In only his second start as an official member of the PGA Tour, Matt McCarty won his first trophy. Hitting 23 under for the tournament, McCarty put ground between himself and the field over four days in Utah to earn a three-shot victory over Stephan Jaeger at the 2024 Black Desert Championship.
With this victory, McCarty secured his playing privileges on the PGA Tour through the 2026 season. He also secures invitations to some of the sport’s most decorated fields, including The Sentry, the Masters and the PGA Championship. McCarty recently earned a promotion to three wins on the PGA Tour thanks to the Korn Ferry Tour after winning three times in the same season. He finished first on this latest tour, which has already earned him spots at the Players Championship and the US Open.
Starting the week outside the FedEx Cup top 230 – given that he had played just once before on the PGA Tour this season – the smooth-swinging southpaw jumped to No. 95 in the race for the season with an outside chance to play himself. in the Aon Next 10 and the first two marquee events of the 2025 season: the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational.
Starting the final day with a two-shot lead, McCarty saw his advantage cut in half several times over his final 18 holes; however, his name never dropped from the top of the rankings. Initially, Harris English made his presence known with an opening birdie before playing partner Kevin Streelman began to pose McCarty’s biggest threat.
McCarty matched English’s birdie at No. 1 to regain his two-shot advantage and moved well into his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour. Streelman’s surge came just before the turn as he played numbers 7-9 at 3 under to once again cut the margin to one shot.
The lead swung back to McCarty’s favor as Streelman’s third on the par-4 10th fell short of the green and resulted in a double bogey. No one on the golf course was within two of the leader at this point, although moments before Lucas Glover had put the finishing touches on a final round of 62 to get within two and show the club’s lead -house at 19 cents.
McCarty appeared to be on cruise control until a three-putt bogey on No. 12 brought the tournament back to life. A few pairs ahead, Jaeger came into the picture with consecutive birdies on numbers 13 and 14 to get within one. It didn’t last long as the 26-year-old slammed the door on the driveable par 4 14th. Hitting his tee shot from just under 300 yards to just under 4 feet, McCarty put an eagle on his scoreboard and put distance between himself and the chasing pack.
A few birdies, a bogey and a par were more than enough for McCarthy to earn his first PGA Tour victory and his fourth professional victory in his last 10 starts dating back to his Korn Ferry Tour days. Driving a heater in the desert, McCarty leaves Utah as a PGA Tour winner and a certifiable name to watch as his career only grows from here. Rating: A+
Here are the scores of the rest of the notables in the 2024 Black Desert Championship standings.
T3. Lucas Glover (-19): For the second Sunday in a row, Glover crossed the finish line with a sizzling final lap. After finishing at 6 under, the former US Open champion made three more birdies in his inside half to tie the tournament’s low round and climb into the top five. The move is substantial for Glover, as he enters the top 60 in the FedEx Cup standings and now holds the inside track to qualify for the first two marquee events of the 2025 season.
“I still don’t know how it all works,” Glover said. “I’m here because I didn’t play well during the regular part of the year. I think I have three or four weeks off now and I’m coming back to Bermuda. All these calculations and… I don’t know, you need a Nobel Prize in mathematics to understand everything. I just try to play well. Grade: A
T5. Matti Schmid (-18): A slow sophomore season on the PGA Tour may have been salvaged with a final-round 62 at the Black Desert Championship. Schmid entered the week No. 120 in the FedEx Cup standings and in danger of falling out of the top 125. Instead, he solidified his spot as a full-time cardholder the past two weeks with a T12 finish at the championship Sanderson Farms. and a top-10 result in Utah. Since the start of the 2023 season, the 26-year-old has played 70 tournaments between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. Grade: A-
T35. Daniel Berger (-12): Every FedEx Cup point counts for Berger, who is slowly but surely getting his name closer to the top 125 that earns full-time status and a spot on The Players next spring. He climbs a few spots to No. 127 after battling late Friday night to earn a spot in the rankings. After earning his first top 10 since 2022 last week in Mississippi, Berger continued to show plenty of firepower out west. Unfortunately, the big numbers also piled up and were ultimately too much to overcome. Grade: C+
T35. Chris Kirk (-12): The former Georgia Bulldog was the only player to qualify for the Tour Championship this week. There are a lot of good things to take from his game as he ranked in the top 10 in strokes gained on approach and in the top 15 in strokes gained from tee to green. Like most of his season, Kirk’s putting was the culprit as he failed to take advantage of his stellar iron play with birdie conversions. Grade: C-
MC. Keith Mitchell: After his close run at the Sanderson Farms Championship, it was always going to be a big ask, but Mitchell entered the week as the tournament favorite to look away from it. After carding rounds of 69-73, the powerful right-hander struggled to maintain momentum throughout his 36 holes and failed to hit the fairways consistently during his second stroll around the par-71 He only lost two places in the FedEx Cup standings and remained in the standings. tip of the Aon Next 10. Rating: F