Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as we head to Colonial for the Charles Schwab Challenge.
1. A cult hero is born
Golf Digest’s Dave Shedloski…”The New York denizens wrapped him in their embrace all day. So he gave them one last reason to cheer. After pulling his approach to the 18th green well left of the green, Block somehow got up and down from the trampled rough, hitting a flop shot from some 32 yards to seven feet and then trickling in the par save that had more meaning than he knew.”
“Refusing to look at a scoreboard, Block, who began the day tied for eighth, didn’t find out until after signing for a one-over 71 that his final stroke enabled him to retain a share of 15th place, which earns him an exemption into the 2024 PGA at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. He completed the championship in one-over 281, tied with Tyrell Hatton and Eric Cole and posted the best finish by a club professional since Lonnie Nielsen was T-11 in 1986 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.”
“That was amazing,” McIlroy said to Block’s wife Val, giving her a hug of congratulations.
“I guess sort of when it’s your week, it’s your week in a way,” McIlroy said in the aftermath, again using the word amazing to describe his playing partner and the shot heard all the way across the country. “I think with the way the week’s went for him, it [the hole-in-one] was a fitting way to cap off his PGA Championship.”
Colby Powell for Golf Channel…“I honestly didn’t feel like I had a chance of winning this week,” McIlroy said after Sunday’s final round. “So it was just about going out there and playing the best I could and trying to make the most of it.”
“There were signs over the last four days that perhaps McIlroy would put it all together and make a charge, but just like Sunday when he opened his final round with a birdie only to follow with a bogey at the second from the middle of the fairway, it just felt as if he was swimming upstream in Allen’s Creek on his way to a T-7 finish.”
“So what’s to be made of another top 10 in a major where it never actually felt as if the 23-time PGA Tour winner would be the one holding the trophy?”
“I would say a top-10 finish, I would have been pretty happy with that at the start of the week,” McIlroy said. “But then once you’re in there and you actually feel like you could have done a little better, it starts to become disappointing. But if I think back to myself on Wednesday, say, just before the tournament started, and someone said, ‘You’re going to finish T-7 this week,’ I would say, actually, that’s probably not a bad week for me with how I’m feeling about everything.”
Adam Woodard for Golfweek…”After dazzling fans on the weekend – including an ace during Sunday’s final round – and finishing as the low professional at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, Block is taking his talents to the PGA Tour.”
“The 46-year-old who teaches at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, California, received a sponsor exemption into next week’s Charles Schwab Challenge, May 25-28, at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.”
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach…”Koepka’s 2-shot victory over Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler was the first major championship win by an LIV Golf League player. Other members of the Saudi Arabian-financed circuit said it proved they belong in the major championships.”
“It validates everything we’ve said from the beginning: That we’re competing at the highest level and we have the ability to win major championships,” Bryson DeChambeau said. “I really hope people can see the light now that we’re trying to provide the game of golf with something new and fresh. I think at the end of the day, both sides are going to have to come together at some point. It’s for the good of the game.”
THE MODERATOR: Michael Block is joining us following the 105th PGA Championship. First of all, congrats on an incredible week. Has everything you accomplished the last few days begun to sink in yet?
MICHAEL BLOCK: Not quite yet. I just got a call from Colonial, and I’m in next week as the last sponsor’s exemption, which is really even more mind-boggling now. So I’m readjusting flights to head to Dallas and Fort Worth, so I’m looking forward to that, to say the least.
No, this week’s been absolutely a dream. I didn’t know it was going to happen, but I knew if I just played my darned game, right, that I could do this. I always knew it.
I had this intuition that it was going to happen — I always had this thing: It was going to happen with Tiger Woods, it really was. I always saw myself coming down the stretch with Tiger Woods. I was like, I’m going to do it, even if I’m 45 or whatever it is, I’m going to come down the stretch at an event with Tiger.
It just happened to be that I was in the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, and I had Rory McIlroy in my group. I wasn’t coming down the stretch to win, but at the same time, Sunday at a major with the crowd here at Rochester was unreal.
6. Ban LIV rebels from Ryder Cup?
Oliver Brown for the Telegraph…”No sooner had Brooks Koepka tied the ribbon on his fifth major title than the vexed question of his professional allegiance reared its head once more. In the cosy confines of the Golf Channel studio, Brad Faxon, among the mildest-mannered figures you could hope to meet in the game, made the point that a man who had won the US PGA Championship three times in six years should, by any conventional logic, be a shoo-in for the Ryder Cup. “They’re not playing for money,” he said. “They’re playing for their country.”
“Except Brandel Chamblee, a pundit who has volubly opposed Koepka’s alignment with LIV Golf and all that the Saudi-backed breakaway stands for, shot down the suggestion with thinly veiled contempt. “They’re not playing for their tour?” he replied, incredulously. “There’s certainly a sense that the Europeans are playing for their tour.” “They’re playing golf,” Faxon deadpanned, before the pair engaged in an awkward death stare.”
