Stats
Four PGA Tour players did something on Day 1 at the Black Desert Championship that hadn't been done all season
Henrik Norlander tees off on No. 17 during the first round of the 2024 Black Desert Championship.
Christian Petersen
The PGA Tour's newest venue, Black Desert Resort, is a great unknown to most of the golfers in the field this week. But that didn't keep the guys from firing super low scores during Thursday's first round in Utah.
Adam Svensson led the way with an opening 60. And when he was asked after about flirting with 59, he said he didn't even realize he had a chance because he thought it was a par 72 instead of a par 71. Oh, well. Maybe that was for the better.
In any event, as the RESORT part of the name suggests, when you look past the spectacular views and lava fields, this was built as a resort course. And that generally means generous fairways and greens. And the stats certainly back that up.
As stats guru and Twenty First Group's head of content Justin Ray pointed out, four golfers managed to hit every fairway and every green in regulation in the first round. That's a perfect 14 of 14 and 18 of 18, if you're keeping score at home. In contrast, according to Ray, this statistical feat hadn't happened once on tour all season.
Pretty wild. Well, not wild, because these guys are all so accurate, but you get the point.
Ray further points out that Henrik Norlander, who shot 62, was one of those four players. And that while it was his first tour around the property, this wasn't his first time doing this:
That's an impressive list. Of course, the Swede would rather trade all of that for a first of something else on Sunday: a maiden PGA Tour title.