Michael Brennan’s first trip to Black Desert Resort came with considerably more confusion than his return will.
Before Brennan went on to shoot 22-under and win in the Bank of Utah Championship last year, he and his caddie had trouble with one of the most basic parts of playing a PGA Tour event: finding player registration.
“It was his first time carrying in a Tour event, a PGA Tour event, and we had the hardest time finding player registration,” Brennan told Heavy Sports. “We walked around the facility for a while.”
Without a courtesy car or even the credentials that come with being a PGA Tour member, Brennan had some difficulty convincing security that he was actually there to play.
“They thought I was there for the Monday pro-am to register as one of the amateurs,” Brennan recalled.
Eventually, Brennan and his caddie found their way. Then Brennan made sure people knew exactly why he was there.
Nearly a year later, Brennan returns to the Bank of Utah Championship field, ready to defend his title.
Brennan Found the Right Formula at Black Desert
Black Desert’s combination of green fairways, black lava fields and surrounding red rock makes it immediately recognizable. Brennan believes those contrasts can also help a player visually separate the places he wants to hit the ball from the places he needs to avoid.
“Very rarely do you have green fairway grass and then immediately it goes into black lava rock,” Brennan said. “That was a really cool visual and unique aspect of the golf course.”
The scenery doesn’t disappear for Brennan once competition begins, either.
“It’s cool to kind of walk down the fairways and look at the red rock and just notice that you’re in a beautiful part of the country,” he said. “I definitely try to pay attention to some of the beauty that’s around us when we’re playing.”
For Brennan, the formula was relatively simple: He drove the ball exceptionally well and backed it up with a strong week on the greens.
“Last year, I drove it really well and I putted it really nicely,” Brennan said. “For me, that was kind of the reason that I played so well and how I had success.”
Finding that same combination again is another matter.
“It’s tough to try to find that recipe week in, week out, just because everything’s always kind of a little different, changing and stuff,” Brennan said.
Utah Gave Brennan Confidence He Could Win Anywhere
Brennan entered last year’s tournament playing well, but without extensive experience against PGA Tour fields, there was still an unknown element to how his game would stack up.
His victory answered some of those questions.
“If you play good golf, it kind of takes care of everything else,” Brennan said.
That confidence proved useful when Brennan found himself in contention again at the Wyndham Championship.
“I just think the nerves and kind of the feelings on Sunday were very similar in both places,” Brennan said.
The biggest challenge, he explained, was resisting the temptation to think ahead.
“You just really have to stay in the present,”Brennan said. “It’s really easy to try to get ahead or to often think about winning the tournament and all the good things that come in the golf world as a result of that.
“In Utah, I thought I did a really good job of staying where my feet were,” Brennan said.
When the pressure arrived at Wyndham, he could remind himself of that experience.
“Just knowing that, like, ‘Hey, I’ve done it before,’ and drawing on those experiences really were helpful,” Brennan said.
Brennan’s Approach Isn’t Changing Before His Return
Despite returning to a course where he already knows he can win, Brennan isn’t attempting to recreate last year through any dramatic changes to his preparation.
After taking several weeks away following the BMW Championship (where he tied for 10th), Brennan returned to practice and began working with his coach on cleaning up parts of his swing.
“Just kind of normal practice routine, working on a few things with my coach, just trying to tidy up some things in the swing,” Brennan said. “Nothing too crazy.”
Even a swing that can look nearly effortless from the outside always gives a professional golfer something to work on.
“We are able to find things that are not perfect about it,” Brennan joked. “Just trying to fix those – fix what we can.”
Now Brennan returns knowing the golf course, knowing what parts of his game can succeed there and, perhaps most importantly, knowing what it feels like when the pressure arrives on Sunday.
And this time, he should have a much easier time finding registration.
Michael Brennan Reflects on PGA Tour Success Ahead of Black Desert Return