From Koepka to Block, PGA had it all

105th edition provided plenty of drama down to final hole

The 105th edition of the PGA Championship on the East Course at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, is now in the record books with a historic fifth major championship for Brooks Koepka and the Cinderella-like story of Southern California club professional Michael Block. Oak Hill has now hosted six major championships and the 2023 PGA was a classic to the very end with a dash of exactly why all of us watch as well as play the game.

There would be concerns about the weather in western New York throughout the week. When the PGA Championship was initially booked at Oak Hill some 10 years ago, the tournament was played in mid-August. To accommodate the Fed Ex Cup playoffs and the culmination of the PGA Tour’s season prior to the start of college football and the NFL, the Players Championship moved to March and the PGA took its place on the calendar in May. Holding the PGA in May opens the door for venues in places such as Tulsa, but there was concern that upstate New York could be tough in mid-May. Growing up in the Midwest I recall times we had snow over Memorial Day weekend. Luckily this time around the weather was a minor factor with cold mornings, a frost delay, and some rain, but nothing golfers couldn’t handle.

After 36 holes of play, the cut line for the low 65 and ties was a relatively high 5-over-par. Canadian Corey Conners, past Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, and former U.S. Amateur titlist Viktor Hovland were atop the leader board at 5-under-par Within striking distance were Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose and Justin Suh. At even par was a trio of former major titlists, including Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley,

Shane Lowry and a relatively unknown club pro named Michael Block.

Saturday was moving day at the PGA and Brooks Koepka made the biggest move of the day after recording his second consecutive 4-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Conners and Hovland with a 6-under-par aggregate. DeChambeau was three back, Rose, and Scheffler were four back and Rory was five back. The seven aforementioned professionals were the only golfers in the field posting under-par totals for 54 holes. Holding serve at even par after three rounds was Michael Block,who seemed to relish the moment as he spoke during his round Thursday with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and on Saturday

with CBS lead announcer Jim Nantz. While a lot of pundits expected Block to come back Sunday as well as reality and shoot an 80, he was enjoying the moment as he was living the dream. On top of that, the 46-year-old teaching pro demonstrated that he indeed had game.

Sunday dawned and the PGA would basically amount to a three-horse race for 15 holes. Brooks Koepka was the golfer we remembered from 2017 through 2019 when he won four majors as he got to 9-under-par through 15 holes. Hovland showed a dynamic short game and was one stroke back while Scheffler was hanging tough while falling three shots

off the pace. Prior to the final groups getting to the par-3 15th hole, a wild Tiger-esque eruption of cheers emitted from the grandstand around the hole. Block, the club pro who was 2-over-par on the tee, brought electricity through the grounds at Oak Hill as he holed out his 151-yard 7-iron tee shot for a hole-in-one. On the fly! Block wasn’t even sure the ball had gone into the cup until his playing partner, Rory McIlroy, congratulated him for the miracle moment. Block would get back to even par and although he wouldn’t win the PGA, his top-15 finish would get him into the field at next year’s championship at Valhalla in Louisville.

The leaders all made par on 15 and then the whole tourney turned on the 16th hole. Hitting his tee shot into the fairway bunker on 16, Hovland took out an iron and went for the green from the sand. He bladed his shot and it embedded into the face of the bunker. The resulting double-bogey six meant that Viktor had fallen back to 6-under-par. Meanwhile Koepka had birdied the 16th hole. With just two holes left to play, Brooks had a four-shot lead over Hovland and Scheffler. For all intents and purposes the PGA Championship was over.

Koepka had tree trouble on 17, made bogey, and after making par on 18 finished at 9-underpar. Scheffler and Hovland made birdies on 18 to creep a little bit closer and finished the PGA at 7-under-par. Some 30 minutes before they arrived at the final green Block made an all-world up-and-down par on the final hole to punch his ticket to Valhalla. The crowd roared as he holed out, his eyes filled with tears, and Rory hugged him. Meanwhile back in Mission Viejo at the Arroyo Trabucco Golf Club, the members were ecstatic in their celebration as their PGA club professional walked off the final green with the cheers still ringing in his ears.

For Brooks Koepka, his PGA Championship win put him in rarefied air with other five-major winners such as Seve Ballesteros, Byron Nelson, Australian Peter Thomson and Great Triumvirate members James Braid and J.H. Taylor. In the modern stroke play era of the PGA, only Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus have won three or more PGA titles. No one was more down on his luck because of health issues than Koepka was two years ago. Now the 33-year-old seems primed to add to his golfing legacy during the prime of his career. Runner-up earlier this year at the Masters, there will be more major championship success ahead for Brooks Koepka.

Finally the question of the day is who exactly is Michael Block? He was born in Reno and grew up in the St. Louis area where he honed his game at major championship site Bellerive. He bounced around in college golf, first at Mississippi State, then Missouri-St. Louis. He graduated from the San Diego Golf Academy, served as an assistant pro at

The Lakes in Palm Desert, and was hired as the head pro at Arroyo Trabucco in 2004. He gives lessons there for $125 an hour, runs junior clinics, serves as the club’s tournament director, and does all those things that PGA club professionals do across the country for their members. He’s also quite the player, having qualified for five PGAs and two U.S. Opens. He won the 2001 California State Open, a trio of Southern California PGA Championships, and won the PGA National Club Professional in 2014. After play on Sunday, he was invited to this week’s Colonial as well as the Canadian Open in early June. Yet when asked on Sports Center late Sunday about going on the PGA Tour and preparing for the Champions Tour in three years, his answer was clear and concise. He wants to be home with his wife and teenage sons as well as with the members of his club. In the end, we got to know Michael Block. The world of golf is better off because of it.