Seamus Power has just three tournaments remaining to salvage his PGA Tour hopes for 2026 after a disappointing final round saw him finish tied for 59th. For Michael Brennan though, it’s a very different story.
Brennan is on his way to the big league, full-time.
Exactly six weeks after gaining promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour after a battlefield promotion by winning three times on the PGA Tour Americas – the third-tier of the PGA Tour – the second-year professional earned himself a full PGA Tour card with a win at the Bank of Utah Championship.
Playing via a sponsor’s invitation, Brennan became the first player to win on a sponsor exemption since Nick Dunlap last year in The American Express.
“It feels amazing,” the 23-year-old said after the final putt dropped. “I get that belief from my family and friends, my team. I mean, Jeff Kirkpatrick, my caddie, believes in me I think more than anyone, maybe other than my parents. He told me ever since we played a great year, ‘We’re not going to the Korn Ferry Tour.’ Whether it was, I don’t know, through something like this or Q-School. I can’t believe he’s right.”
Holding the 54-hole lead, many expected Brennan to stutter towards the finishing line on Sunday, but instead, he started rapidly and carded five birdies on the front nine, building a commanding five-shot lead by the turn.
His first bogey of the day came at the par-4 10th hole, when he missed the fairway left and failed to get up-and-down to save par. The bogey opened the door for Rico Hoey, who made birdie at 10 to briefly cut the lead to three. But Brennan stayed steady down the stretch, collecting two more birdies to offset a bogey at 18 and secure his first PGA Tour title by four shots.
“A lot of mental maybe fortitude or focus has gotten a lot better,” Brennan said regarding his breakthrough TOUR moment. “Definitely been some technical things that have improved a lot around the green and on the green. I think that showed this week. Feel like I was pretty good around the greens. But a lot of belief in my game that I’m capable.”
Just 28 days ago, Brennan wrapped his PGA TOUR Americas career with a T4 at the Fortinet Cup Championship, his fourth straight top-five finish and 12th top 10 of the season. He grabbed the No. 1 position in the Fortinet Cup with his breakthrough victory at the BioSteel Championship in August. Two starts later, he won the CRMC Championship presented by Northern Pacific Centre in a playoff, and he won the very next week at the ATB Classic to clinch his Korn Ferry Tour membership.
“It’s given me so much great experience playing on (PGA TOUR Americas) this year and having some success,” said Brennan, after first taking the clubhouse lead Friday evening when play was suspended due to darkness. “I feel like I’ll definitely be more prepared for this weekend after having those experiences.”
Brennan, a Wake Forest alum, earned PGA TOUR Americas membership last season after finishing No. 12 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2024, which he followed with a No. 18 finish in the 2024 Fortinet Cup as a rookie.
Brennan played four seasons at Wake Forest University, where he earned eight individual victories, highlighted by back-to-back wins at the 2023 and 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships. Brennan’s collegiate victories also included the 2021 Wake Forest Invitational contested at Pinehurst No. 2. His eight wins were tied with 17-time PGA TOUR winner Curtis Strange for third in programme history, only behind three-time PGA TOUR winner Gary Hallberg (nine) and 2011 FedExCup champion Bill Haas (10).
