Black Desert Resort in Utah will host the PGA Tour’s inaugural Black Desert Championship this week.
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PGA Tour execs are going through a whole lot of challenges at this week’s Black Desert Championship, which would be the match’s debut. From amassing FedEx factors for subsequent 12 months, to making an attempt to earn one final huge payday, they’ve their fingers full.
Additionally they face an impediment they aren’t used to: enjoying a brand new match course for the primary time.
And it isn’t simply any previous parkland course. Black Desert Resort’s Tom Weiskopf-designed course appears in contrast to every other course performed on Tour. The 18-holer is positioned within the Utah desert. Fairways and greens are lined with black lava rock, with crimson mesas surrounding the format and the snow-covered Rockies looming within the distance.
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It’s additionally a excessive elevation course, coming in at round 3,000 toes.
All of those notable qualities in regards to the course are forcing Tour execs to arrange otherwise than they normally would, as Patrick Fishburn and Zac Blair defined of their pre-tournament press convention on Tuesday.
Blair, who had by no means performed Black Desert earlier than this week regardless of being from Utah, first famous its beautiful magnificence.
“Clearly actually fairly. The surroundings out right here is fairly insane. I believe it’ll look superb on TV and the whole lot like that,” Blair shared. “Fairly to form of see what the scores are like and what it performs like in match circumstances.”
Fishburn defined the issues introduced on by the course’s excessive altitude, which the Utah native has expertise contending with after rising up within the state.
“Enjoying at altitude is certainly completely different for positive. I grew up in Ogden [Utah], enjoying Ogden Nation Membership, which might be 4,000 toes elevation and we’re most likely 3,000 right here. The ball simply does various things,” Fishburn mentioned earlier than noting one other hurdle to contemplate: anticipated excessive temperatures. “With the warmth this week, there’s simply a whole lot of various factors. In the event you’re possibly not used to that it’ll trigger a number of extra calculations happening within the mind, which for me personally, much less calculation is best.”
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Each gamers additionally defined that accuracy off the tee will likely be important given the problem offered by the lava rocks strewn in all places you look on the course. Blair famous that it will possible preserve many gamers from hitting driver off the tee, although not essentially him on account of his lack of distance.
“I don’t hit it very far so lots of people have talked about not with the ability to hit a whole lot of drivers,” Blair joked. “I form of felt like may hit a whole lot of drivers. I’m the shortest participant on the tour, so…”
Based on Blair, a shot into the rocks this week basically equals a misplaced ball.
“I believe simply the best way all of the lava rock is and it’s not hazard, simply form of misplaced ball, it’s not likely like the rest. So it’s form of some locations you would possibly go and is perhaps hazard otherwise you would possibly go to Arizona and hit it within the desert and you’ll nonetheless discover it and chip it out,” Blair mentioned. “Right here, you’re not going to seek out it more often than not. Particularly within the rocks. So I believe it’s very distinctive, very completely different. Individuals are all form of seeing it and studying it for the primary time.”
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He continued: “However there’s loads of room to play on the market. It’s not prefer it’s tremendous tight in every single place. They’ve given us loads of house to hit driver or something off the tee. Simply received to maintain it out of the rocks.”
However Fishburn did point out one benefit newer execs could have this week with everybody enjoying the course underneath match circumstances for the primary time, versus most Tour programs that veterans have years of expertise enjoying.
“Enjoying in opposition to guys which were round this stuff for ten, 15 plus years. , you attempt to make up what you possibly can in a number of days,” Fishburn mentioned. “So this week coming, haven’t seen the course, performed it a number of instances, really feel like will probably be a degree enjoying discipline with that at the least. Then enjoying in Utah, having the expertise I do enjoying in Utah, simply hopefully one thing that that helps me.”
Followers and gamers alike will get the primary take a look at the tournament-ready Black Desert course when the first group tees off on Thursday at 9:40 a.m. ET.
