Michael Brennan closed with a five-under round to go from a sponsor exemption to PGA Tour winner with a four-shot victory in the Bank of Utah Championship.
In his first PGA Tour start as a professional, Brennan became the first sponsor exemption to win since Nick Dunlap took The American Express in January 2024 as an amateur.
The victory means Brennan, a 23-year-old who starred at Wake Forest, gets to skip the Korn Ferry Tour next year and go straight to the big leagues. He earned a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour, along with a spot in the PGA Championship and the $20m RBC Heritage.
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Brennan was No 451 in the world when he left the South America portion of the PGA Tour Americas. But he was dominant in Canada (with one win in Minnesota), winning three times in a four-tournament stretch and posting eight top 10s in 10 starts.
Winning the Fortinet Cup season points race gave him a fully exempt Korn Ferry Tour card. Now he’s going straight to the PGA Tour to compete alongside Scottie Scheffler and the rest of golf’s best.
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“It’s an amazing feeling,” Brennan said. “Winning golf tournaments is one of the better feelings in the world. It takes a lot to play professional golf, and I have such a great team behind me.”
It wasn’t the perfect finish to an otherwise ideal week. He put his second shot into a deep pit with lava rocks, smartly took a penalty shot for an unplayable lie and closed with a bogey. He finished at 22-under, four shots clear of Rico Hoey.
Starting the final round with a three-shot lead, Brennan ran off three birdies in his opening five holes to stretch his lead to five shots and he was never seriously challenged.
Hoey got within three shots after a two-shot swing at the 10th – a rare bogey by Brennan and Hoey making birdie. But then Brennan hammered a drive that rolled out 411 yards on the 12th hole down by the green, setting up a pitch-and-putt birdie.
And he drove the par-four 14th green with a three-wood to set up a two-putt birdie to keep everyone at bay.
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