The Nationwide Tour
He made somewhat of an inauspicious start in the US on the Nationwide Tour when he missed the cut at the Henrico County Open. "It was a much jetlag as anything else," he said later. "I had not travelled that far to play golf in such a hurried way in the past and I was perhaps not prepared." From that point on however things would get better, and quickly. The very next week he was in a four way playoff for the SAS Carolina Classic, losing out at the eighth extra hole to American, Chris Anderson. A week later he was in the mix again when fourth at the Knoxville Open, then drove several hours to Columbus for final qualifying for the US Open which he made.

With the knowledge of his first start in a major just a week away, Brendan was relaxed as he teed it up in the La Salle Bank Open in Illinois which he won, narrowly beating D.A. Points who just a week later would win the North West Pennsylvania Classic and then win again in Virginia one month later.

Brendan missed the cut at the US Open then immediately returned to Japan where he won the Mizuno Open beating Hiroaki Iijima in a playoff. Interestingly that performance would also have gained him a start at the British Open but he was qualified in any case. At that point he led both the Japan and Nationwide Tour money lists. It was quite a performance. He played again the next week at the Japan PGA Championship before a week off then heading to Scotland for the British Open Championship. He would miss the cut there after making good starts to each of his first two rounds.

With his USPGA Tour card now safely in his pocket Brendan continued to play much of the 2004 season in Japan, but played the USPGA Championship and another couple of events on the Nationwide Tour while in the US including the season ending Nationwide Tour Championship. He finished 6th on the Nationwide Tour money list and 9th on the Japan Golf Tour money list. It was quite a performance and quite a year.

USPGA TOUR
With that high ranking on the Nationwide Tour in 2004 Brendan was guaranteed a good number of starts on the USPGA Tour prior to the re-ranking in 2005 and by the time the PGA Tour had finished their West Coast swing he had played in six events and had made the cut in three. Brendan’s first big finish however came in New Orleans at the Zurich Classic when, after a slow start to the week he finished 14th and earned US$99,000. “That was a promising week,” he said soon after, “but I know that I didn’t play well all four days. It was nice to know however that I could play at 75% and still finish inside the top twenty.”

 

Two months later Brendan finished 20th at the John Deere Classic, then the following week at the BC Open in Endicott , New York, he led into the final round before struggling through his front nine. So low was the scoring that although he was one under or the day through twelve holes, he had fallen some way behind. A late rally where he picked up three consecutive birdies to finish saw him get within one of the winner Jason Bohn and the cheque for $198,000 had him on track to retain his card.

Another solid week at the Buick followed two weeks later but at the Deutsche Bank event in Boston he let a great opportunity to secure his card slip from his grasp. Starting the last day well back in the pack, Brendan raced through the front nine in 32 and was looking down the barrel of a top five finish. Two double bogies in the last six holes however put paid to what would have been a great Sunday. He finished 32nd there and for the rest of the year struggled to get things moving forward again. “That happened from nowhere,” he said later referring to the two double bogies. “It knocked the wind out of my sails for the rest of the year as a top ten there would have got the job done and to have come so close and then being brought undone by a little bit of bad luck was upsetting.”
Brendan eventually finished his first season in 114th position which guaranteed him perhaps twenty starts on the PGA Tour in 2006 but he opted to return to the Tour School to try and regain fulls status. He went close when finishing 42nd but with only 30 players gaining cards he was unable to improve his status and is resigned to splitting his schedule in 2006 between the USPGA and Japan Golf Tours.

2006

With only a limited number of starts on the PGA Tour with his current status, Brendan intends to play events in Japan and the US in 2006. His two victories in Japan in 2006 have ensured full status there until at least the end of 2006. Brendan has made both cuts on the USPGA Tour in 2006 and will play his first event in Japan in mid April at the Token Homemate Cup (see schedule)

In his first two events in the US he finished 38th at Pebble Beach and 18th at the Tucson Open.