Euphoria off the ropes for the next PGA Tour winner Michael Brennan it was understandable, to say the least.
Brennan held a five-stroke lead as he aced the 72nd Black Desert Golf Course in Irvine, Utah. None of his fellow competitors were within striking (or even shouting) distance. The victory that Brennan had spent a lifetime working toward — from careers as a decorated amateur and college golfer to a first stretch as a professional — was well within reach.
And so when a customer shouted his congratulations to Brennan on 18th Street, it seemed like the kind of action that shouldn’t raise an eyebrow. Except for the fact that she He did raise an eyebrow … from the player it was intended for.
“It’s not over yet,” Brennan shot back, no doubt catching the audience by surprise.
The truth was, Michael Brennan couldn’t contain himself as the congratulations poured in on that long walk down the 18th fairway. He can look as a PGA Tour winner during the 18th crown, but he knew better than to take a score for granted before signing a scorecard. Nothing in pro golf is guaranteed – not until the last shot is dropped.
That was especially true on Brennan’s next three shot at the par-5 18th, a craggy par-5 cut into the desert landscape with a large, sloping green protected by a lava rock pit. What Brennan knew, but the crowd didn’t, was that his second shot on the 18th had fallen. IN sinkhole, which was technically a “general field” but effectively a penalty area – playable only if the ball rested in a safe space between the rocks, and requiring a penalty for a lost or unplayable ball if not.
Thankfully, Brennan reached his ball to find that his margin of victory was still safe. His ball was resting in an unplayable spot in the lava pit, but it was his the ball, meaning Brennan can get a fairway and drop no closer to the hole. Also lucky: Neither of Brennan’s final three counterparts was in danger of making a triple eagle, which could have cut a comfortable five-shot lead into a suddenly tricky three, with Brennan hitting his fourth shot from the safe tuft of grass behind the lava pit.
Armed with that knowledge, Brennan white-knuckled a fairway shot high in the air, landing safely long and left of the flag and nestling neatly on the back edge of the green. It was the kind of defensive swing Brennan had spent all week without making, but now he could handle it. He would have 25 feet to make par, two shots for a record-tying bogey and up to four shots for a win if he intended to keep things interesting.
Brennan, never the pragmatist, didn’t do that, posting a two-shot victory for the four-shot victory and the first PGA Tour victory of his career. The victory capped an improbable week for Brennan, who was playing in his first PGA Tour start as a professional in Utah (his two previous major championship starts had come during his amateur career). It ended a season that saw Brennan win three times on the PGA Tour Americas, and hit the accelerator button on a career that, until this week, seemed destined for the Korn Ferry Tour in 2026.
Brennan may have started the week in Utah as a sponsor exemption playing in his first true PGA Tour event, but he left the week fulfilling the promise that allowed him to win eight times as a collegiate player at Wake Forest.
“It feels amazing,” Brennan said Sunday after the final shot was on the hole. “I get that confidence from my family and friends, my team. It hasn’t really started yet. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Indeed, it is. Even if it took some stress to get there.