“It was a perfect illustration of the insoluble schism that an injection of vast Saudi riches has wrought. On the one side, you have those who regard LIV as an irredeemably debased enterprise, tainting everybody and everything it touches. On the other, there are those championing the prerogative of the finest golfers, as independent contractors, to tee up on whichever tour gives them the greatest financial benefit. And in the middle you have somebody such as Faxon, who initially expressed unease about LIV’s pilfering of talent but who now regards the calls for Koepka to be eligible for the Ryder Cup as misplaced.”
Shelby Lofton for KSL.com…”A massive sinkhole has taken over a section of the golf course at the Fox Hollow Golf Club.”
“The club’s head golf professional, Jaxson Taylor, said the sinkhole was reported around 1 p.m. Saturday. No one fell in or was injured.”
“We got a phone call, and I ran out there and immediately got on the phone and contacted the city,” Taylor recalled. “Their rapidness, I think, was beneficial.”
“Golfer Destry Cobbley mows the course and was in the area of the sinkhole as recently as Friday.”
“There were no indications whatsoever that it was going to give way,” he said. “That’s kind of freaky.”
Kent Paisley for Golf Digest…”the top American on the LPGA announced Monday that she is going to be cautious the next few weeks because of an injury. Nelly Korda took to her Instagram story to explain that she withdrew from next week’s Mizuho America’s Open because of back pain. The new LPGA event this season, with tournament host Michelle Wie West, is at Liberty National in New Jersey.”
“Never fun or easy news to share but I have made the decision to withdraw from next week’s tournament at the advice of my medical team to address pain in my back,” Korda posted. “We are working on a treatment plan to ensure I’m back to 100% for the remainder of the exciting season ahead. Thank you everyone for the support.”
Elliott Heath for Golf Monthly…”After failing to qualify for his first Major in 24 years, Sergio Garcia has made sure that won’t be happening twice in a row after making it through to next month’s US Open.”
“The Spaniard had to do it the hard way, making it through from a stacked field at Bent Tree Country Club and Northwood Club to the north of Dallas city center.”
“Garcia opened up with a 66 at Bent Tree before another 66 in the afternoon at Northwood to take one of the eight spots on offer for LA Country Club. His score of nine-under-par got him through in T4th, with a birdie on the last ensuring he avoided a playoff.”
Ben Alberstadt is the Editor-in-Chief at GolfWRX, where he’s led editorial direction and gear coverage since 2018. He first joined the site as a freelance writer in 2012 after years spent working in pro shops and bag rooms at both public and private golf courses, experiences that laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of equipment and all facets of this maddening game.
Based in Philadelphia, Ben’s byline has also appeared on PGATour.com, Bleacher Report...and across numerous PGA DFS and fantasy golf platforms.
Off the course, Ben is a committed cat rescuer and, of course, a passionate Philadelphia sports fan.
Follow him on Instagram @benalberstadt.
I’m going to gush in this intro paragraph, to get the emo stuff done early. I’ve not pulled harder for a professional to win, than Cameron Young. I coach golf in New York state, and each spring, my best golfers head to a state championship in Poughkeepsie. I first saw Cameron there as a 9th grade student. I saw him three more times after that. I reconnecected with Coach Haas from Wake Forest, an old interview subject from my days on the Old Gold and Black, the Wake newspaper. He was there to watch Cameron. After four years at Wake Forest, Young won on the Korn Ferry Tour, made it to the big tour, almost won two majors, almost won five other events, and finally got the chalice about 25 minutes from the Wake campus. Congratulations, Cameron. You truly are a glass of the finest. #MotherSoDear
OK, let’s move on to the Tour Rundown. The major championship season closed this week in Wales, with the Women’s Open championship. The PGA Tour bounced through Greensboror, N.C., while the PGA Tour Americas hit TO (aka, Toronto) for a long-winded event. The Korn Ferry lads made a stop in Utah, one of just two events for that tour in August. The many-events, golf season is winding down, as we ease from summer toward fall in the northern hemisphere. Let’s bask in the glory of an August sunrise, and run down a quartet of events from the first weekend of the eighth month.
LET/LPGA @ Women’s Open: Miyu bends, but she doesn’t break
Royal Porthcawl was not a known commodity in the major tournament community. The Welsh links had served as host to men’s senior opens, men’s amateurs, and Curtis and Walker Cups in prior years, but never an Open championship for the women or the men. The last-kept secret in UK golf was revealed once again to the world this week, as the best female golfers took to the sandy stage.
Mao Saigo, Grace Kim, Maja Stark, and Minjee Lee hoped to add a second major title to previous wins this season, but only Lee was able to finish inside the top ten. The 2025 playing of the Women’s Open gave us a new-faces gallery from day one. The Kordas and Thitikulls were nowhere to be found, and it was the Mayashitas, Katsus, and Lim Kims that secured the Cymru spotlight. The first round lead was held at 67 by two golfers. One of them battled to the end, while the other posted 81 on day two, and missed the cut. Sitting one shot behind was Miyu Yamashita.
