Bank of Utah Championship betting tips: Who is our expert backing at Black Desert?
Last updated:
The PGA Tour Fall Series continues this week. But who is Tom Jacobs backing for glory? See his Bank of Utah betting tips here…
The Bank of Utah Championship returns to the PGA Tour schedule as the post-season Fall Series continues.
This tournament was added to the calendar last year as the Black Desert Championship, which was won by Matt McCarty, before a three-year headline sponsorship deal was signed with the Bank of Utah.
Here’s what you need to know…
2025 Bank of Utah Championship key details
Dates: October 23-26, 2025
Venue: Black Desert Resort, Ivins, Utah
Course: Par 71; 7,421 yards
Format: 72 hole stroke play with 36-hole cut
Purse: $6,000,000
FedEx Cup Fall points: 500
Defending champion: Matt McCarty (-23)
How to watch the 2025 Bank of Utah Championship
US viewers can catch all the action on the Golf Channel.
All times ET
Thursday, October 23: Golf Channel and NBC Sports app from 5pm
Friday, October 24: Golf Channel and NBC Sports app from 5pm
Saturday, October 25: Golf Channel and NBC Sports app from 4.30pm
Sunday, October 26: Golf Channel and NBC Sports app from 4.30pm
UK viewers can catch all the action on Sky Sports Golf.
All times BST
Thursday, October 23: Sky Sports Golf from 10pm and Main Event from 10.30pm
Friday, October 24: Sky Sports Golf from 2.45pm
Saturday, October 25: Sky Sports Golf from 9.30pm
Sunday, October 26: Sky Sports Golf from 8.30pm
2025 Bank of Utah Championship tee times
Full field details and tee times for the Bank of Utah Championship can be found on the PGA Tour website.
2025 Bank of Utah Championship betting tips
I’ve picked out four names to keep an eye on in Utah, starting with…
The Long Shot: Danny Walker
190/1 e/w (Bet365 8 Places 1/5)
Looking at the Players angle, which you can see in detail when talking about my outsider this week, Danny Walker makes some appeal at long odds, having finished T6 there on debut. Now it must be noted that Walker is a Jacksonville resident who would have played TPC Sawgrass a lot, but never under that pressure, and for that reason I am more than happy for result has to be considered.
Then you can look at his recent effort at the Sanderson Farms Championship where he finished in a tie for 3rd, despite coming in off the back of eight straight missed cuts. That’s two big finishes out of nowhere, one in one of the biggest events of the year and another when in bad form. This shows huge upside for a player that is always going to be priced generously until he finds some consistency.
Indeed, alarm bells will ring for some that his putter did much of the damage at the Sanderson Farms, but on top of his effort there and at the Players, there are a couple of pointers from his Korn Ferry Tour days have put me onto him this week as well.
Firstly, Walker has finished 5th at the Utah Championship back on 2023. Form in the state and at altitude is a great sign, and the latter has been further strengthened by a 13th place finish at The Ascendant, another Korn Ferry event played above sea level.
When I look at where Walker has played well, it really does give me a sense that he could play well here, where there will be no jeopardy off the tee, and additionally he might enjoy another Tom Weiskopf design. Other than his 6th at the Players and his 3rd at the Sanderson Farms, one of his better finishes at this level was a T25 at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which is hosted by the Weiskopf-designed, TPC Craig Ranch.
It’s a longshot in every sense of the word, but triple-digit odds, in a weak field, two starts after finishing 3rd was enough for me. Factor in the links to Utah and The Ascendant on the Korn Ferry Tour, and the slight possibility The Players is relevant and it looks quite appealing.
The Outsider: Christiaan Bezuidenhout
35/1 e/w (Betfred, William Hill 6 Places 1/5)
Christiaan Bezuidenhout is not a player I bet often, as I typically think he’s underpriced and overrated, but this week he comes into the event in great form and with excellent credentials for this sort of test.
If you are looking for a desert golf expert, then I am not sure you need to look much further than Bezuidenhout, who has finished 2nd at the American Express and 4th at the WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour, and 2nd at both the Dubai Desert Classic and the Qatar Masters on the DP World Tour. Those credentials alone make him a solid pick, but when you also consider the fact he typically only plays the better events, and seldom drops down to this grade, I am intrigued to see what he can do with the opportunity.
The South African, who has won three times on the DP World Tour but is still looking for a breakthrough Stateside, has quietly had a very good 2025. Data Golf currently ranks him inside the top 50 in the world (49th) and while he’s on the outside looking in according to OWGR (69th), he has a real shot at making the majors next year. This is no small part down to his consistency, which has seen him post 8 top 20 finishes on the PGA Tour this year, including back-to-back top 10s coming into the week.
Bezuidenhout’s 10th at the Baycurrent Classic adds to a 6th at the Sanderson Farms, and with big performances at both the U.S. Open (12th) and the Scottish Open (13th) still within his last 10 starts, he’s clearly in form.
