Detroit — Who’s Michael Brennan?
He’s somebody who’s done something we’re pretty sure you’ve never done.
Brennan reeled off eight consecutive birdies during the first round of the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club on Thursday, highlighting his opening 5-under 65 that left him four shots off the lead held by Peter Malnati.
The eight straight birdies were the most on the PGA Tour this season, and one off the PGA Tour record.
From Nos. 5 through 12, Brennan birdied every hole on the recently renovated Detroit Golf Club. The streak ended at the par-4 13th, when he couldn’t make his 67-foot birdie putt from the front of the green. How dare he.
Interestingly, the round didn’t start off well at all for Brennan, the 24-year-old Virginian and former Wake Forest standout. He made back-to-back bogeys at the par-4 third and par-5 fourth, before he caught a crazy heater.
Brennan can thank the putter for that. He made putts off 22 feet, 14 feet and two from 17 feet. Only one birdie putt was a tap-in. During the stretch, he made three 2’s on par-3s. He actually played the eight holes in 21 strokes, and there wasn’t a clown’s mouth in sight.
Brennan was 6 under on the par-3s and par-4s, and 1-over on the two par-5s. He bogeyed the par-4 17th near the end of his round, played in the afternoon, when scoring was tougher than in the morning.
Brennan came into the week averaging just under four birdies a round this season.
The 65 tied for Brennan’s second-lowest opening score this season (he also had a 65 to start last week’s 3M Open), his rookie season on the PGA Tour. He’s made 15 of 21 cuts with one top-10, a tie for sixth place at the Charles Schwab Challenge in late May. Brennan entered the week 106th in the playoff standings, with the top 70 after next week’s Wyndham Championship getting into the playoffs.
The PGA Tour-record of nine consecutive birdies was done twice, by Mark Calcavecchia at the Canadian Open in 2009 and by Kevin Chappell in 2019 at The Greenbrier.
Brennan didn’t talk to the media following his round.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michael Brennan flirts with PGA Tour lore with eight birdies in a row
Reporting by Tony Paul, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tony Paul, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
