2026 Bank of Utah Championship Recap

By Nate Kuhn, on October 4, 2026 at 9:19 pm

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This weekend, the Black Desert Resort in Southwest Utah hosted the PGA tour for the 3rd time for the 2026 Bank of Utah Championship. Still a relatively new golf course, the beautiful and dramatic 7500 yard, par 71 championship course is a masterclass of modern desert style golf. With a field missing a lot of the usual big names on top, this late season match brought a lot of interest to new faces on the leaderboard battling for their piece of the $6,000,000 total purse.

Defending champion Michael Brennan had a promising start in round one but didn’t manage to put much pressure on this year, trailing the lead by 14 strokes at p35 after 3 rounds. After moving day, Sunday seemed like it was a two-way race with Doug Ghin trailing just one stroke behind Austin Smotherman in the lead. Austin Smotherman had 3 terrific rounds and tied the event’s 54-hole record at 160 (23-under par). Austin had two top ten finishes this year and seemed determined to get the job done while paired with Doug Ghin for round 4.

Austin Smotherman’s elite iron/approach game left him numerous short birdie putts to chip away at the scorecard each day of the tournament. There was very little worry going into the 72nd and final hole with a 2 stroke lead Sunday evening. He had kept a group of 4 golfers (including Doug Ghin and a great 4th round from David Ford) a couple strokes behind him and clinched the victory with a final round score of 68 (26 under par).

It wasn’t his best round of the week, but enough to win with his total score of 258 over the four rounds. This makes the Bank of Utah Championship the first PGA win for Austin Smotherman, a well deserved victory after a steady and impressive week of play.

Austin Smotherman’s WITB

Driver: Driver: Titleist GT3 (10 degrees) Project X HZRDUS Smoke RDX Black TX 60g

3 Wood: TaylorMade Qi10 15 degrees) Graphite Design Tour AD IZ-7 X

Hybrid: TaylorMade SIM Max (19 degrees) Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid

Irons: Titleist T100 (4-9) KBS Tour 125 S+

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 50-08F @50.5, 54-12D @54.5), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60-L @59.5) KBS Tour 125 S+ (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (50-60)

Putter: L.A.B. Golf VZN.1i

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

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Nate Kuhn

Long before he ever hit a ball, Nate Kuhn spent his teenage years observing the game from the loop as a caddie in the Chicago area. It wasn't until his 40s that he finally stepped up to the tee himself—a delayed start fueled by an obsessive personality to make up for lost time. Now a daily fixture on the ranges and courses of Chicago’s west suburbs, Nate brings a late-bloomer’s curiosity and a relentless work ethic to Plugged In Golf.He dives deep on everything he touches, bringing an analytical point of view on design, tech and practical usability to his reviews. He tends to wax philosophically rather than just read spec sheets to give relatable experiences to our great audience. Off the course, Nate is a packaging engineer with a graphic design background and enjoys motorcycles, cars and his brood of pets.