GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Michael Brennan had another Sunday opportunity and delivered in a big way. He made five straight birdies to pull away from Beau Hossler and close with a 6-under 64 to win the Wyndham Championship.
It meant good news for the 24-year-old in the short and long term: He reached the PGA Tour's lucrative postseason and secured a spot in next year's Masters, something he was reminded of by his mother, Shannon, after they celebrated on the green seconds after he secured his second career tour win.
"We're going to the Masters," she said as she hugged him.
"Oh my god. Oh my god," a stunned Brennan said in disbelief.
Easiest way to earn a trip to Augusta National? Win. pic.twitter.com/WON4Q2TIYh
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 9, 2026
Brennan came into the final tournament of the regular season at No. 105 in the FedEx Cup standings, a disappointing year with only one top 10. Now, his season gets extended by at least one week -- maybe longer based on how he's playing -- after his second PGA Tour title in two years.
Brennan was one shot behind Hossler when he ran off five straight birdies, starting on the fourth hole, all of them inside 8 feet. That turned a deficit into a three-shot lead at the turn when Hossler took a bogey on the ninth hole.
Then, it was a matter of hanging on for Brennan, a Virginia native who played his college golf about 30 miles from here at Wake Forest.
"I don't want to be done playing golf," Brennan said. "Unfortunately, I've had a couple of tough Sundays. Outside of that, I had been playing really solid. This is my sixth week in a row. I'm perfectly happy running on fumes next week."
The FedEx Cup playoffs start Thursday with the FedEx St. Jude Championship at the TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. Only the top 70 players advance, and Brennan shot up to No. 47.
Jackson Koivun, who left Auburn in June and won the 3M Open in only his third start, narrowly hung on to the 70th spot and goes from college to the postseason in only two months.
Brennan was four shots behind in a tie for fourth going into the final round of the 3M Open and shot 74 to finish out of the top 20. Last week at the Rocket Classic, he was in the final group and one shot out of the lead when he went in the wrong direction again, closing with a 73 to tie for 15th.
Brennan made birdie on the final hole to finish at 22-under 258, matching the tournament record at Sedgefield shot three other times, most recently last year by Wake Forest grad Cameron Young. Brennan will now return to the Masters next April; he made his debut at Augusta National this year, going from the PGA Tour Americas straight to the big leagues when he won the Bank of Utah Championship last fall.
The win also continued a red-hot run for young Americans on the PGA Tour.
With Koivun (21) winning the 3M Classic and Michael Thorbjornsen (24) capturing the Rocket Classic, it marked just the second time in the past 90 years that three different Americans under the age of 25 won on tour in three consecutive weeks, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The other instance came in July 2017, when there were four under-25 winners in a three-week span (Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Jordan Spieth and Grayson Murray; Murray's win came in an opposite-field event).
Another young American, Ben James, the No. 1 player from the PGA Tour University ranking who has a card already secure for 2027, fell out of contention Saturday but roared back with a 61 to finish third.
Brennan was the only player to move into the top 70, replacing Steven Fisk, who was at No. 69 but missed the cut at the Wyndham Championship and fell to No. 71.
Also failing to advance to the postseason was Brooks Koepka, the first player to rejoin the PGA Tour after being at LIV Golf. Koepka needed a fourth-place finish and was saddled again by poor putting that led to a tie for 67th. The five-time major champion had only one top 10 this year.
"To be in the prime of your career and be as good as I think I am, I think that's very pathetic, disappointing," he said. "Just need to go home and completely reevaluate everything."
Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.