Michael Brennan closed with a 5-under-par round to win the Bank of Utah Championship by four shots, becoming the PGA Tour winner on the sponsor’s exemption.
In his first PGA Tour start as a professional, Brennan became the first sponsor’s exemption winner since Nick Dunlap did so for The American Express as an amateur in January 2024.
With the win, Brennan, 23, who starred at Wake Forest, will skip next year’s Korn Ferry Tour and advance straight to the big leagues. He earned a two-year exemption from the PGA Tour along with a berth in the PGA Championship and the $20 million RBC Heritage.
Brennan was ranked 451st in the world when he left the South American leg of the PGA Tour of the Americas. But he was dominant in Canada (one win in Minnesota), winning three times in four tournaments and posting eight top-10s in 10 starts.
Won the Fortinet Cup season points race and earned a fully exempt Korn Ferry Tour card. Now he’s heading 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 a golf tournament is one of the best feelings in the world. It takes a lot to play professional golf, and I have a really great team behind me.”
It wasn’t the perfect end to an ideal week. After putting his second shot into a deep hole with lava rocks, he cleverly took a penalty shot for an unplayable lie and finished with a bogey. He finished at 22 under par, four strokes clear of Rico Hoey.
Brennan, who started the final round with a three-shot lead, had three birdies in the first five holes to increase his lead to five, but was never seriously challenged.
Hoey got within three strokes after a two-stroke swing on the 10th hole. This was a rare sighting of Brennan and Hoey making birdies. However, Brennan hit a drive shot that rolled 411 yards on the 12th hole next to the green, making a pitch-and-putt birdie.
And he stopped everyone by driving a 3-wood into the par-4 14th green for a two-putt birdie.
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