Golf betting tips: Bank of Utah Championship final round
3pts win Matt McCarty at 4/1 (General)
1pt win Pierceson Coody at 9/1 (General)
Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power |
There’s a sense of the familiar in the second edition of the Bank of Utah Championship – and it’s not because the defending champion, Matt McCarty, is sitting solo second with 18 holes to play.
It’s more to do with the profile of McCarty ahead of his win 12 months ago and that of the man he is chasing this Sunday – the 54-hole leader Michael Brennan.
McCarty rocked up to the Black Desert Resort with little experience of the big time (two starts on the PGA Tour, one in the US Open) but he was flying in terms of form on the second tier. In fact, he was a three-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour including a win in the Boise Open at altitude (it’s at about 824m as opposed to Black Desert’s 914m).
Brennan also has two starts on the PGA Tour, one of them a US Open, and he has also just mopped up three wins at a level below the PGA Tour – in his case on the third tier PGA Tour Americas and guess what? One of them, in Edmonton, Canada, was at 729m above sea level. They even both arrived in Utah having converted two 54-hole leads (one solo, on shared) among those three wins.
If the leader wins we’ve got an eerie repeat, if the chaser wins we’ve got a repeat, but is it that simple? Brennan sits on 17-under 196 with McCarty two back. Rico Hoey, Kevin Yu and Pierceson Coody share third on 14-under with Hayden Springer and Thorbjorn Olesen tied for sixth on 13-under.
Brennan felt pretty comfortable in the third round, playing eight holes either side of the turn in 7-under and adding a birdie at 18 to double his advantage. “I was a little nervous, definitely,” he admitted before adding: “I don’t think it was anything crazy. Nothing that I hadn’t experienced playing professional golf on the Americas Tour. I felt like those experiences were pretty similar, which I’m very happy about, and I hope to draw on that tomorrow.”
His agent texts him, telling him to treat every event like he’s playing River Creek GC where he learned the game, a ploy to keep him calm and in the moment. “I wrote in kindergarten what my dream job is,” he said. “It was to play professional golf and to do so on the highest level. I have a great opportunity tomorrow. I’ll try to take advantage of it, stay focused, but also play golf at River Creek.”
McCarty, who says he feels very secure on a course that reminds him of home, went on a tear of his own, circling seven birdies on the back nine. “It’ll help a lot knowing I’ve been able to do it out here before,” he said. “That was the goal. Just give myself a chance again.”
He also acknowledged the romance of Brennan’s story and seemed tickled about how it resembled his own, but he also appreciates that getting over the line is tricky and he has the competitor’s instinct to disrupt the fairytale. “It’s tough to win,” he said. “I understand that. I won early and I haven’t really been too close all year. It’s very difficult. His story is awesome but we’re trying to beat everybody all the time. That’s why we’re out here.”
Brennan is the 6/4 favourite and McCarty is 4/1. I had them closer together so MATT McCARTY, who ended the regular season with eighth in the Wyndham Championship, flirted with the lead in the Procore Championship and was T14 last time out in Japan (closing with a 60), is the pick.
While Hoey has always been a fine striker of the ball, turning to a long putter has helped him hole putts. He’s twice been eighth at Tahoe Mountain and was third at Summerlin, both in thin air. He’s a threat but looks about the right price, as does Yu.
With just a bit of extra juice at 9/1 PIERCESON COODY is the second pick. It’s the first time he’s fired on this course but not his first time in Utah. He was a live contender when sixth and tenth in the 2022 and 2023 Utah Championship on the second tier and at the same level he’s been second in Bogota and fourth in Colorado – both in thin air, the latter this summer.
Despite being fifth in last year’s the Colonial and second in the ISCO Championship, he had only conditional status this year so has split his time between the top two tiers. He’s landed 12 top 20s including third in the 3M Open in July and was contending last time out until a sloppy final round left him T12 in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. It’s not a definitively bad thing to have such experience before contending again. The lessons are vivid. McCarty is the main bet but Coody can also contend.
Posted at 1230 GMT on 26/10/25
