Value Report: Bank of Utah Championship

The Presidents Cup is the clear little brother when it comes to team match play, but the fight the Internationals put up had me glued to the TV. From a fan standpoint, it would’ve been too cool to see them pull off the upset, and from a DFS standpoint, the ETR community might’ve won every dollar in the prize pools had it happened. As is, the comeback from the USA squad had a few of us slip down the standings on Sunday, but it really was a banner week for our team and subscribers. Those unique formats offer such an advantage if you’re willing to do the work, and with so many of the providers siding for an off week to focus on different sports, it allowed us to get one of the best spots of the season. It was a blast getting to work on it, and I’m already geared up for the Ryder Cup come next year!

But as for the PGA Tour, we are back to our regularly scheduled fall swing, which gives us seven events leading into Thanksgiving for the back end of the FedEx Cup rankings to fight for their status. I love this Utah Championship, as the Black Desert Resort is one of the quirkier courses and best visuals we get all season, plus it has brought out two really strong winners. Michael Brennan winning on PGA Tour debut and Matt McCarty doing so from the Korn Ferry Tour hopefully means we are set up for another electric one this week. Unfortunately, prize pools have hit their cliff for the fall, with just $25,000 to first in the flagship, but that doesn’t mean we will be slowing down from our content end! We love keeping this community rolling through the end of the year, so it’s time to find us some winners during the back half of the season.

HaoTong Li, $7,500 – Since we didn’t review the selections from the Biltmore Championship, HaoTong Li never got his flowers for his first top 10 on the PGA Tour since January. He shot a 61 on Saturday and clearly kept up his positive momentum from playing in Europe. Up to 121st in the FedEx Cup rankings, HaoTong is clearly focused on keeping his Tour status, as he’s now skipped three of the biggest DP World Tour events of the season, which was for sure the right decision. I wrote last time out that I’m starting to like HaoTong’s chances even at tighter tracks, but it definitely eases the pressure off the tee at Black Desert, and truly only incredibly foul balls will result in penalties. The difference in North Carolina was his putter finally showing the upside, and that was a spike area that HaoTong frequented much more while playing on the DP World Tour. Our ceiling projections know that tail outcome is in there for him, and with plenty of other values surrounding him, there shouldn’t be too much ownership, either.