On day two, Yamashita posted the round of the tournament. Her 65 moved her to the front of the aisle, in just her fourth turn around a women’s Open championship. With the pre-event favorites drifting off pace, followers narrowed into two camps: those on the side of an underdog, and others hoping for a weekend charge from back in the pack. In the end, we had a bit of both.
On Saturday, Yamashita bent with 74 on Saturday, offering rays of hope to her pursuing pack. England’s Charley Hull made a run on Sunday closing within one shot before tailing off to a T2 finish with Minami Katsu. Katsu posted the other 65 of the week, on Saturday, but could not overtake her countrywoman, Yamashita. wunderkind Lottie Woad needed one round in the 60s to find her pace, but could only must close-to’s, ending on 284 and a tie with Minjee for eighth.
On Sunday, Yamashita put away the thoughts of Saturday’s struggles, with three-under 33 on the outward half. She closed in plus-one 37, but still won by two, for a first Major and LPGA title.
PGA Tour @ Wyndham: Young gathers first title near home
Cameron Young grew up along the Hudson river, above metro New York, but he also calls Winston-Salem home. He spent four years as a student and athlete at Wake Forest University, then embarked on tour. This week in Greensboro, after a bit of a break, Young opened with 63-62, and revved the engine of Is this the week once more. Runner-up finishes at the Open, the PGA, and a handful of PGA Tour events had followers wonder when the day would come.
On Saturday, Young continued his torrid pace with 65, giving him a five-shot advantage over his closest pursuer. Sunday saw the Scarborough native open with bogey, then reel off five consecutive birdies to remind folks that his time had, at last, arrived. Pars to the 16th, before two harmless bogeys coming home, made Young the 1000th winner of an official PGA Tour event (dating back to before there was a PGA Tour) throughout history. What’s next? I have a suspicion, but I’m not letting on. Mac Meissner closed with 66 to finish solo 2nd, while Mark Hubbard and Alex Noren tied for third.
Korn Ferry Tour @ Utah Championship: Are you Suri it’s Julian?
Who knows exactly when the flower will bloom? Julian Suri played a solid careet at Duke University, then paid his dues on the world’s minor tours for three years. He won twice on two tours in Europe, in 2017. Since then, the grind has continued for the journeyman from New York city. At age 34, Suri broke through in Beehive state, outlasting another grinder (Spencer Levin) and four others, by two shots.
Taylor Montgomery began the week with 62, then posted 64, then 68, and finally, 70. That final round was his undoing. He finished in that second-place tie, two back of the leader. Trace Crowe, Barend Botha, and Kensei Hirata made up the last of the almost quintet. As for Suri, his Sunday play was sublime. His nines were 32 and 31, with his only radar blip a bogey at ten. He closed in style with one final birdie, to double his winning margin. Hogan bloomed late…might Suri?
PGA Tour Americas @ Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos – CBM Aggregates
Some tournament names run longer than others. This week in Toronto, at the Heathlands course at TPC Toronto, we might have seen the longest tournament title in recorded history. The OVOPBVCCBMA was a splendid affair. It saw three rounds of 62 on Thursday, but of those early risers, only Drew Goodman would stick around until the end. 64 was the low tally on day two, and two of those legionnaires managed to finish inside the top three at week’s end. Saturday brought a 63 from Patrick Newcomb, and he would follow with 64 on Sunday, to finish solo fourth.
Who, then, ended up winning the acronym of the year? It turns out that Carson Bacha had the right stuff in TeeOhhh. Bacha and Jay Card III posted 63 and 64, respectively, on day four, to tie for medalist honors at 23-under 261. Nathan Franks was one shot adrift, despite also closing with 63. If you didn’t go low on Sunday, it was about the check, not the championship.
Bacha and JC3 returned to the 18th hole twice in overtime. Card nearly chipped in from the thick stuff for birdie, while Bacha peeked and shoved a ten-feet attempt at the win. On the second go-round, Card was long with his approach, into the native grasses once more. He was unable to escape, and a routine par from the fairway was enough to earn the former Auburn golfers a first KFT title.
Card III and Bacha both miss their birdie tries on the first playoff hole.
GolfWRX is live this week from the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season, the Wyndham Championship.
Photos are flowing into the forums from Sedgefield Country Club, where we already have a GolfWRX spirit animal Adam Schenk WITB and plenty of putters for your viewing pleasure.
Check out links to all our photos below, which we’ll continue to update as more arrive.
Kurt Kitayama just won his 2nd PGA Tour event at the 3M Open. Kurt is a Bridgestone staffer but with just the ball and bag. Here are the rest of the clubs he used to secure a win at the 2025 3M Open.
Driver: Titleist GT3 (11 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT1 3Tour (14.5 degrees, A3 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX
7-wood: Titleist GT1 (21 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX
