The PGA TOUR heads to Utah this week for the 2026 Bank of Utah Championship, the second event of the FedExCup Fall. The tournament takes place at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah, where DraftKings users can play PGA TOUR Pick6 contests throughout the week. If you’re new to Pick6, it’s a single-user daily fantasy game where you select players to finish with more or less than a listed statistical total.
This will be the third straight season Black Desert has hosted the event. The Tom Weiskopf-designed course is a par 71 that measures 7,421 yards and sits roughly 3,000 feet above sea level. The elevation lets the ball travel farther, while wide fairways and large greens encourage players to stay aggressive off the tee. Overall, the course emphasizes the driver on many Par 4s and 5s, but putting is equally important given how easy the fairways and greens are to hit.
Scoring has also been extremely low in the first two editions. Matt McCarty won the inaugural tournament at 23-under in 2024, while Michael Brennan reached 22-under last season to earn his first PGA TOUR victory. Brennan returns to defend his title in a 120-player field that also includes Jackson Koivun, Maverick McNealy, Tony Finau, Max Homa and Billy Horschel.
I reviewed additional statistics, course dynamics and player trends in the Bank of Utah Championship PGA Cheat Sheet and included some of my notes on Black Desert below for Pick6 research.
“Black Desert remains one of the more distinctive venues on the PGA TOUR. The final design of Tom Weiskopf, created with Phil Smith, runs through the black lava fields and red-rock landscape of southern Utah. The PGA TOUR setup is now officially listed at 7,421 yards, up from the 7,371-yard figure it was listed at last season. The venue sits roughly 3,000 feet above sea level, which allows the ball to travel farther and means the course does not play to its full scorecard yardage.
The more basic setup analysis from the last two seasons is still in play as fairways are generous and the greens are large so players can attack aggressively with the driver on almost every Par 4 and Par 5. The biggest penalty for a large miss is generally the surrounding lava rather than traditional thick rough.
While it can bring double or worse into play for the most part, this setup has turned Black Desert into a high-birdie environment where driving, aggressive iron play, and putting matter far more than simply keeping the ball in play or even general accuracy.
We now have two tournaments of evidence supporting the importance of power and off-the-tee prowess. Matt McCarty ranked eighth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee when he won in 2024, while Brennan led the field OTT in 2025. The two winners have averaged a fifth-place finish in SG: Off-the-Tee and fourth in SG: Tee-to-Green. Both also putted extremely well, ranking inside the top eight on the greens.
“That makes driving (with a hard lean to distance over accuracy), birdie creation, and Bentgrass putting the three areas I’d continue emphasizing this week. Pure approach play still matters, but the first two winners both ranked just 24th in SG: Approach, suggesting players don’t necessarily need elite iron weeks if they create a major advantage off the tee.”
With both previous winners reaching at least 22-under, birdie-or-better totals should naturally be a major part of the board this week. The wide landing areas and altitude also make this a venue where longer hitters can create a significant advantage without necessarily needing elite driving accuracy.
Brennan provided the most extreme example last season. He gained more than 7.6 strokes Off-the-Tee for the week, averaged roughly 351 yards off the tee, and still hit close to 90% of his fairways. He ultimately won by four shots after rounds of 67-65-64-66.
The early weather outlook is also favorable for scoring, with hot and generally dry conditions expected throughout the tournament. Winds look manageable for most of the week, although Friday afternoon could become a little breezier.
With that in mind, I’ve focused on a few of my favorite DraftKings PGA TOUR Pick6 plays for Round 1 of the Bank of Utah Championship below.
Top DraftKings Pick6 Plays for the 2026 Tour Championship
Kevin Roy Less Than 69.0 Strokes
Roy looks like a strong fit for Black Desert, where good driving and aggressive tee-to-green play have been common traits among the top finishers over the first two editions. He enters this week playing some of his best golf of the season, averaging +0.495 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and +0.634 on approach over his last five starts. That has helped him average +1.072 Strokes Gained overall during that stretch.
More importantly for this Pick6 total, Roy has consistently started tournaments well. His 68.90 Round 1 scoring average ranks 12th on TOUR, and he already owns an opening-round 62 this season. His recent results have also been encouraging, with finishes of T24, T19, T26 and T31 across four of his last five PGA TOUR starts.
Black Desert should give Roy plenty of opportunities to stay aggressive. On a course where the winning scores have reached 22-under or better in both editions, I like Roy to take advantage of the easier scoring conditions and get to 2-under or better in Round 1.
Nick Taylor More Than 68.5 Strokes
Taylor is coming directly from Presidents Cup competition, where he played four matches last week. While he performed well for the International Team, the quick turnaround into another tournament is worth considering, especially since this Pick6 line requires him to shoot 3-under or better to hit the Less Than side.
Black Desert also isn’t an obvious course fit for Taylor. This is a venue where players can hit drivers aggressively and where the first two champions both gained a significant amount of ground off the tee. Taylor ranks just 132nd in Driving Distance at 298.2 yards and 121st in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee this season. He also ranks only 113th in breaking par, doing so on 21.07% of his holes.
Taylor’s putting remains a strength and gives him some upside on these large greens, but this is a very low number for a player whose profile doesn’t necessarily maximize what Black Desert offers.
Joel Dahmen Less Than 4.5 Birdies or Better
Dahmen remains a strong iron player, but asking him to produce five birdies or better in one round is a relatively high bar given his overall scoring profile. He averages just 3.65 birdies per round, ranking 119th on TOUR, and has broken par on only 21.06% of his holes this season.
Concerns also remain about how his game translates to Black Desert. Dahmen averages only 296.2 yards off the tee, ranking 142nd, which limits one of the course’s major advantages. His approach numbers are excellent — 17th in Strokes Gained: Approach and eighth in GIR — but he ranks 148th in putting. That combination can lead to plenty of greens hit without necessarily producing the conversion rate needed to reach five birdies.
The recent results haven’t been especially convincing either. Dahmen missed the cut at the Biltmore Championship in his last start and has just one top-30 result over his last seven starts. He can certainly generate opportunities with his irons, but his lack of distance and inconsistent putting make five birdies or better a difficult threshold.
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