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Michael block makes hole-in-one, finishes t-15, joins golf channel set, gets invite to schwab challenge, share this article.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Michael Block’s fairytale week keeps getting better.

The 46-year-old club pro aced the 151-yard par-3 15th hole at Oak Hill on Sunday with a 7-iron. Block, who was playing alongside Rory McIlroy, sent his tee shot into the air at “Plateau,” the shortest hole on the course and dunked it.

“No, no way,” he said as the crowd erupted. “Are you kidding me? I’ll cause that delay anytime.”

Block, who teaches at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, California, was the only club pro to make the 36-hole cut this week.

McIlroy smiled widely and slapped Block’s hand and gave him a congratulatory bear hug and tap to the belly.

“I’m like, ‘Why is Rory giving me a hug?'” Block said. “Rory is giving me a hug for hitting it 3, 4, 5 feet? That’s weird. I’m like, ‘I think I just made it.'”

MICHAEL BLOCK! HOLE-IN-ONE! pic.twitter.com/AGckvo8F7B — Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) May 21, 2023

It is the 29th ace in the PGA Championship since 1983.

The hole-in-one lifted Block back to even par for the day and the tournament .

Michael Block celebrates after his hole-in-one on the 15th hole during the final round of the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York. (Photo: Abbie Parr/Associated Press)

Block’s home club had dozens of eyes glued to the CBS telecast and the remote celebration went crazy after the ace.

Michael Block's home club, Arroyo Trabucho, goes wild!! #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/rWbv4VU3uN — PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 21, 2023

“To do it on that hole on this stage was a lifelong dream,” Block said. “It can never be better. That’s it. I can retire. Good night.”

Block needed a top-15 finish to secure a return visit to the PGA in 2024 at Valhalla, and that ace certainly help.

But it was a clutch up-and-down par on the closing 18th hole that sealed it for him, as a final-round 71 punched his ticket for next year. Among the PGA Tour elite that Block’s 1-over 281 total beat this week: Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama, Jon Rahm, Max Homa and Dustin Johnson.

After his round, and after doing a session in the media center, he got a call from the tournament director at the Charles Schwab Challenge, who offered Block the final sponsor exemption . Block accepted the call on speaker phone and he and his wife got emotional with the good news. He also received an invite to the RBC Canadian Open.

Block topped off his day at Oak Hill by joining the set of Golf Channel’s Live From, and chopped it up with Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee and Brad Faxon.

For his work on the course, Block earned $288,333 .

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What Is the Longest Hole-in-One in PGA Tour History and Who Made It?

The National Hole-in-One Registry says the average golfer has a 12,000-1 chance at making an ace. For PGA Tour pros, that dips to 3,000-1. It’s still an improbable occurrence, but hole-in-ones happen almost weekly on Tour. Last season, there were 36 aces made. You see hole-in-one highlights all the time on SportsCenter, but have you ever wondered what the longest ace in PGA Tour history is? The answer is longer than you could probably ever hit a golf ball.

Who has the most holes-in-one in PGA Tour history?

Tiger Woods might be the greatest golfer ever, but he isn’t even close to the best hole-in-one artist. Woods has made three aces in his professional career, but his first unofficial ace came from when he was just six years old.

Phil Mickelson actually has five aces in his career. He’s close to the top of the list, but he’s not the all-time leader. That title belongs to two men: Robert Allenby and Hal Sutton . They both recorded 10 holes-in-one on the PGA Tour. Not too shabby, but neither of them holds the record for the longest ace.

The longest hole-in-one wasn’t even made on a par-3

The longest hole-in-one in PGA Tour history came from Andrew Magee in 2001 . It was historic for two reasons. One because it set the record for the longest hole-in-one, and two because it didn’t even happen on a par-3.

That’s right. Magee made the first and only hole-in-one on a par-4 in Tour history.

The iconic hole-in-one occurred on the 17th hole at TPC Scottsdale. Magee, still angry from a double-bogey on the previous hole, teed his ball up and let it rip before the group in front even left the green. He didn’t think he could reach the hole, but his anger must’ve given him superstrength.

The ball didn’t just reach the green. It rolled into the group ahead, bounced off one of their putters and redirected right into the hole. Ace! 332 yards on a par-4. Still the longest hole-in-one in Tour history and the only ace on a par-4 to this day.

Most amateur players can only dream of hitting a golf ball 332 yards. Magee did it and made a hole-in-one in the process.

Has there ever been an ace on a par-5?

A hole-in-one on a par 5? ? It's happened FIVE times: https://t.co/SZz50pWqXr pic.twitter.com/h4QH2EAHXb — Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) April 15, 2020

Although no one in PGA Tour history has ever recorded an ace on a par-5, there have actually been five records of par-5 holes-in-one . And no, none of them were from Happy Gilmore.

The first “condor” occurred in 1962 off the club of Larry Bruce. On a 480-yard par-5 at Hope Country Club in Arkansas, Bruce cut the sharp dogleg and actually made a hole-in-one.

Jack Bartlett did the same in 2007 on the 17th hole at Royal Wentworth Falls C.C. in Australia. He cut the dogleg of the 511-yard hole and dropped his drive in the hole.

Maybe the most impressive ace in golf history came from Shaun Lynch in 1995. He made one on the 496-yard par-5 at Teign Valley G.C. in Christow, England, but that wasn’t the impressive part. Lynch didn’t even use a driver for the ace. He made his hole-in-one with a 3-iron.

