The Cheat Sheet provides DraftKings fantasy golf players with course info, player history and the most noteworthy trends of the week to help them with their roster selections.
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The Field
This week marks the fourth fall series event, and the second running of the Bank of Utah Championship (formerly Black Desert Classic), a full-field tournament set to take place at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah. Two weeks ago we saw Xander Schauffele break a long winless drought with a great final round in Japan, but this week the field has fewer elite players and a wide open top end of the field.
Maverick McNealy comes in first in the betting odds (+1400) on the DraftKings Sportsbook, however, he’s followed closely by Alex Noren and Michael Thorbjornsen at +1800. This is only the second season that players will be taking on the desert venue so experience won’t be a huge factor. The venue played relatively easy last season as the winner (Matt McCarty) reached -23 and everyone in the top five got in at -18 or better.
As always, this week’s cut will take place after Friday with the top 65 and ties making the weekend. Let’s dive into the course and player preview below.
The Course
Black Desert Resort – Ivins, Utah
Par: 36-35–71
Yardage: 7,371; Greens: Bentgrass
With a new PGA event on the schedule comes a new course in Black Desert Resort. The venue is a Tom Weiskopf design (the last before he passed away) and sits in a lava field in a preservation area in Ivins, Utah; which is in the Southern tip of the state and near the border of both Arizona and Nevada. Despite being in Utah, Black Desert isn’t set at a huge elevation (approx 900m above sea level) although the air is still likely to be a little thinner and may improve ball flight.
Here were some of my main points from last season’s course preview (2024):
“The course itself looks like it has a small amount of elevation change in portions, with some rolling fairways where players who catch the right corridors off the tee could get significant rollout. In terms of setup, the venue plays as a 7300+ Par 71, although I don’t think it will play extra long for the pros. The Fairways look wide enough (average 30 yards across) that most players will be banging driver off most of the par 4s and par 5s, and with the desert/lava landscape, the lack of traditional rough should make the players even bold with their selections and routing off the tee.
The course will play as a traditional Par 71, with three par 5s, and some solid risk, reward holes, including the short Par 4, 14th, and a closing Par 5 where players can get very aggressive off the tee if they so choose. Despite being in a more unique setting, with a few more variables thrown in, I don’t expect Black Rock to play much differently than TPC Craig Ranch, and to an extent, TPC Scottsdale; Weiskopf’s other two famous designs that are still on the PGA schedule.
The large fairways will make this a driver-heavy course, but not an overly difficult driving venue which will help players who aren’t accurate off the tee. Additionally, the larger greens will mean those who can properly gauge green depth with their short to mid-irons will be able to get much closer to the flags on approach.
As we can see from both the Byron Nelson’s (TPC Craig Ranch) and the Phoenix Open’s (TPC Scottsdale) last couple of leaderboards, strokes gained off the tee haven’t mattered quite as much as strokes gained on approach at these Weiskopf courses. Taylor Pendrith did win at TPC Craig Ranch in 2024 while gaining 4.0 strokes off the tee, but he was given the title on the final hole by a blunder from Ben Kohles, who gained four more strokes on approach than Pendrith did. Additionally, the Canadian massively outperformed around and on the greens that week. Going back to 2022 and 2023 at that same venue, KH Lee, who often struggles off the tee, used accurate mid-to-long iron play to win at the Craig Ranch event two years in a row.
We can also see from looking at TPC Scottsdale this year, where we had two veterans who are below-average off-the-tee players, Nick Taylor and Charley Hoffman, go at it in a playoff, that mid-iron play is likely a better indicator for success at these venues, than SG: OTT. Taylor and Hoffman both gained over 5.0 strokes on approach, while Taylor led the field in proximity from 150-175 yards, but neither massively outperformed OTT.”
Matt McCarty did gain over 3.0 strokes OTT last season but massively outperformed on the greens, and all but one of the top five finishers gained over 3.5 strokes putting. I’d put a little more emphasis on OTT performance here than I did last season, but, overall, this is a good spot for players who area aggressive (and rank well in proximity) with their irons and can light up pure bentgrass greens. SG: Putting remains one of the biggest indicators this week in what should be another lower scoring with lots of volatility (low scoring).
2025 Weather Outlook: Much like last year, there isn’t much to report in terms of weather edges for DFS lineup building. It’s mostly clear sunny skies all four days with winds expect to top out in the 10mph range on Saturday. The first two days don’t have winds getting over 8mph in the forecast so even with the open venue, the players should have great scoring conditions. The weather is slightly cooler in the morning, but being in the desert where things get dried out fast, the edge may still be with the morning wave given that they’ll have more receptive greens. Matt McCarty had an early 9:30 AM tee time on Monday last season when he opened with a 62.
Finding Values (DraftKings Sportsbook)
Odds to win are one factor to think about when picking players (but not the only thing, so be careful putting too much weight on them). This section is going to detail a few of the players who have the best fantasy value comparative to their DraftKings Sportsbook odds of winning this week.
