10/26/25 06:57:00
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10/26 18:56 CDT Michael Brennan wins Utah Championship on an invitation and
gets 2-year PGA Tour exemption
Michael Brennan wins Utah Championship on an invitation and gets 2-year PGA
Tour exemption
IVINS, Utah (AP) --- Michael Brennan was just as dominant at Black Desert as he
was on the PGA Tour Americas. He closed with a 5-under 66 to go from a sponsor
exemption to a PGA Tour winner Sunday with his 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 $20 million RBC Heritage.
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.
"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 262, four shots clear of
Rico Hoey (67).
Brennan was a combination of power and poise at Black Desert Resort, the scenic
Tom Weiskopf design framed by the red-rock cliffs and black lava.
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-4 14th green with a 3-wood to set
up a two-putt birdie to keep everyone at bay.
Winning in the FedEx Cup Fall portion of the schedule no longer comes with an
invitation to the Masters, but now that is in range for Brennan. That big
summer in Canada, along with his victory Sunday, moves him just inside the top
50 in the world.
He has access to three PGA Tour events remaining on the schedule. The top 50 in
the world at the end of the year get to Augusta National.
Hoey's chances all but ended when he missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the 13th to
close within two shots, and a 10-foot birdie chance on the 14th that put him
four shots behind. Even so, he went from No. 91 in the FedEx Cup to No. 61,
securing his card for 2026.
Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark (68) and defending champion Matt McCarty (70) were
in the large group that tied for third at 16-under 268. That moved up Olesen 19
spots to No. 97 in his bid to keep full status next year.
Brennan said his caddie, Jeff Kirkpatrick, told him during his hot summer run
that they would bypass the Korn Ferry Tour and make it straight to the PGA Tour.
"I can't believe he's right," Brennan said with a laugh.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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