FEDEX ST. JUDE CHAMPIONSHIP

August 11, 2026

Michael Brennan

TPC Southwind

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're excited to welcome Michael Brennan into the interview room here at the 2026 FedEx St. Jude championship.

Michael, you earned the start this week coming off your win from last week. Can you take us through the last 48 hours, and I guess now that you're here, what you're looking forward to this week.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: It was awesome. Last week was great. We kind of, after doing media, some pictures last week, just went out to dinner with some family and friends. That was kind of about it. Shut it down pretty early knowing that I had a tournament this week.

I had a lot of texts to respond to, so probably stayed up a little too late trying to respond to as many of my friends as I could.

Q. We were talking on the way in. 366 days ago, you got your first win on PGA TOUR Americas. Since then you have five total wins, three on Americas, two PGA TOUR. Have you had any time to maybe reflect on the last 12 months and your golf journey up to this point?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: No, not really. Trying to just stay focused on Memphis this week and playing well and hopefully playing next week.

I think that's something I'll try to reflect on with my team and my coaches in the off-season when I have a few weeks off, but no, trying to add one more to that total.

Q. Obviously in Memphis this week it's going to be really hot. I'm just curious if you have any tricks or hacks or anything? Do you approach anything differently when it's that level? Is there anything you do differently to approach the game?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I think on practice days, like Tuesday, Wednesday, just trying to be really mindful about what you're doing, hopefully not a ton of hanging around, chatting outside, wasting time, trying to just get your work done and what you feel like you need to work on, but do it as efficiently as possible.

I find that I can have as much electrolytes basically as I want. I mean, I'll go through five a day plus, and it doesn't make me feel bad, and I actually feel better. If I don't, then my muscles kind of -- you feel a little sluggish, muscles in your hands start to cramp up a little bit. So just maybe shortening the practice a little on Tuesday, Wednesday, and drinking a ton of water.

Q. I know the finishes in Minnesota and Detroit were a tough pill to swallow for you, but how important were those experiences as you prepare to head into another late Sunday run in Greensboro?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I probably wouldn't have won last week if I didn't have those two experiences in the weeks prior. So I'm grateful for those.

It's tough when you're in the middle of it and you're not playing good golf and you feel like things are slipping away. It's a very disappointing and frustrating feeling.

But now that I can look back on the last three weeks, and if you told me, hey, you've got one win in the last three weeks, I would say like, all right, sign me up. I'll do it again these next three weeks. The third event from now would be a pretty good one to win, so I would take it again.

Yeah, it's hard to stay in the present and not think about what the consequences of a win are. I felt like I got a little bit better at that from Minnesota to Detroit to then last week in Greensboro.

Q. In recent years we've seen actually quite a few Wyndham champions parlay their success to a run here in Memphis -- Glover, Cam, your college teammate, finished fifth here last year after winning the Wyndham. Why do you think that is? Maybe the short time here, have you noticed any similarities between the two layouts?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I have not been on the golf course yet, so I haven't seen it yet. So I'm not too sure. Yeah, I think winning breeds winning. You just get comfortable in those situations. So it's not surprising when you see guys like win once and then maybe go win another time in a short period thereafter. I hope I can continue that trend up.

Just trying to make sure I feel rested for golf later this week because this is my seventh week in a row. It's a lot of golf in the heat. It is nice at Greensboro it was really hot and the ball goes like a mile. So I kind of have some -- I can use that information to go into this week.

Q. Going back to right after you won last week, the TV cameras captured this special moment between you and your mom when she told you that you're going to play in the Masters next year. What did that mean for you to kind of have that moment with her?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, that was really cool. The whole week I'm focusing on this week and trying to get into the FedExCup playoffs, and I didn't really -- I never thought about the perks of a win getting into the Masters until she told me after I putted in on 18.

I just had such a great time there this year. I kind of had a bit of a tough finish at Augusta and was bummed to -- I was close to the top 12 finish, getting the exemption again for the following year, and I just want to go back and play again so bad. So it was just kind of an unexpected but really exciting moment.

Q. Looking at your two wins on the PGA TOUR, the first one on a sponsor's exemption and the last week needing to win to come to the FedExCup Playoffs, is there something you enjoy about playing with your back against the wall?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: Yeah, I played some really good golf that way. Even back to my PGA TOUR Americas days, our Tour Championship in '24, I needed a win to get into the Korn Ferry TOUR, and I played great that week. I ultimately didn't win, but I had a four or five shot lead with five holes left. I made a quad on the 14th, which it was frustrating.

But yeah, like that was another week where I felt like I needed to win to move on, and I played some really great golf. Hopefully I -- the goal now is to play next week and to play at East Lake. So I feel like I still need to play some really, really good golf. I can't kind of coast on last week anymore and just try to look forward to this week.

Q. What have you learned about yourself over the past seven-week stretch? I guess specifically 3M, Rocket, and this week -- not to go back to the past again, but what have you learned about yourself emotionally, mentally, or with your game three straight weeks and being in contention?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I've never played six weeks in a row. I think five was maybe my most prior. It's really encouraging to me that I was able to compete and play really well in a six-week stretch. If I ever have to do that again in my career, I know it's something that I don't have to write off maybe the last event or last two events because I know I'm going to be exhausted and I know I'm able to do it.

The last few weeks, I've taken Mondays off in Minnesota and Detroit, which is something that I normally don't do, but week four and five just kind of getting along, and I thought it would be nice to kind of have a rest day. So it's a little bit less time spent at the golf course, but I've played really good those two weeks.

So that's something I've maybe learned about myself that maybe that's important for me to make sure I'm feeling good going into the week, yeah.

Q. Having gotten in, how does your mindset change and like knowing that there's a cut to play in? Do you treat it differently than a normal tournament where you're watching the field earlier? Also, what would you have been doing this week if you weren't here?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: I don't want to change how I look at the tournament. I think I'm just going to try to treat it as another tournament. I've been playing some good golf and just kind of keep rolling into there. I got in here yesterday afternoon, landed at around 12:00 our time, chilled out. Honestly spent most the time on my phone trying to respond to friends yesterday.

This morning got off the course around 10:00 and worked on some putting, worked on some chipping, hit some balls just before this, and I'm about to go play the front nine when we're done here.

Q. One more from me. Technically not your rookie season on TOUR since you won last year, but first full season seeing these courses for the first time, how much of that is a challenge to you knowing that a lot of these guys are playing these courses for the third, fourth, fifth time in their career, and you're just now learning it?

MICHAEL BRENNAN: It's probably helpful to play them multiple times. Just you kind of know some of the putts and how fast they are, where they break, and lines off the tee. It's my caddie's first time out here as well. He's caddied most of the time on the ladies tour, so he's learning the courses as well with me.

It's kind of fun we get to do it together a little bit. He's a hard worker, and he does a great job of prepping before we even play the practice rounds. Even though I haven't seen the courses, he's already seen all the holes, and we got in at the same time yesterday.

When I go yesterday and I step on the 1st tee -- or I play this afternoon and say, hey, what do I hit, he knows exactly what club, where I put it, which gives me a lot of confidence. So I can only see the holes one time and step up on Thursday and feel good about myself.