Weekly Fantasy Golf Recap: Brennan Brings the Noise

If you go to Michael Brennan's page on the PGA Tour website, it shows he plays on the PGA Tour Americas. But that's not quite right.

You see, Brennan won three times on that tertiary tour since August to sew up the No. 1 spot for the season, which provides automatic entry next season on the Korn Ferry Tour. But that's not quite right, either.

You see, the 23-year-old out of Wake Forest just stunningly won the PGA Tour's Bank of Utah Championship on Sunday to earn immediate membership in the world's biggest golf circuit.

Playing on a sponsor's invite, in just his third PGA Tour start and first as a pro, Brennan led most of the way and defeated Rico Hoey by a comfortable four strokes with a 22-under winning total.

Goodbye, Korn Ferry Tour. We hardly knew ye.

"Yeah, it really hasn't set in," Brennan said on Golf Channel in a greenside interview right after winning. "It's an amazing feeling, really an amazing feeling. Winning golf tournaments is one of the better feelings in the world. I mean, it takes a lot to play professional golf, and I just have such a great team behind me."

If you had never heard of Brennan before, now or even the past few days, you are not alone.

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Followers of college golf will know he starred at Wake Forest, following in the footsteps of Cameron Young, Will Zalatoris and Webb Simpson, among others, including, of course, Arnold Palmer. He was an all-American in 2023-24, his senior season.

He turned pro and went to the PGA Tour Americas, which was formed last year by the merging of the Latin American and Canadian tours.

As you can imagine, there are some firsts and rarities associated with Brennan's victory:

• First sponsor's invite to win on the PGA Tour since Nick Dunlap last year.
• First PGA Tour event as a pro. Brennan played the 2022 Genesis Invitational after winning the tournament's Collegiate Showcase as a Wake Forest junior. He also qualified for the 2023 U.S. Open. He missed both cuts.
• Seventh player since 1970 to win within his first three PGA Tour starts -- Jim Benape won the 1988 BMW in his first career start, Garrick Higgo won the 2021 Palmetto Championship in his second start and the other four golfers all won in their third.

Okay, so what about Brennan's game allowed him to beat a lot of good golfers in Utah?

For one, he hits the ball a ton. He averaged more than 350 yards off the tee at the Black Desert course. Now, the course is at significant altitude, but it was still second in the field. He also was seventh in driving accuracy at almost 90 percent. Now, the fairways are very wide, but they are very wide for everyone and only six golfers bettered him. That added up to ranking first in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, gaining more than 7.6 strokes. Brennan also ranked eighth in the field in SG: Putting, gaining more than five strokes on the field. Just about every guy coming out of college these days can hit the ball a million miles. But not many can control it. Further, they normally aren't the best putters.

So it would seem that Brennan is well-equipped to compete on Tour next season, and that he won't be a flash in the pan -- which is kind of looking like what Dunlap has become.

"Yeah, a lot of mental maybe fortitude or focus has gotten a lot better," Brennan told Golf Channel. "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, and, yeah, probably that."

Brennan in fact ranked 27th in the field in SG: Around-the-Green.

He was already ranked 111th in the world rankings coming into the week thanks to his three rapid-fire PGA Tour Americas wins.

The Utah win will get Brennan into THE PLAYERS, the PGA Championship and the RBC Heritage Signature Event next season. The Masters no longer takes fall series winners. But it still does take golfers in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking at year's end, something Brennan will surely be keying on.

At 23, Brennan isn't especially young by today's standards. Golfers have won at younger ages. But if you want to feel old, know that as a kid Brennan once dressed up as his favorite golfer: the ancient Rickie Fowler.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Rico Hoey
Hoey will be disappointed he came so close to winning his first PGA Tour title but couldn't close the deal. Still, he is on a big-time heater. This runner-up was his second top-5 in a row and third top-10 of the fall season. He has moved to the doorstep of the all-important 51st to 60th spots in the FedExCup Fall Standings, now sitting 61st. Getting inside the top 60 by the end of the season would qualify him for the first two Signature Events at Pebble Beach and Riviera. Hoey is ranked second on Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee and eighth in SG: Approach -- both elite positions. But he's a disastrous 175th in SG: Putting. So if he can learn to putt even a little bit, which he apparently is doing after ranking 38th in Utah, watch out in 2026.

David Ford
Ford, who attended North Carolina and competed against Brennan in the ACC, was among six golfers tied for third. This was just his third made cut in 10 starts since turning pro. Ford already has his card for 2026 after finishing first in the 2025 PGA Tour University standings.

Matt McCarty
The defending Utah champion acquitted himself nicely, something that is not easy to do. His tie for third was McCarty's best showing on Tour since last year's win and moved him from 84th to 74th in the standings. That's well within striking range of the top 60 with three events left to play in the fall season. 

Ben Silverman
It has not been a good season for the 37-year-old Canadian. So it was a good time for his best-ever finish on Tour. The tie for third moved him to 142nd in the standings, which may not sound like much. But finishing inside the top 150 still brings conditional status, something Silverman would gladly take at this point in his career.

Thorbjorn Olesen
The Dane has struggled in his first season as a PGA Tour member, which he attained via the DP World Tour. This was just his third top-10. But it moved him from 116th to 97th in the standings, and that is critical since the top 100 get their cards for 2026. Now all Olesen needs to do is stay there before the season runs out.

Justin Lower
Lower still has some work to do to get into the top 100. But his share of third chopped off a lot of spots, as he moved from 129th in points to 109th.

Pierceson Coody
As with Lower, Coody made up a lot of ground with his T3, moving from 133rd in points to 113th. Coody was in on a sponsor's invite, and everyone finishing top-10 will automatically get into the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico in two weeks.

Max Homa
Homa wants to finish the season strong and he is doing just that. He tied for ninth to go from 100th in points to 93rd. He said he wants to finish the fall inside the top 100 -- even though he is already exempt for several more seasons -- so now it's unknown if and when we will see him again in the fall.

Brandt Snedeker
Playing this year on his career top-50 money exemption, the 44-year-old Snedeker tied for ninth. That moved him to 119th in points. He still has a long way to go to get inside the top 100. Otherwise, he'd have to play next season under the past champions category.

Billy Horschel
Horschel, who missed much of the season with an injury, tied for 11th. That moved him from 112th in points to 101st. He could still play next season on a medical extension, but finishing in the top 100 would be far better.

Max McGreevy
McGreevy also tied for 11th to climb inside the top 100, going from 104th to 96th.

Kevin Yu
The emerging Yu is now inside the top 60, at No. 59, after tying for 15th.

MISSED CUTS

Maverick McNealy, Alex Noren, Patrick Fishburn, Joe Highsmith, Beau Hossler. McNealy and Noren were the two top-20-ranked golfers in the field. … Fishburn, a Utah native, fell from 98th to 104th in points. … Highsmith dropped out of the top 60 to 62nd … Hossler fell from 95th to 98th.

DP WORLD TOUR

An incredible series of events at the Genesis Championship in South Korea.

Jordan Gumberg, a Floridian playing out of Europe, needed to hole out for eagle on his final hole of the tournament in order to KEEP HIS TOUR CARD. No pressure!

The tournament was won by Junghwan Lee, who was ranked 451st in the world. Former LIV player Laurie Canter sank a 100-foot putt on No. 18 to move into a share of second, which looks as though will earn him a PGA Tour card next season.

Three life-changing moments at the end of one tournament!

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