Power facing three-week battle for PGA Tour card as Brennan claims dream win in first start
Seamus Power during the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Picture: PGA of America
Seamus Power got a timely reminder that it takes just one good week to change your career trajectory when rookie Michael Brennan won the Bank of Utah Championship in his first PGA Tour start.
The West Waterford man closed with a rollercoaster 72 and finished 59th at Black Desert Resort, rising just one spot to 134th in the rankings with the top 100 set to keep their cards.
Brennan (23) shot 66 to win a two-year exemption until the end of 2027 and exemptions into The Players Championship, the RBC Heritage and the US PGA Championship next season.
“It feels amazing,” Brennan said after becoming the first player to win on a sponsor exemption since Nick Dunlap at The American Express last year.
“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.”
Brennan won three times in four starts on the PGA Tour Americas to earn his Korn Ferry Tour card before getting a sponsor exemption for Utah.
The former Wake Forest star shot a seven-under 64 on Saturday to take a two-stroke lead over defending champion Matt McCarty into the final round, then made five birdies on the front nine to lead by five.
He went on to win by four shots from Rico Hoey on 22 under, moving to 95th in the FedExCup Fall standings and to 43rd in the world - a jump of 638 places this year.
Power is 134th in the FedEx Cup Fall after a rollercoaster week, but still has three events to crack the top 100 who will be fully exempt this year.
The Tooraneena man (38) turned in two under par last night but made just one par on the back nine as he mixed three birdies with four bogeys and a double bogey to finish 59th on four under.
He finished the week ranked 42nd for proximity to the hole and 63rd for Strokes Gained Putting, taking 30 putts on the first day and 32 in each of the last three rounds.
He's 134th in the FedExCup fall standings and 177 points outside the top 100 with three events to go - the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico next week (Nov 6-9), the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and the final counting RSM Classic in Sea Island.
The top 125 will get conditional cards.
Power is now 182nd in the world rankings with Rory McIlroy second, Shane Lowry 25th and Tom McKibbin 109th.
Meanwhile, Darren Clarke tied for fifth as Padraig Harrington finished tied for 34th behind wire-to-wire winner Steven Alker in the Simmons Bank Championship on the PGA Tour Champions in Arkansas.
New Zealander Alker shot a three-under 69 to win his tenth seniors title by seven strokes from Tag Ridings and Richard Green on 22 under at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock.
Clarke shot 67 to finish joint fifth on 10-under, with two-time defending champion Harrington 34th on two under after a 70.
The top 36 in standings remained unchanged and now progress to this week's Charl Schwab Cup Championship finale.
Alker moved ahead of Miguel Angel Jimenez at the top of the season-long standings with Harrington ranked sixth and Clarke 13th.
Meanwhile, European Ryder Cup heroes Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Ludvig Åberg are among the latest stars confirmed for the DP World Tour Championship, taking place from November 13-16 at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
The trio will be joined by Dubai residents Laurie Canter and Richard Mansell at the event, alongside the already announced reigning Masters Champion and career grand slam winner Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rasmus Højgaard, Robert MacIntyre and Justin Rose – all part of Europe's triumphant 2025 Ryder Cup team that claimed a first away victory since 2012 – along with 2023 champion Nicolai Højgaard.
