The third chance in three weeks was the charm for Michael Brennan at the Wyndham Championship.
The 24-year-old Wake Forest graduate, who suffered final-round breakdowns while in contention the previous two weeks, fought off some final-round jitters Sunday while pulling away for a popular victory at Sedgefield Country Club. He rolled in a 13-foot birdie putt at 18 to cap a three-stroke triumph over Beau Hossler, who shot 67.
With Brennan’s victory — his second on the PGA Tour, but first in a regular-season event — was the second straight Wyndham win by a Wake grad. Cameron Young won for the first time last year and has gone on to a No. 3 ranking in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Brennan shot 6-under-par 64 to finish 22-under 258 (tying the record) in the 72-hole tournament, earning $1.53 million for the victory. By rising from No. 105 in the FedExCup Standings to 47th, he also secured a spot in the playoffs, which start Thursday in Memphis. Brennan gained Tour status for 2026 by winning a Fall Series event last year in Utah.
Sunday’s performance was more than enough to soothe the sting Brennan felt after faltering in the final round the past two weeks. Tied for fourth at the 3M Open two weeks before, he shot 74 tied for 24th. Last week, he was in second place, only one shot off the lead before shooting 73 to slip into a tie for 15th at the Rocket Classic.
Brennan took charge on the front nine, making five straight birdies beginning on No. 4.
Though Brennan showed some cracks down the stretch, he coolly knocked in a few testy par putts at 16 and 17 and scrambled when needed on the back nine.
“I was pretty nervous over my 3-wood on 18, but I smoked it and so that was a nice relief to see that ball going straight. And being in those situations I felt like for 10 holes today, I really felt good out there. I was kind of oblivious to what was going on to an extent and just playing really solid golf.
At 15, Brennan showed disgust with a poorly struck approach that he believed would find a back bunker, but was surprised when his ball stayed on the green.
“It did catch up to me a little bit on the back nine, got pretty nervous. It’s tough when the feeling in your hands starts to get a little funky. I forgot what hole it was, but I was talking to Ollie. I was like, ‘Ollie, I’m getting pretty nervous.” He was like, ‘All right, man, like just stick to our process.’ I was like, ‘All right, but I can’t feel my hands so the process is a little different.’ Normally, I can feel my hands when I’m hitting the ball. But I don’t know, I made some really nice par putts, made a few nice birdie putts on the back.”
At 17, Brennan hit an ugly pull off the tee into a divot below high rough, but recovered to hit the green from and make a clutch 5-foot par putt that helped him preserve a two-shot lead over playing partner Hossler with one hole to play.
“I think it helped me a little bit,” Brennan said of the divot, which allowed him to directly contact the ball. “I’m lucky (the approach) went the right distance.”
Brennan has been busy chasing the playoffs and the exemption. This coming week’s first-round of the playoffs will be Brennan’s seventh straight tournament.
“I’ll be happy running on fumes,” he said.
Duke grad and Triangle native Alex Smalley, a Sedgefield member only two strokes off the lead entering the day, got off to a bad start and never got untracked. Smalley hit his approach on No. 2 into a creek short and right of the green and made bogey. He shot 70 and tied for seventh at 266. He made two of his three birdies on the par-5s, 5 and 15.
Ben James shot 61 to climb into third place at 262. Kevin You shot 66 and finished fourth at 264. Tom Kim, the 2022 Wyndham champion, made an early charge, but shot 70 and tied for fifth at 265 with Harry Hall.
A big winner in the race for FedExCup Playoff spots was 21-year-old Jackson Koivun, who stumbled to 71 Sunday, but hung onto the No. 70 spot.
Matti Schmid (69) and Ricky Castillo (68) claimed the last two playoff spots. Schmid shot 75 and 72 on the weekend to tie for 72nd at Sedgefield, but only dropped two spots in the standings. Castillo tied for 49th after finishing with rounds of 70 and 69. On the other side of the line, Keegan Bradley finished 73rd, behind Steven Fisk and Matt Wallace.
