The PGA Tour continues on this week as it visits Black Desert Resort for the 2024 Black Desert Championship. Designed by Tom Weiskopf and Phil Smith, the full 18-hole layout opened for play in May of 2023 and will play as a Par 71, 7,371 yard layout this week.
This week serves as the inaugural edition of the Black Desert Championship, so the pomp and circumstance of a long-winded intro will be at a minimum. Here’s what we can glean from looking at the course itself: It’s a resort, which means it’s primary purpose is to provide an easy jaunt for Joe Blow the other 51 weeks of the year. That being said, wide fairways, minimal rough (although there are some pesky lava fields to navigate also) and the dry salt air means that if you can keep the ball in play, you’re going to be hitting it farther than usual and giving yourself plenty of scoring chances. Don’t be surprised if the winner finishes at -20 or better for the week because of that. Nevertheless, the player who is in best control of their approach shots will have a noted advantage on the rest of the field, but you better have a hot putter too if you want to give yourself a realistic chance of winning. This is truly a wide open event, as nobody has a distinct advantage coming into this week. It’s anyone’s ball game, and with a mix of young guns, established studs and savvy vets, there is no shortage of potential winner storylines this week.
Keith Mitchell is my player to fade. It breaks my heart because he really is a solid player, and we saw that at Sanderson Farms. But after a three putt to miss the playoff, he’s had a long week of emotions. I don’t think he can repeat solid play after that. I hope for him that I’m wrong, but could see a missed cut at this event.
I consider Daniel Berger a solid player, and before his injury and hiatus, he was on his way to big things. I feel confident we will see some solid play this week, as he has it in him. Because this course is new turf for everyone, it evens the playing field a bit.
Lucas Glover has always been a favorite of mine. This event doesn’t have a ton of big name players, as we are late in the season, but Glover is one of the better iron players and we saw him dropping putts last week with confidence. He should have no prob ranking inside the top ten.
This is a brand new event for the tour and a new course. Patrick Fishburn is an Utah native and played his collegiate golf at Brigham Young University. His performance lately has been solid, with top 10 and top 5 finishes. I think he has a very solid chance at winning because feeling at ease and familiar is a huge advantage.
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