His two best attempts on the PGA Tour have come at the John Deere Classic and the American Express, the latter something we have already flagged as a huge positive, and these efforts both show Bezuidenhout’s ability to go low when the conditions and course suit, as they will this week in Utah.
Looking to make it three top 10s in a row for the first time in his PGA Tour career, Bezuidenhout can take it one step further and pick up his first PGA Tour win along the way.
Last year, we thought distance off the tee would come into play here, which may put people off Bezuidenhout initially, but looking at some of last year’s contenders, it really wasn’t that big of a factor. It’s a course that is going to yield low scores, especially to those in the form that Bezuidenhout is in.
Lastly, there is a strange correlation between last year’s contenders and form at the Players Championship, with Matt McCarty and Stephan Jäger both posting top 20s at TPC Sawgrass, as did surprise contender Joe Highsmith. Lucas Glover and Kevin Streelman were two veterans who finished T3 here last year and have posted top 3 finishes at the Players as well. It could be nothing, but it took me by surprise that McCarty, Jäger, and Highsmith had all posted top 20s in such an illustrious event, while Matti Schmid was also 26th there, and they are all tied together by their performances here. With that in mind, it doesn’t hurt that Bezuidenhout has finished T13 twice at the “fifth major”.
The Banker: Rico Hoey
30/1 e/w (Star Sports 6 Places 1/5)
Rico Hoey has been making significant strides in his game since joining the PGA Tour and is one of the better ball strikers, not just in a field like this, but on the Tour overall. That’s confirmed by him ranking 2nd in SG Tee to Green, 3rd in SG Off the Tee and 11th in SG Approach in 2025.
It’s obvious then that there must be a glaring weakness in Hoey’s game for him to not break through and that has been his putting. He has been one of the worst putters on Tour but a switch over to the broomstick putter saw him improve at the Procore Championship, and I am hoping this can continue here in Utah this week, even if he struggled again in Jackson and Japan.
Despite his putter woes, Hoey has started the Fall Season with a 9th at the Procore, and a 4th at the Baycurrent Classic, either side of a MC at the Sanderson Farms. Even when missing the cut there, he opened with a 68 and was in 13th place after round 1. All in all, he’s clearly playing well and any uplift with the putter could yield a career result.
There’s reason for optimism when it comes to the putter, given he marginally gained on the greens here last year and something similar could well see him contend here on Sunday.
It’s not often we play at altitude on the PGA Tour, so it’s pleasing to see two 8th place finishes for Hoey at the Barracuda Championship, and a 3rd place finish at the Shriners also shows a knack for playing in the desert.
Hoey shots four rounds in the 60s here last year, opening with a 66 and closing with a 67, so now that he returns in better form and with the benefit of an initial look, I find myself drawn to him at the top of the board once again.
Maybe it’s time to stop being an apologist for these players who can’t putt, but in a weaker field, I will give Hoey a shot once again, after another top 5, this time in better company in Japan.
The Bonus Pick: Taylor Montgomery
70/1 e/w (Betfred, BetMGM 6 Places 1/5)
Taylor Montgomery made huge waves back in 2022 when he made his way onto the PGA Tour and kicked things off with eight top 15 finishes in his first nine starts. The best of those was a 3rd on his first start at the Fortinet and the next best was a 5th at the American Express, an event relevant to this one, given its desert nature.
The rest of 2023 and large parts of 2024 were mainly disappointing and that didn’t get much better in 2025, at least until recently. Since finishing 8th at the ISCO Championship in July, Montgomery has added a 12th at the 3M Open, a 2nd at the Utah Championship – his second runner-up finish at that event, and a 6th at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Two 2nd place finishes in Utah on the Korn Ferry Tour are eye-catching, as are his 5th at the American Express, and his 11th at the Players Championship. These are all results I think are important this week, and could well pave the way for his first PGA Tour title.
It is no secret that Montgomery gets by with his elite putting, after all he’s ranked inside 2nd, 1st, 2nd in his first three years on Tour in SG Putting, but that’s absolutely perfect for an event where scoring is going to be incredibly low and you need to get it going on the greens to even have a chance of contending.
More pleasing though, might be the fact that he’s ranked inside the top 25 in SG Approach in each of his past two starts on the PGA Tour. He very rarely hits his irons well, so we should certainly take note of the fact he’s now gained strokes on Approach in each of his last three measured events on the PGA Tour, as it could be an early sign of improvement in his game.
He didn’t play well here 12 months ago, but he spent most of 2024 dealing with shoulder injuries, and now it looks like he’s not only fully fit, but thriving as well. A return to this part of the country, in the form he is in looks like a match made in heaven to me.
-
Who will win at Black Desert Resort? Here are our Bank of Utah Championship betting tips.
