2024 Black Desert Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Black Desert Resort

2) Patrick Fishburn

Many will struggle to adjust to the altitude and overwhelming unfamiliarity this week, but not the Ogden, Utah, resident. Perhaps nobody will be more at home this week than Fishburn, who played his college golf at BYU.

But there are also few playing better golf coming into this week than the Utah resident. He has three finishes inside the top six in his past five events. Whatever bad mojo that led him to miss seven cuts in his first eight events is now out the door.

Fishburn's driver is his strong suit -- it's an advantage he will have every week he tees it off. He has now gained strokes off the tee in 13 of his last 14 starts. He ranks third in the field in par 5 scoring average, so expect him to have ample eagle chances.

The stars are aligning for Fishburn to contend in his home state.

1) Keith Mitchell

Mitchell once again claims the top spot and rightfully so. In last week's column, I mentioned that he is head and shoulders above everyone else as a ball striker.

While his ball-striking was on display through the first three days, his ability to close down the stretch was not. Four feet, three inches was all he had to make the three-man playoff. Many expected him to assert his dominance on the field in that final round, but a closing 70 was not enough to overcome Kevin Yu's charge.

A T3 last week adds to a long list of high finishes throughout his career. His performance on Sunday should make Mitchell backers wary. But then again, nobody in this field is striking the ball better than him.