After a week off, the PGA Tour returns from its trip to Japan for the newly renamed Bank of Utah Championship. This is just the second playing of this tournament, as it debuted last year as the Black Desert Championship following the 2023 opening of the host course.
The FedEx Cup Fall is starting to hit its homestretch, and a lot of the players teeing it up in this tournament are fighting for enough points to keep their Tour cards for the 2026 season.
We were able to pull out another winner at the Baycurrent Classic with Xander Schauffele building off of his strong Ryder Cup performance to track down Max Greyserman on Sunday for his first win of 2025.
That brings us up to 17 winners for the year, which is a number I didn't expect. But constantly picking Scottie Scheffler obviously helps. There's not a ton of info to go on this week since this event is only in its second year, but I feel good about the picks that I have made, so let's see if we can make a run to hit 20 by the end of the year.
Honorable Mentions: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Billy Horschel, Kurt Kitayama, Aldrich Potgieter, Kevin Yu
9. William Mouw
After picking up his first career win at the ISCO in July, William Mouw has managed to keep up his solid play. After a T18 finish in Japan, his first start since the Wyndham, Mouw seems poised to build on an exciting rookie season.
A solid driver and putter of the golf ball, the 25-year-old is not going to wow anyone with his skills, but he has the makings of a solid high-floor player who can capture things and have some strong peak weeks. I expect this form to transfer from the Baycurrent to this week.
8. Takumi Kanaya
Across the entire world of golf in the last 30 days, Takumi Kanaya may be one of the top five players in terms of recent form. Kanaya captured the ANA Open Golf Championship in Japan last month, winning a playoff over all-time OWGR manipulator Ryo Ishikawa.
Coming off the home country win, Kanaya turned in a respectable T21 at the Sanderson Farms before pulling out a solo fourth at the Baycurrent. While Kanaya is not long off the tee, he knows how to keep the ball in the fairway and give himself chances at birdies. With the Black Desert Championship turning into a birdie-fest last year, Kanaya's putter should keep him in this tournament.
7. Mac Meissner
Meissner is one of the hottest hands on the PGA Tour right now, averaging just under 1.6 total strokes gained per round in his last 20 rounds. Compared to the rest of the field, Meissner ranks second in this stat, coming just behind Taylor Montgomery (more on him later).
A strong solo second at the Wyndham showed off how high his ceiling can reach when the putter is cooperating, and after a couple of solid weeks, including a T14 at Sanderson Farms, Meissner's form should continue.
6. Jason Day
Genuine question: Why is Jason Day in this field? This tournament is meant for guys trying to keep their Tour card after the FedEx Cup Fall cutoff, and it's not like Day has to worry about not making the field for the Signature Events early in the season.
It just doesn't make sense, but at the very least, we should see Day play very well at this event. His short game has really become the main hallmark of his game in recent years, and a strong short game is going to be a major help at Black Desert.
5. Taylor Montgomery
This pick is purely a putter pick. Taylor Montgomery is one of the best putters on Tour, and if he's able to get the rest of his game together, I don't think there's any stopping him. Montgomery put together a T6 at Sanderson Farms a few weeks ago where he lost over four shots off the tee.
If he can manage to find his way back to neutral off the tee this week, then I expect him to contend. As I mentioned in discussing Mac Meissner, Montgomery is averaging the most strokes gained total across his last five starts among anyone in this field, so his form should lead him to a strong week.
4. Matt Wallace
For a while, Matt Wallace found himself in the top 12 of Ryder Cup points for the European team and came very close to being the final man on the squad this year for the victors. Not the most well-known player among American fans because a lot of his success has come over in Europe, Wallace has been playing very solid golf recently, including a T10 at the Baycurrent.
The 35-year-old Englishman's strong short game and putting are going to benefit greatly from the setup of Black Desert, and I would expect nothing less than Wallace threatening for the win this weekend.
3. Alex Noren
Alex Noren went into the weekend tied for second with Xander Schauffele at the Baycurrent, and I fully expected the ball-striking master to make a run at Max Greyserman, but a third-round 73 halted all of his momentum.
Despite this, I think Noren has a great chance to put together a strong week in Utah. The Swede is consistently one of the best putters on the PGA Tour (he and Harry Hall hold the same place in my mind because of this), and if we follow the same logic as 2024 for this tournament, this will turn into a putting contest. If that happens, Noren will be right there to reap the rewards.
2. Michael Thorbjornsen
I talked about this in my breakdown of Thor for the Sanderson Farms, and I am willing to double down on this reasoning again, especially after a solo third at the Baycurrent. This third-place finish came while his best ability, his driving skill, actually cost him strokes to the field, and we saw a great performance from the rest of his bag.
Everything is right there for Thorbjornsen to put together this week, and I think he can do it in Utah.
1. Maverick McNealy
We haven't seen Maverick McNealy since the Procore last month, where he got to hang out with all the guys that made the Ryder Cup team that he should've been a part of. This has been a really good year for McNealy, and really the only thing that he needs to cap off this strong season is a win.
There are no weaknesses in McNealy's game, and it's just a matter of getting him to raise the ceiling of his results. This level of field is going to be perfect for McNealy to jump all over and take down his second career win.