Black Desert Championship 2024 Best Bets and Outrights
by Bradley Gibbs | by Tyler Doty
Black Desert Championship 2024
For the first time since 1963, the PGA Tour will visit Utah. Not only will this be the first time in more than 60 years that the Beehive State has hosted a PGA Tour event, but what is virtually a brand new course will be used too. This week, players will tee it up at Black Desert Golf Course, which was built as recently as 2023 and is located in the city of Ivins.
If ever there was an opportunity for those PGA Tour players that struggle to compete with the best in the business to thrive then it’s this week. Only two of the current best 50 players on the planet (according to the OWGR) will feature in Ivins, so this tournament is absolutely a chance for someone to make a name for themselves.
As the season now starts to shift through the gears, we’ll be ramping up the pre-tournament betting action again, delivering weekly previews and best bets, starting with the action at Black Desert.
Chris Kirk top 10 finish: +290 with FanDuel
One of the two top-50 players in the field is Chris Kirk, who currently ranks as the world number 41. As the man who sits at 41st, Kirk is the highest ranked player in the field this week. Of course, it’s not all about rankings, but this is not easy to overlook. The University of Georgia graduate has played well in this part of America before, while he’s also one of just five players in the line-up to have picked up more than one tournament win on Bentgrass greens, which will feature at Black Desert Golf Course this week.
In terms of form, Kirk’s game has looked in more than reasonable condition in recent times, with the 39-year-old finishing T27 in a much, much stronger field at the Tour Championship, which came after he finished T9 at the BMW Championship. Such efforts bode well ahead of what must be described as an event with a much weaker field.
To be honest, Kirk is clearly one of the very best in attendance this week and as such, he’s a man I want to keep on side. I'll be doing just that by betting on him to feature in the top ten at odds of +290.
Bet on the Black Desert Championship with FanDuel
Lucas Glover top 10 finish: +320 with FanDuel
The other top-50 player due to be in attendance at Black Desert is world number 49 Lucas Glover, who really should fancy his chances this week. Not only is Glover the second-highest ranking golfer in the line-up, but the man from South Carolina is one of only two players to have racked up three PGA Tour wins on Bentgrass greens, which as mentioned above, are being used at the Ivins venue.
Glover also comes into this tournament in decent form, having performed very well at the Sandersons Farm Championship last week, finishing in a tie for third.
What I also like about the vastly experienced 44-year-old is the fact that he ranks highly amongst those in this field in several key areas, ranking fourth for strokes gained: approach across the last eight tournaments, ranking inside the top ten for both strokes gained: tee-to-green and strokes gained: putting.
Last but certainly not least, Glover ranks as the second best in the field for strokes gained: total across the last eight events, which is difficult to ignore. Combine this with the fact that he’s played well at similar venues in recent years, hitting the top ten in three of his last four visits to TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, and he goes down as a solid bet to feature prominently on the leaderboard this week.
Frankly, given his profile and the fact that he’ll arrive in Ivins with his game in great shape, as was evident last week, odds of +320 on him making the top ten look generous.
