his past six starts. Over the past 36 rounds, he ranks SG in this area: second off the tee, seventh on approach, and 19th on par 4s from 400-450 yards.

Tyler Montgomery (60-1)

Like Kitayama, Montgomery lives in Las Vegas and played collegiately at UNLV. He has two top-10s and one top-15 in his past five starts and is 13th at the 2023 Congaree. Over the past 36 rounds, he ranks ninth in birdies or better, third in 400-450 yard par 4s and second in SG: Putting (Bentglass).

Aldrich Potgett (66-1)

Linked to Vidanta Vallarta, I immediately thought the young, strong South African might be fit this week, given his unfortunate loss in a play-off at the Mexico Open earlier this season. His driving distance should be a big weapon in Black Desert. Over the past 36 rounds, he ranks 15th in points scored off the tee and third in birdies or better. After winning the Rocket Classic in late June, Potgett struggled for a few weeks but turned things around in the final two games. He might be ready to fire up again in Utah.

Carson Young(80-1)

Young is a guy that impressed me this week, he’s done really well on the relevant courses and he finished 11th here last year. He finished eighth at the Mexican Open last year and runner-up at the Global Technical Championship last November. Over the past 36 rounds, Young ranks 17th in the field at SG: Approach.

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