Michael Brennan wins Utah Championship on an invitation and gets 2-year PGA Tour exemption

IVINS, Utah (AP) — Michael Brennan was just as dominant at Black Desert as he was on the PGA Tour Americas. He closed with a 5-under 66 to go from a sponsor exemption to a PGA Tour winner Sunday with his four-shot victory in the Bank of Utah Championship.

In his first PGA Tour start as a professional, Brennan became the first sponsor exemption to win since Nick Dunlap took The American Express in January 2024 as an amateur.

“Been my dream for a very long time to play on the PGA Tour and win on the PGA Tour,” Brennan said. “So, yeah, it feels amazing to do it. Just very thankful to even be in the field this week. I mean, ended up pretty good.”

The victory means Brennan, a 23-year-old who starred at Wake Forest, gets to skip the Korn Ferry Tour next year and go straight to the big leagues. He earned a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour, along with a spot in the PGA Championship and the $20 million RBC Heritage.

Brennan was No. 451 in the world when he left the South America portion of the PGA Tour Americas. But he was dominant in Canada (with one win in Minnesota), winning three times in a four-tournament stretch and posting eight top 10s in 10 starts.

Winning the Fortinet Cup season points race gave him a fully exempt Korn Ferry Tour card. Now he's going straight to the PGA Tour to compete alongside Scottie Scheffler and the rest of golf's best.

“It's an amazing feeling,” Brennan said. “Winning golf tournaments is one of the better feelings in the world. It takes a lot to play professional golf, and I have such a great team behind me.”

It wasn't the perfect finish to an otherwise ideal week. He put his second shot into a deep pit with lava rocks, smartly took a penalty shot for an unplayable lie and closed with a bogey. He finished at 22-under 262, four shots clear of Rico Hoey (67).

Brennan was a combination of power and poise at Black Desert Resort, the scenic Tom Weiskopf design framed by the red-rock cliffs and black lava.

Starting the final round with a three-shot lead, Brennan ran off three birdies in his opening five holes to stretch his lead to five shots and he was never seriously challenged.

“Just had one of those weeks where my driver went pretty straight and was able to send it and let it go and felt very confident over the driver all week,” Brennan said.

Hoey got within three shots after a two-shot swing at the 10th — a rare bogey by Brennan and Hoey making birdie. But then Brennan hammered a drive that rolled out 411 yards on the 12th hole down by the green, setting up a pitch-and-putt birdie. And he drove the par-4 14th green with a 3-wood to set up a two-putt birdie to keep everyone at bay.

“Michael played great from the start so for me I was just trying to keep up with him,” Hoey said. “He kept pushing me to hit great shots and make good putts. That’s all I could do.”

Winning in the FedEx Cup Fall portion of the schedule no longer comes with an invitation to the Masters, but now that is in range for Brennan. That big summer in Canada, along with his victory Sunday, moves him just inside the top 50 in the world.

He has access to three PGA Tour events remaining on the schedule. The top 50 in the world at the end of the year get to Augusta National.

Hoey's chances all but ended when he missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the 13th to close within two shots, and a 10-foot birdie chance on the 14th that put him four shots behind. Even so, he went from No. 91 in the FedEx Cup to No. 61, securing his card for 2026.

Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark (68) and defending champion Matt McCarty (70) were in the large group that tied for third at 16-under 268. That moved up Olesen 19 spots to No. 97 in his bid to keep full status next year.

Brennan said his caddie, Jeff Kirkpatrick, told him during his hot summer run that they would bypass the Korn Ferry Tour and make it straight to the PGA Tour.

“I can't believe he's right,” Brennan said with a laugh.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

FILE - Michael Brennan watches his tee shot on the sixth hole during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Los Angeles Country Club, June 15, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the Motor Tanker Veronica early Thursday. She said the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”

Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.

The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.

The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for moving cargoes of illicit Russian oil.

As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear that they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)