Austin Smotherman Survives a 13th-Hole Double, Wins Bank of Utah Championship for First PGA TOUR Title in 100th Start

It took Austin Smotherman 100 starts to win on the PGA TOUR. On Sunday, one bad hole nearly made everyone forget the first 66.

Then he hit the shot that saved the week.

Smotherman shot a 3-under 68 in the final round at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah, to win the Bank of Utah Championship at 26-under 258, two clear of Doug Ghim. Rounds of 63, 62, 65 and 68 broke the tournament's 72-hole record by three shots; Matt McCarty's 261 from 2024 had been the mark, according to the PGA TOUR's final-round notes. The 32-year-old also set tournament records for 36 holes (125) and 54 holes (190), and he led the field with 32 birdies.

It was his first PGA TOUR win, in his 100th career start. The check was $1,080,000 of a $6 million purse.

Never Trailed, Then Almost Blinked

Smotherman slept on the lead Friday and Saturday night, and he played the front nine Sunday like a man trying to end it early. Two tap-in birdies and a 35-footer on the par-4 fifth pushed his cushion out quickly, and Golf Channel had his lead as large as four shots on the day.

Southern Utah was sunny and 96 degrees, with a light wind. There was nowhere for the leader to hide, and for a long stretch he didn't need to.

Then came the 13th. His approach into the par 4 came up short and plugged near the lip of a greenside bunker. He could only move it to a flatter lie in the sand, blasted out to 10 feet and missed. Double bogey.

In the group ahead, Trace Crowe rolled in a 40-foot eagle putt on the drivable par-4 14th. Suddenly a coronation was a one-shot ballgame, per Golf Channel's account of the stretch.

The Answer at 14

This is where 99 previous starts either teach you something or they don't.

Smotherman stepped onto the 14th tee and hit what the AP described as a tee shot with perfect line and distance. It landed short, released and stopped 6 feet from the hole. He missed the eagle putt, but the birdie pushed the lead back to two. On the 15th his approach kicked forward to 6 feet again. He missed that one too.

He didn't miss on 16, converting from just inside 12 feet to get the margin back to a comfortable place with two holes left. A bogey on the par-3 17th made things louder than they needed to be. A birdie on 18 closed it.

"It didn't have to be pretty," Smotherman said. "I got some nice bounces. Made some poor swings, but this game doesn't have to be perfect."

Ghim Takes the Long Way to Second Again

Doug Ghim was the man with the best seat in the house, playing alongside Smotherman in the final pairing. He shot 65-62-64 through three rounds, which is usually enough to win golf tournaments. Sunday, it wasn't.

Ghim three-putted from 30 feet on the 13th, the same hole that bit Smotherman, and missed a 6-foot par putt on 15. He birdied the 18th for a 69 to finish alone in second at 24 under. Golf Channel reported his eagle attempt on the last came up just right of the cup.

It was Ghim's second runner-up finish in 192 PGA TOUR starts, according to the TOUR's notes, the other coming at the 2024 Shriners Children's Open. He moved from 89th to 58th in the FedExCup Fall standings, and he was gracious about it.

"Today was Austin's day," Ghim said. "I did everything that I could, and hopefully I'll learn from some of the mistakes and be a little bit more comfortable next time."

Crowe (66) and David Ford (64) tied for third at 23 under. For Crowe, it was a career-best finish in his 46th start. Luke Clanton shot the round of the day, a 9-under 62 that tied his career low and jumped him from T26 to T7.

The Numbers That Matter

100: Career PGA TOUR starts for Smotherman, who joins a list of winners in their 100th start since 2000 that includes Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama and Andrew Novak, per the TOUR.

258: His 72-hole total, a tournament record by three.

32: Birdies, most in the field.

3: Straight first-time winners at this event. McCarty won in 2024 and Michael Brennan in 2025, and the 54-hole leader or co-leader has now won all three editions.

79 to 51: Smotherman's jump in the FedExCup Fall standings.

What It Buys Him

The trophy is nice. The paperwork is better.

Smotherman entered the week at No. 79 in the FedExCup, and the top 100 keep full cards for 2027. He now holds a two-year exemption, which the AP noted includes the "Championship Series" tier when the TOUR's new competitive model starts in 2028. Players finishing 51st through 60th in the final FedExCup Fall standings earn spots in the 2027 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational, and the win put him right at the top of that window.

His previous best on TOUR was a tie for second at the 2026 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, the only other time he had held the 36- and 54-hole lead. He earned this season's card by finishing third on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour points list with two wins.

The defending champion, Brennan, tied for 13th. He would get his own trophy a week later in Japan.

The Kicker

For a guy who waited 100 starts, Smotherman did not wait long for the next one. Three weeks later, he won again, outlasting Seamus Power in a Monday playoff in Bermuda, a finish we broke down here.

But Utah was the one that changed his career. The 13th hole tried to make it a story about a collapse. Smotherman made it a story about the swing that came next.

Sources: PGA TOUR (final-round notes; AP recap on pgatour.com), Golf Channel, CBS Sports.

Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images/PGA TOUR