Following his snub from the U.S. Ryder Cup team, Maverick McNealy played an excellent tournament at the Procore Championship a month ago. The former Stanford Cardinal finished T13 and gained strokes across the board. Given his success over the last two seasons, his clear commitment to the grind shows the start of perhaps the next great American player, or at least a lit fire. This week's Bank of Utah Championship is another opportunity for the 29-year-old to hoist some hardware. His distance off the tee (306.6) and sharp putting acumen make him a no-brainer. The floor doesn't feel very low with this one, and the ceiling could be a runaway victory.

Aside from his lone T3 at the American Express, Justin Lower has done very little to secure many starts for next year's PGA Tour season. As someone who's notoriously stayed on the top 100 bubble for most of his career, things are a bit more dire this time around with the cut in PGA Tour cards; he enters the week at 129th on the FedEx Cup points list. Luckily for Lower, there are still a few cracks left to play well enough to sneak in. However, the possibility of it happening this week isn't likely. The 36-year-old is a poor fit for this course from a length-needed perspective, especially with spotty approach play and a putter that's as streaky as they come. There isn't much reason to consider him this week.

After looking like one of the bright spots early this season, Stephan Jaeger fell off down the stretch. His length off the tee was marred by accuracy issues that hindered his chances of achieving quality finishes, resulting in an average loss of 1.28 strokes off the tee over his last seven starts. He gets a chance this week to build confidence in that area, as the course at the Black Desert Resort offers generous width to spray it and allows longer hitters to play much more aggressively. Jaeger certainly felt that way in 2024, where he finished solo 2nd at the inaugural event. Unless the big stick has continued its journey extremely south, he should be a serviceable asset in lineups.

Max McGreevy started to play better golf at the Baycurrent Classic. The American golfer went 70-69-70-69 which is not Earth shattering but was consistent. If we add in the Japan Open Golf Championship where he finished 12th, that may be a more clear idea of where McGreevy's golf game is now. Steady improvement has been noted since the early part of the Fall season. He drove the ball 6.9% than the rest of the field at the Baycurrent as well. That was another improvement. Ball striking and placement is essential at Black Desert Resort. Earlier in 2025, his putting was in better form but the 0.61 strokes gained at Sanderson Farms indicates he may be a sneaky DFS option of the Bank of Utah Championship.