Of the 12 new teams at this year’s Grant Thornton Invitational, none were as unfamiliar as Charley Hull and Michael Brennan. With Daniel Berger withdrawing early week, Brennan didn’t find out he was in the field until Monday.
The pair had a chance at winning the title but ultimately finished in a share of second, three shots back of winners Andrew Novak and Lauren Coughlin.
“Charley’s a baller,” said Brennan. “I didn’t really have my best stuff today, really loose with the irons, but she, I mean, kept us in it pretty much single handedly, so it was pretty impressive.”
Charley, for her part, wasn’t pleased with her iron play, which has been a strength throughout 2025.
“I’ve done a lot of work on my swing,” said Hull. “I tried doing it last week and my feels wasn’t quite there this week and I just played with what I had. Just go home, a couple days off and then practice, because I enjoy doing that.”
Brennan, 23, played collegiate golf at Wake Forest and won the Bank of Utah Championship earlier this year while playing on a sponsor exemption. It was his first PGA Tour start as a professional. Brennan said he was more nervous on Friday than at a typical event because he “didn’t want to let Charley down.”
Hull came out to Tiburon Golf Club eager to learn.
“I like asking a lot of questions because I like to learn off the guys,” said Hull, “and he’s got a really good game. So he probably thought I was super nosey on what he’s hitting, but I was just learning. It was pretty calm out there.”
Early in the week, after they’d just met, the PGA Tour social media staff handed Hull and Brennan a white board and asked them to describe each other using one word. Hull said Brennan seemed “cool,” while he described her as “intense.”
Hull emphatically disagreed with that first impression.
“Really? You reckon I’m intense?” asked a rather shocked Hull. “I’m the most laid-back person in the world!”
Michael Brennan needs to get to know his playing partner a little better 😂 pic.twitter.com/CPxR4HhQa6
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 11, 2025
After Friday’s opening round, it was Hull who had a question for Brennan during a post-round interview: Did he still find her intense?
“I mean, I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” explained Brennan, adding “you’re focused, which is good.”
Hull, it seemed, was beginning to warm up to the idea.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Charley Hull’s response to being called ‘intense’ at Grant Thornton
