Back to Black Desert.
It’s time for the second Bank of Utah Championship, marking the midway point of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Fall series. A 132-player field will vie for part of an $6 million purse, with the winner collecting $1,080,000—and many are trying to secure status for the 2026 with time dwindling.
From its field, course, history, tee times and how to watch, here’s everything you need to know for the 2025 Bank of Utah Championship.
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There are five players inside the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking playing this week: Alex Noren (No. 17), Maverick McNealy (No. 19), Kurt Kitayama (No. 36), Billy Horschel (No. 38) and Jason Day (No. 42).
There are also seven names who have won on Tour this year: Steven Fisk (Sanderson Farms Championship), Ryan Gerard (Barracuda Championship), Joe Highsmith (Cognizant Classic), Kurt Kitayama (3M Open), William Mouw (ISCO Championship), Aldrich Potgieter (Rocket Classic) and Karl Vilips (Puerto Rico Open).
Plus, there are other notables such as Max Homa, Sahith Theegala, Thorbjørn Olesen, Luke Clanton, Zac Blair and Nick Dunlap.
However, many of the players competing in Utah are looking to lock up status for 2026 by finishing within the top 100 in FedEx Cup points at the conclusion of the seven-tournament fall series. Some names on the bubble playing this week are Rico Hoey (No. 91), Matt Wallace (No. 93), Beau Hossler (No. 95), Patrick Fishburn (No. 98), David Lipsky (No. 99), Isaiah Salinda (No. 101), Joel Dahmen (No. 103), Max McGreevy (No. 104), Victor Perez (No. 105), Sam Ryder (No. 106), Andrew Putnam (No. 107), Lanto Griffin (No. 108), Lee Hodges (No. 109) and Taylor Moore (No. 110).
The Black Desert Resort in St. George, Utah, is quite a majesty.
“Golf course is a lot of fun,” Nick Taylor said ahead of last year’s inaugural event. “Obviously, the views and the backdrops are spectacular. The course definitely has a lot of risk-reward type shots. The back nine a little more open, but there’s still reachable par-5s, drivable par-4 on each side. A little more risk on the front.”
The Tom Weiskopf design, in the middle of a lava field, opened two years ago, and for the PGA Tour it plays as a 7,421-yard, par-71. It has an average green size of 7,000 square feet, 51 acres of fairway, 25 acres of rough, three water hazards and 44 bunkers, the second fewest of any course on Tour.
Black Desert views 🤩 pic.twitter.com/zNEtEwVb71
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 11, 2024
In 2024, the course was the 38th hardest on Tour (out of 50), with a scoring average of 69.061 (1.939 strokes under par).
The course’s most difficult hole was the 532-yard, par-4 11th, which played .253 holes over par last year, making it the 49th toughest on Tour. Black Desert’s least hardest hole was the 571-yard, par-5 18th, playing .652 under par as the Tour’s 19th easiest hole.
Black Desert Resort also hosted the LPGA Black Desert Championship in May, joining Tiburon Golf Club as the only course to hold both a PGA Tour and LPGA event in the same season.
It’s also the only course on Tour to use robotic fairway mowers.
The Bank of Utah Championship doesn’t have a long history, considering its inaugural playing was last year. Heck, it was the first PGA Tour event in Utah since the 1963 Utah Open Invitational.
So let’s hop in the time machine and go back to 2024.
Earlier in the year, Matt McCarty won three times on the Korn Forry Tour to earn a promotion to the PGA Tour. And in just his third Tour start, it looked like a star was born.
The 26-year-old lefty from Arizona held a two-stroke lead heading into the final round and never relinquished it. At one point, though, Stephan Jaeger got within a stroke, but McCarty sealed the deal with a 3-wood on the 310-yard, par-5 14th that landed 3.5 feet from the cup for an eagle.
3 @KornFerryTour wins and a PGA TOUR victory in 10 professional starts.
Life is good for @MattMcCarty21 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Z4F33vXCxm
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 14, 2024
With the victory, McCarty was the first player since Jason Gore to earn a three-win promotion from the Korn Ferry Tour and then win on the PGA Tour in the same season.
“I don’t know how you can expect this,” McCarty said afterward. “It’s just a lot of fun. I’ve been working really hard. This year was great for me. To get out here a little early, to get some experience was great and obviously this now.
“It’s just been a crazy last few months for me.”
This year, however, McCarty has struggled in 25 starts, with just two top 10s.
ESPN+ will also have live coverage during all four rounds.
