ST GEORGE, UTAH – OCTOBER 04: Austin Smotherman of the United States celebrates after winning the Bank of Utah Championship 2026 at Black Desert Resort on October 04, 2026 in Ivins, Utah. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
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The PGA Tour Fall FedEx Series of tournaments are tremendous opportunities for golfers to get valuable points in both the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) and the FedEx Cup system. With big-name players done for the season, those who are fighting to keep their spot on the game’s biggest stage are still working hard as winter draws near.
The Bank of Utah Championship this past weekend saw a field which was fit for a fall golf tournament, and it was an exciting finish nonetheless.
In his 100th start of his career, Austin Smotherman won his first PGA Tour event with his two-shot victory over Doug Ghim at the Black Desert Golf Course in Ivins, Utah.
Smotherman has had an up-and-down season in 2026, one which saw him either in contention on Sunday, or missing the cut. To date, Smotherman has played in 23 events this season, making the cut in only 14 of those events. However, when it came time to claim victory, it was a better late than never situation for the 32 year old veteran.
Time to review our picks and predictions from the 2026 Bank of Utah Championship.
Let’s take a look at who was projected to be contending, based on pre-tournament odds.
2026 Bank of Utah Championship Odds
- Jackson Koivun (+1100)
- Maverick McNealy (+1700)
- Michael Brennan (+1750)
- Ben James (+2000)
- Matt Wallace (+2250)
When it comes to picks for this event, I’d start with my favorite and long shot picks. The favorite pick is the winner pick I like the most. For the long shot winner, that is a golfer who has over +2000 odds to win. It is a long shot pick for a reason, and finding those can be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Here are my favorite and long shot picks for the 2026 Bank of Utah Championship:
Favorite: Jackson Koivun (+1075) – MISS
Long Shot: Nick Taylor (+4500) – MISS
There are weeks where your picks just don’t pan out, and this week was certainly one of them for me. Koivun’s play could have gone one of two ways this week. He had a huge letdown after the Presidents Cup, or he continued to play inspired golf. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the latter, and the young phenom barely made the cut.
Similar to Nick Taylor, who played well for the International team in the Presidents Cup, where he had a T53 finish, a far cry from an outright winner at this event.
Top 5 Bets For The Bank of Utah Championship 2026
- Maverick McNealy (+340) – MISS
- Matt Wallace (+430) – MISS
It is never good when both of your Top 5 picks don’t even make the cut, and that’s exactly what happened during this past weekend’s tournament. Both McNealy and Wallace failed to make it to Sunday, and it didn’t just result in two misses on our picks, but when Top 5 picks don’t even make the cut it makes matters even worse.
Top 10 Picks For The Bank of Utah Championship 2026
- Jackson Koivun (+116) – MISS
- Rasmus Hojgaard (+345) – MISS
As mentioned earlier, Koivun needed a birdie on Friday just to make it to the weekend, finishing the tournament T65, but Hojgaard failed to make the weekend and missed the cut line after Round 2.
Top 20 Value Picks For The Bank of Utah Championship 2026
- Max Homa (+156) – MISS
- Neal Shipley (+194) – HIT
If there was a bright spot for this week’s picks, it would have been found in the Top 20 plays for the week. Neal Shipley cashed for us again, the second straight tournament, and his T10 finish helps us cash the +194 play.
As for Homa, he looked to be rounding into form, and just missed outside the Top 20 with a T26 finish. When you saw the leaderboard, just one putt made could have propelled him into the Top 20, but it wasn’t mean to be. Either way, hopefully Homa is on his way to regaining his form heading into 2027.
Best Prop Bets, Parlays And Bonus Plays For The 2026 Bank of Utah Championship
For bonus plays, these are picks which I don’t necessarily hang my hat on, but still provide value for some who want more exotic plays outside of the aforementioned picks. Sometimes bonus plays are parlays, double chances, triple chances, and even some fun plays for that particular event.
Here are the bonus plays for the 2026 Bank of Utah Championship:
Margin of Victory: 2 Shots (+345) – HIT
Tournament Review:
Outright Plays: 1/8
Bonus Plays: 1/1
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