Power Rankings: Black Desert Championship

And now for something entirely different. Seriously. After the FedExCup Fall opened with familiar stops in Napa, California, and Jackson, Mississippi, this week’s test looks like it’s on another planet.

The inaugural Black Desert Championship is slated to begin on Thursday at Black Desert Resort Golf Club in Ivins, Utah. It’s the only new course of the FedExCup Fall and it resembles, well, none of the others in the series. Continue reading below for an analysis of the course, what the field of 132 can expect and more.

Black Desert Resort Golf Club is situated northwest of St. George, a drive of about an hour and 45 minutes from Las Vegas on I-15. So much of the topography and geology in southern Utah and northern Arizona is otherworldly. It includes the Grand Canyon and the Vermilion Cliffs in Arizona, as well as Bryce Canyon, Glen Canyon and Zion National Park in the Beehive State. But all of that either is well beyond the horizon or consists of extended streaks of vibrant colors within view of the black lava fields that give the host course its name.

The facility’s first nine holes aren’t even two years old, while the second nine have been playable for only 17 months, but the eco-friendly par 71 is ready.

This is the late Tom Weiskopf’s last work. In collaboration with fellow architect Phil Smith, they’ve created a design that conjures images of Hualalai Golf Course – host of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai on the PGA TOUR Champions – on the western shore of the Big Island of Hawaii, sans ocean views, of course. Black Desert Resort showcases lustrous Bentgrass from tee to green with narrow strips of Kentucky bluegrass serving as the border between flat lies and those in the striking black lava.

While there’s nowhere to get lucky, because it’s a resort course, fairways are generous and greens are welcoming, so splashes of red will dominate the leaderboards across the 7,371 yards of playable property. Black Desert Resort is approximately 3,000 feet above sea level, so mathematical adjustments in controlling distance will be necessary to capitalize on the scoring opportunities.

Pending the forecast for wind on a particular day, especially to anticipate late-afternoon gusts, the greens could touch 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. Meanwhile, sunshine will be abundant as daytime temperatures reach 90 degrees, albeit without the accompaniment of humidity.

The neutral field marks the PGA TOUR’s first return to Utah since Tommy Jacobs prevailed in the 1963 edition of the Utah Open Invitational. However, that tournament was contested in the state capital of Salt Lake City hours north. The current-day Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank and Intermountain Health on the Korn Ferry Tour is staged just north of there in Farmington.

As of midday Monday, 81 percent of the field (107 of 132) returned to competition at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship. With numerous targets dangling at the conclusion of the FedExCup Fall, not the least of which is fully exempt status in 2025, a low amount of churn week to week at this spot on the schedule is anticipated. So, too, are elevated expectations for ball-strikers. Although all are new to Black Desert Resort, those wielding their irons better than others upon arrival will have the early advantage until knowledge of the greens is logged.

ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE

MONDAY: Power Rankings
TUESDAY: Sleepers
WEDNESDAY: Golfbet Insider
SUNDAY: Points and Payouts; Medical Extensions; Qualifiers; Reshuffle