Matt Wallace +3500 and $8,800
Comparables:
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- Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+3500 and $8,900)
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- Matt McCarty (+3500 and $9,000)
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- Emiliano Grillo (+3500 and $9,200)
Sahith Theegala +4500 and $7,800
Comparables:
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- Jesper Svensson (+5000 and $7,900)
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- Mac Meissner (+5000 and $8,000)
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- Luke Clanton (+5000 and $8,400)
All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook are subject to change.
Recent Form
1. Michael Thorbjornsen ($10,000; T3/T29): Had a great outing in Japan where he held his own in the final group. Certainly creeping closer to his first win and it could easily come over this fall swing at any point.
2. Kevin Yu ($9,500; T20/T11): Playing very solid again after a rougher patch. Elite ball-striker so if his putter stays/gets hot, could easily find himself competing for the win on Sunday this week.
3. Rico Hoey ($9,300; T3/MC/T9): Had a really nice outing in Japan last time out, where he closed with a 63. Another player whose irons are elite and just needs to find consistency on the greens.
4. Matt McCarty ($9,000 – T14/T48/T8): McCarty nearly shot 58 his last time out, in Round 4 in Japan, so he’s definitely found some form. As an elite birdie-maker and putter he sets up well for this open design, so another big week would not be overly shocking.
5. Mac Meissner ($8,000 – T27 – T14): Still playing very consistent golf. Started slow in Japan but gained strokes pretty much across the board and finished with three rounds of 69 or better.as one of the favorites, but has still generally played great over the fall with a couple of big finishes over in Europe. He’s a good bounce-back candidate this week.
DRAFTKINGS DFS STRATEGY
Cash Games: Keep riding Rico
Other than Scottie Scheffler, there are few people who hit their irons more consistently than Rico Hoey ($9,300). While this week is somewhat of a putting contest, Hoey has started to show confidence with that club of late and did play very well at this venue last season shooting four rounds of 69 or better. Below them, I also like the value you’re getting on Sahith Theegala ($7,800 – see below) and Doug Ghim ($7,600) this week. Ghim had a solid four rounds at this venue last year and, like Hoey, his iron and off the tee play is consistently some of the best in this field. He’s also had success in the desert before in Vegas, so if ever there were a spot where he might actually gain on the greens, this could be it.
Tournaments: Olesen could shock
Thorbjorn Olesen ($9,100) has had a lot of his best success over in Europe come on more open layouts and the desert environment at Black Desert should suit him. He didn’t play this event last season but has had some encouraging results of late including a T9 in Spain. Patrick Rodgers ($7,200) also has some appeal this week thanks to his elite putting and with his salary down in the low 7k range, makes sense as a cheap GPP target. He had a terrible week in Japan, but did finish Top 20 at this week’s venue last year. Other names to consider this week below 7k include Martin Laird ($6,600) and Brandt Snedeker ($6,500).
MY PICK: Sahith Theegala ($7,800)
Overall, you have to love the price you’re getting on Theegala this week. While he couldn’t hold it together for all four rounds in Japan, where he finished T27, there were some encouraging results there, including a 68 and 67 to open the event. He also gained over 5.0 strokes on approach and led the field in strokes gained around the greens.
While he struggled off the tee on the tighter course, the open layout at Black Desert helped weaker OTT players last season like Kevin Streelman and Stephan Jaeger to big weeks and will likely provide a boost to Theegala in terms of leveling the field against more consistent OTT players as well. Theegala also has some solid Weiskopf course form having finished runner-up in Phoenix on TPC Scottsdale back in 2022, and should get a nice bump from the setup this week, overall.
For DFS, even if he’s somewhat chalky, I like trusting the sub-8k play in this spot and making him a target for core lineups. For betting, there is some solid value at grabbing the former top 20 player in the OWGR at +4000 or bigger on DraftKings Sportsbook against this weaker field.
MY SLEEPER: Adam Schenk ($6,800)
Just like we did at Sanderson Farms, I’m going to keep targeting Adam Schenk against these weaker fields as long as he’s sub-7k. The American finished T21 in Jackson and had himself a very solid ball-striing week there, finishing with +5.1 strokes on approach and was also positive off the tee. While he struggled with the putter at Sanderson, getting back on Bentgrass Greens this week for Schenk will be a plus.
Schenk’s typically excelled on Bentgrass having put up numerous top five finishes at TPC Deere Run (T4 -2021, T4-2023), Colonial (2nd – 2023), and TPC Summerlin (T3 – 2021) all of which feature similar putting surfaces to the Bentgrass greens in Utah. He’s also had success on other Weiskopf designs having put up a T5 finish at the Byron Nelson earlier this season (Craig Ranch) and a T25 at TPC Scottsdale this February as well.
Overall, I love the upside with a player who tends to outperform this cheap salaries in big ways a few times a season (at least) in DFS. For betting, he’s a great longshot target to consider laddering in the placement markets at +400 (top 20) and +1000 (top 10) on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
