The First Look: Bank of Utah Championship

The PGA Tour returns this week for the Bank of Utah Championship as the FedExCup Fall continues.

Every FedExCup point counts more than usual with just a handful of tournaments left on the schedule. The field this week in Utah sees up-and-coming stars, proven winners, and more teeing it up at the unique Black Desert Resort.

Here’s everything else you need to know.

FIELD NOTES: Tony Finau is finally coming home. Finau, a native of Salt Lake City, is committed to play in the Bank of Utah Championship for the first time. Finau is on the FedExCup Fall bubble, sitting at No. 100. …The past two winners in Utah, Michael Brennan and Matt McCarty, are both teeing it up. Brennan, who broke through to win as a sponsor exemption last year, also won the Wyndham Championship this August and is the top-ranked golfer in the field. … There will be some Presidents Cup talent making the journey from Chicago to Utah, led by 21-year-old star Jackson Koivun. Koivun was the only player on either team to not record a loss as the United States rolled to a final-day comeback and defeated the Internationals. … From the International side, Nick Taylor, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Captain's Assistant Taylor Pendrith are teeing it up. … Each week will be increasingly more important as we inch closer to the end of the FedExCup Fall. While Finau sits at No. 100, Billy Horschel at No. 101, along with all ranked Nos. 102-126 are in action looking to pad their points. … Other stars-in-waiting Blades Brown, Ben James, David Ford and Luke Clanton are among the other notables in the field, which also includes Max Homa, Maverick McNealy and Ryder Cupper Rasmus Højgaard.

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: BYU men’s golfer Kihei Akina will make his third consecutive start at the Bank of Utah. Akina has made four PGA Tour starts, making the cut at the Puerto Rico Open in March and the Wyndham Championship in August. Akina has a school record eight top-five finishes. … Arizona State University sophomore Boston Bracken, who is from St. George, Utah, is set to tee it up. Bracken is a celebrated player in his home state. He was named Utah Golf Association’s Player of the Year in 2023 and won two individual Utah state championships. In 2024, he won the Byron Nelson International Junior Golf Award and had five top-20 finishes in his freshman season at Arizona State. … Fellow Arizona State golfer Bowen Mauss is also in the field. Mauss, like Bracken, is local to Utah and was a star amateur prior to heading to the Sun Devils. He won back-to-back Utah State Amateur titles in both 2025 and 2026. … BYU alumnus Tyson Shelley will make his PGA Tour debut. Shelley won the Utah High School Individual State Championship in both 2020 and 2021.

SIGNATURE EVENT STORYLINES: The Bank of Utah Championship is the second event of the FedExCup Fall. Players are already set to jockey for position in the standings as Nos. 51-60 in the FedExCup Fall standings will make up the Aon Next 10 for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational. … Ricky Castillo, after his T3 at the Biltmore Championship Asheville, jumped from No. 69 to No. 57, the lone player to move inside the Nos. 51-60 standings. Daniel Berger was bumped from No. 60 to No. 63. … Keith Mitchell remains at No. 51.

COURSE: Black Desert Resort, par 71, 7,421 yards. The course boasts wide fairways, and there are just two water hazards in play. It was cut through a lava field and is basically a brand-new golf course. The Tom Weiskopf/Phil Smith course saw its front nine open in November 2022 and the back nine in May 2023.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points

72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Matt McCarty (2025)

Haeran Ryu won the inaugural Black Desert Championship on the LPGA Tour in May 2025 at the same course. She finished at 26 under.

18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Adam Svensson (Round 1, 2025)

LAST TIME: Michael Brennan converted a sponsor invite – and some tremendous summertime play – into his maiden PGA Tour victory. Brennan, in his first PGA Tour start as a pro, was the first sponsor exemption to win on Tour since Nick Dunlap in January 2024. Brennan had won three times in a four-tournament stretch on PGA Tour Americas earlier in the summertime. Brennan fired a 5-under 66 on Sunday in Utah to capture the title by four shots over Rico Hoey after starting the final round with a three-shot advantage.

There was a six-way tie for third at 16 under, six shots back of Brennan’s winning total, which included Matt McCarty in his title defense.

How to follow (all times ET)

Television:

• Thursday-Sunday: 5-8 p.m. (Golf Channel)

PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN App:

• Thursday-Friday: 9:45 a.m.-8 p.m.

PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and free at PGATOUR.com/liveaudio:

• Thursday-Friday: 2-8 p.m.
• Saturday-Sunday: 3-8 p.m.