Jordan Smith makes walk-off albatross to tie for Bank of Utah Championship lead

It was a tale of two golfers late in the day Thursday at the Bank of Utah Championship .

Birdies and eagles were flying all over the Tom Weiskopf-designed Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah. But the shot of the day came courtesy of Jordan Smith.

After back-to-back birdies on Nos. 7 and 8 (he started at the 10th) Smith was 238 yards out after a 350-yard drive. From there, his second shot just cleared a greenside bunker and then rolled up to the cup, gently clinking the flagstick before dropping down for a 2 on the par 5. Yes, it was a rare albatross, made even moreso as it came on the final hole of his round.

The PGA Tour reports that it's the fifth albatross of the season and first since Davis Thompson had one in the third round of the Wyndham Championship.

Smith then played spectator as Brendon Todd and Mackenzie Hughes finished their rounds.

That capped off an 8-under 63 for Smith, and vaulted him into a five-way tie for the lead. He is 69th in the FedEx Cup Fall standings and is among those fighting to climb inside the top 60 for 2027. He's well on his way to do just that.

2026 Bank of Utah Championship scores, live updates for Thursday's Round 1

Then we have Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. He opened double bogey-par-double bogey and was going the wrong way on the leaderboard. He started on the back nine and was just 3 over at the turn but he then doubled the second. A pair of pars came before disaster struck: a quintuple 9 on the par-4 fifth hole.

It was shortly after that that Neergaard-Petersen became the second withdrawal of the day, with his WD coming due to illness.

That leaves the field with 119 golfers for the rest of Thursday and Friday.