The PGA Tour will tee it up for an official event in Utah for the first time in 60 years. The trip to Utah did not exactly bring out the best field for the Black Desert Championship. There will not be any golfers ranked inside the top-40 of the World Golf Rankings in the field this week. This tournament is not going to be much different from what we had last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship. We have a lot of mediocre golfers who could go off or could lay an egg. That is going to make it another difficult week to find golfers we can trust for our DFS lineups.
COURSE BREAKDOWN
The Black Desert Championship will be played at the Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah (right outside of St. George, Utah). This is a new course and it will play at elevation (3,180 feet above sea level) this week. It is a par-71 which will play 7,371 yards in length. Black Desert Resort has four par-3’s and three par’s 5. Two of the par-4’s are drivable for most of the golfers in the field and all of the par-5’s are reachable in two shots. Scoring should be low this week.
This is a new course for the PGA Tour, but it should not take the golfers very long to figure it out.
Click here to see the course: Black Desert Resort
KEY STATS FOR BLACK DESERT CHAMP
– Shots Gained Tee-to-Green
– Strokes Gained Approach
– Shots Gained Putting (Bent Grass)
– Birdie or Better %
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
* We only have recent form this week, since the golfers do not have any course history.
TOP 30 GOLFERS BLACK DESERT CHAMPIONSHIP
CORE GOLFERS FOR BLACK DESERT CHAMPIONSHIP
BLACK DESERT STRATEGY
It was a tough week for DFS last week and that should be the case again in Utah. The field for the Black Desert Championship is pretty even. The golfers priced above $9K are not really “stars” and the golfers priced below $7.5K are not much different than the golfers priced in the $9K and $8K price ranges. I used a balanced approach last week and it did not work out too well with Kevin Mitchell and Beau Hossler finishing at the top of the leaderboard. I am sticking to my game plan and focusing the picks on a balanced lineup strategy this week. I want golfers who are dead accurate on approach into these greens, because that should be the key to winning the Black Desert Championship.
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
PATRICK FISHBURN ($9,600): This is a home game for Fishburn and he is one of the only golfers in the field with a lot of experience at Black Desert Resort. Fishburn is from Ogden, Utah and went to BYU. He is also a good golfer in good form. Fishburn ranks No. 2 in the key stats and he has three finishes in the top-10 in his last five starts. Fishburn is a good golfer to start your Cash Contest lineup with this week.
LUCAS GLOVER ($9,000): Glover has always been always been an elite ball-striker, but his problem has been with his putter. Well, it looks like Glover has learned to putt. Glover ranks No. 15 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 5 in SG Approach and No. 33 in SG Putting (Bent Grass). Glover should score well if he can simply finish in the top-40 in putting this week.
ANDREW NOVAK ($8,100): Novak is my favorite play for his price this week. I would not be surprised if he won Sunday. The two most similar courses to Black Desert Resort are PGA National and TPC Scottsdale. Novak finished in the top-10 in both of those tournaments last year. Novak ranks No. 4 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 3 in SG Approach and No. 5 in the Key Stats. He has not missed a cut since early March. Novak should be a lock for all Cash Contest lineups.
MAC MEISSNER ($7,800): I wrote is the strategy portion of this article that I want golfers who are good with their approach shots this week. Meissner checks that box. He ranks No. 9 in SG Approach, but he ranks No. 1 in Proximity to the hole. That means he is hitting his approach shots right next to the pin. Meissner has made 6 of his last 7 cuts. He should make the cut again this week, with top-15 upside.
JUSTIN LOWER ($7,800): Lower is a good golfer to have in your Cash Contest lineup. The most important stat we want from our Cash Contest golfers is “cuts made.” Lower has made every cut dating back to May (8 in a row). He ranks No. 6 in the Key Stats and No. 5 on similar courses. Lower should make another cut and score well for our lineup this week.
PATTON KIZZIRE ($7,700): Kizzire has some of the best form in the field. He won the Procore Championship in September and then finished 11th last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Kizzire ranks No. 11 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 8 in SG Approach, No. 12 in SG Putting (Bent Grass) and No. 4 overall in the Key Stats. Kizzire is a good play for the price this week.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
KEITH MITHELL ($10,600): I will have many balanced lineups in the Multi-Entry Lineups attached below, but I will pay up for Mitchell in this lineup. He has the best form in the field. He has finished his last three tournaments in the top-12 and that includes a third-place finish last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Mitchell ranks No. 3 in the Key Stats this week. When we pay over $10K for a golfer, he needs to finish in the top-five. Mitchell is the safest pick for a top-five finish Sunday.
CHAN KIM ($8,900): I played Kim last week and he played pretty well for most of the tournament. I will go back to Kim this week. He has made 6 of his last 7 cuts and he ranks No. 3 in comparable courses. Kim also ranks No. 11 in the Key Stats. Kim should be a good pick for a top-10 finish this week.
ANDRE NOVAK ($8,100): I typically do not want to play the same golfers in the Cash and Tournament lineups, but I am going to have a lot of ownership of Novak this week. He should be the safest golfer in the field and he has a lot of upside. I could take a chance with another golfer like Adam Svennson, but I will play it safe and use Novak in Utah.
DANIEL BERGER ($7,700): Berger finished 7th last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He said after the tournament, “This is the first time that I feel completely healthy in the last five years.” I wish I knew last week that we were getting a completely healthy Berger for under $8K. I will not let that opportunity pass me by this week.
NICK HARDY ($7,300): Hardy should be a safe golfer with some upside for our Tournament Contest this week. Hardy has made his last four cuts dating back to early July. Hardy ranks No. 16 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 12 in SG Approach and No. 18 overall in the Key Stats. Hardy is a good play for the price this week.
HENRIK NORLANDER ($7,200): Norlander was the golfer who popped off the page when I ran the Key Stats for this tournament. Norlander ranks No. 2 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 7 in SG Approach and No. 9 overall in the Key Stats. Norlander has made his last four cuts. That includes a 28th-place finish last week. He should have a good chance to finish in the top-25 in the Black Desert Championship.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (Multy Entry Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
ONE & DONE PICK: Keith Mitchell (Black Desert Championship)
– One & Done picks used so far this season: Ben Griffin (37th)
BEST BETS FOR BLACK DESERT CHAMPIONSHIP
PATRICK FISHBURN (30-1)
ANDREW NOVAK (35-1)
LUCAS GLOVER (40-1)
DANIEL BERGER (50-1)
JUSTIN LOWER (55-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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