Black Desert Championship 2024 Odds: Time for Thorbjornsen

• This is the first PGA TOUR event in Utah since 1963

• Back Desert Resort hosts this third leg of the FedExCup Fall Series 

• Keith Mitchell is favorite for the second week running

Black Desert Championship 2024 Odds

The following odds are taken from bet365 Sportsbook. Use our promo code WSN365 at bet365 to claim your bonus of choice: $1,000 Safety Net Bet OR $150 in Bonus Bets.

Black Desert Championship 2024 Predictions

• Michael Thorbjornsen each-way (1/4 1-2-3-4-5) at +4000 with bet365

• Justin Lower to beat Doug Ghim over 72 holes at -110 with bet365

• Ben Kohles for Top 20 at +225 at bet365

Black Desert Championship 2024 Intro

The Korn Ferry Tour has been a regular visitor to Utah but the PGA TOUR?

There’s been a long drought that stretches back to 1963.

But the 61-year wait is over as Black Desert Resort Golf Club stages this week’s Black Desert Championship.

It’s the third leg of the FedExCup Fall series as players battle for a place in the top 125 and secure full playing rights for 2025.

Black Desert is named that way for good reason as the course lies within black lava fields which will make it quite a sight for TV viewers.

It’s a brand new layout too, with the first nine less than two years old.

But, ultimately, despite looking as if it could be used to stage the next Planet of the Apes film, Black Desert is a pretty standard resort course set up for amateurs to enjoy.

The pros - especially those of the PGA TOUR variety - should rack up birdies galore given the generous fairways and lack of rough.

It’s the last course designed by Tom Weiskopf before he passed away. The former Open champion worked with Phil Smith to create the 7,371-yard par 71.

As this is Utah, we’re a fair bit above sea level (3000 feet).

That means the ball will fly further and adjustments in clubbing will need to be made.  

Course Notes

• Black Desert Resort is a Tom Weiskopf/Phil Smith design

• The front nine opened in November 2022 and the back nine in May 2023 

• It’s a par 71 and measures 7,371 yards from the tips

• The course has Bentgrass greens and generous fairways

• It’s the first course in PGA TOUR history to use robotic fairway mowers

Favorites to Win the Black Desert Championship 2024

Keith Mitchell (+2000) at bet365

The 32-year-old tops the betting in a PGA TOUR event for a second week running. And it’s justified. Mitchell almost delivered when +2200 at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship but, after taking the 54-hole lead, fell just one shot shy of the playoff number. A repeat of that performance will put him right in the hunt here as he chases a first PGA TOUR win in over five years. He enters the event with form of 3-12-12.

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Seamus Power (+2200) at bet365

The Irishman now has nine top 30s in his last 14 PGA TOUR starts after shaking off the hip problem that hampered him last year. His latest strong effort came at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship when four rounds in the 60s secured tied 11th. Power recorded positive figures for all the main Strokes Gained categories and this easy, resort style test will suit him.

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Patrick Fishburn (+2800) at bet365

Fishburn has been making waves on the PGA TOUR in the last few months, recording third-place finishes at the Barracuda Championship and Procure Championship along with sixth in the 3M Open. And here he carries the local angle too having been born in Utah and attended Brigham Young University. Still a resident there, Fishburn was runner-up at the Korn Ferry’s Utah Championship two years ago which has to bode well.

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Trust in Thorbjornsen

Michael Thorbjornsen is a product of the newish PGA TOUR University system which allows players a pathway to the very top tier.

The Stanford grad earned his PGA TOUR card as the No.1 player of the 2024 class and he’s already showing he belongs.

Thorbjornsen hinted at his massive future back in 2022 when pegging it up in the Travelers Championship and finishing fourth.

He started this year with 11th place on the DP World Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic and in July he closed 64-66-63 to finish runner-up in the John Deere Classic.

As can happen with young players, Thorbjornsen suffered a dip after that with a poor run of MC-61-MC-MC.

But getting back to his work, he played well for three rounds of September’s Procore Championship and followed that with eighth in last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship.

A big hitter who holes lots of putts, he looks a perfect fit for this straightforward test.

And after being a prolific winner in college, Thorbjornsen looks ready to bag himself a PGA TOUR title.

Back the 23-year-old to get it done here at +4000 via bet365.

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Lower to Beat Ghim

For this week’s 72-hole match bet, I’ll take Justin Lower to get the better of Doug Ghim.

Lower seems to have a higher upside which is a pleasing sentence to write.

The 35-year-old is in fine form with seventh at the Procore Championship followed by 28th (Sunday 65) at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship.

Earlier this year he was fourth in the Corales Puntacana Championship.

Ghim makes most of his cuts but he hasn’t had a top 20 since March.

The problem for Ghim is his putter and he hasn’t gained strokes with the flatstick in any of his last eight PGA TOUR starts.

Contrast that with Lower, who ranks 28th for SG: Putting this year. Ghim is down in 139th.   

Bet365 makes this a -110 pick ‘em but Lower is in better form and carries a much bigger threat on the greens.

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Kohles for Top 10

Ben Kohles fired three 67s and a 70 to post 16th in last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship and he can rack up another top 20 here.

Kohles was runner-up at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on another Tom Weiskopf design - TPC Craig Ranch - back in May and enjoys birdie-fests.

His irons look dialled in and the four-time Korn Ferry Tour winner is solid betting material at +225 with bet365 to finish in the top 20.

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How to Watch the Black Desert Championship 2024

• Tournament: Black Desert Championship 2024

• Location: Black Desert Resort Golf Course, Ivins, UT 

• Date: Thursday October 10 - Sunday October 13

• How to watch: Thursday-Sunday 5 p.m.-8 p.m. (Golf Channel). And all four days on Sky Sports