The longest recorded hole-in-one in golf history comes from a man named Mike Crean. In 2002, Crean made an ace on the 517-yard ninth hole at Green Valley Ranch G.C. in Colorado. The thin air definitely helped Crean reach the hole, but it’s still impressive nonetheless.

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Jack Dougherty

Writing professionally since 2015, Jack Dougherty spent six years as a sportswriter with publications such as GoPSUSports.com, the Centre Daily Times, and the Associated Press before joining Sportscasting in 2020. He covers the NBA, the NFL, and the world of golf extensively and has added expertise on any team located in or around his hometown of Philadelphia. Yes, that includes the Philadelphia Eagles, the Philadelphia 76ers, and Philadelphia Phillies .

When Jack isn’t writing about sports, he’s watching them or playing them as he regularly heads to the gym for some pickup basketball or the golf course to hit the links. He’s also an avid participant in the sports betting scene who worked at a casino sportsbook for a year and learned the ins and outs of the industry before bringing his expertise to Sportscasting with one excellent gambling recommendation after another.

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Jimmy Dunne resigns from PGA Tour board. He feels his input is no longer needed

FILE - PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne departs the witness table after testifying before a Senate Subcommittee on Investigations hearing on the proposed PGA Tour-LIV Golf partnership, July 11, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Dunne, one of the architects of the deal with the Saudi backers of LIV, resigned from the PGA Tour board on Monday, May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Tiger Woods se despide tras su última ronda en el Masters de Augusta, el domingo 14 de abril de 2024 (AP Foto/David J. Phillip)

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, celebrates after an eagle on the 15th hole from the bunker during the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club Sunday, May 12, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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Jimmy Dunne, one of the architects behind the PGA Tour’s stunning reversal to strike a deal with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf, abruptly resigned Monday from the PGA Tour board with a letter that expressed frustration at the lack of progress that no longer included his input.

Dunne, a power broker on Wall Street and in golf circles, was not included on the PGA Tour Enterprise’s new “transaction subcommittee” that will be handling the direct negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Dunne and Ed Herlihy, an attorney specializing in mergers and acquisition and chairman of PGA Tour Inc., were whom PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan leaned on when he first met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor, that led to the June 6 agreement .

The immediate result of the deal was an end to antitrust lawsuits neither side wanted and had already cost the PGA Tour in the neighborhood of $50 million. The tour has since brought on Strategic Sports Group as a minority investor in a deal initially worth $1.5 billion.

“As you are aware, I have not been asked to take part in negotiations with the PIF since June 2023,” Dunne said in his letter to the board first obtained by Sports Illustrated .

“Since the players now outnumber the independent directors on the board, and no meaningful progress has been made towards a transaction with the PIF, I feel like my vote and my role is utterly superfluous,” he wrote.

The tour, feeling pushback and resentment for the secrecy behind the June 6 deal, appointed Tiger Woods to the board with no term limit. The board now has six player directors — Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Webb Simpson, Adam Scott and Peter Malnati — and five independent directors.

Dunne is the second independent director to resign following the June 6 announcement. Randall Stephenson, former AT&T chairman, resigned in July over objections to the agreement with the Saudis.

Rory McIlroy resigned from the board in November, and player directors appointed Spieth to finish his term.

The move signals the tour in a state of disarray as it tries to work out a deal with PIF and start the process of unifying a sport that has been divided since LIV launched in June 2022.

The June 6 agreement included a deadline to complete a deal by the end of 2023. By then, the tour had private equity suitors and LIV Golf signed reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm and eventually Tyrrell Hatton.

Dunne said along with the lawsuits being dismissed — often overlooked as a key point in the agreement with PIF — the agreement did not contain an exclusivity clause that allowed players “a full range of options to seek outside investors.”

“That resulted in a multi-billion-dollar commitment from the Strategic Sports Group,” Dunne wrote. “I believe that history will look favorably on this outcome and the very real opportunities now afforded the tour.”

Monahan and the player directors eventually met with Al-Rumayyan for the first time in March, though there has been no clear progress on any deal — PIF as a minority investor or how to bring back the best players together more than four times a year at the majors.

Simpson, meanwhile, offered to resign from the board contingent on McIlroy replacing him. That never happened, with McIlroy saying last week “there was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason.”

Instead, McIlroy was added to the transaction subcommittee along with Woods; Scott; Monahan; liaison director Joe Ogilvie; Joe Gorder, the CEO of Valero Energy Corp. and chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises; and John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group, a principal in SSG.

“It is crucial for the board to avoid letting yesterday’s differences interfere with today’s decisions, especially when they influence future opportunities for the tour,” Dunne wrote. “Unifying professional golf is paramount to restoring fan interest and repairing wounds left from a fractured game. I have tried my best to move all minds in that direction.”

According to the tour’s bylaws, the four independent directors choose Dunne’s replace after consulting the player directors and John Lindert, the PGA of America president who is a nonvoting board member.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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2024 Wells Fargo Championship prize money payouts for each PGA Tour player

It pays to play well on the PGA Tour. Just ask this week’s winner, Rory McIlroy .

The 35-year-old won the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club on Sunday at 17 under by five shots to secure his 26th win on the PGA Tour after a blistering final-round performance. McIlroy shot a 6-under 66 and played Nos. 8-15 at 8 under with a pair of eagles.

For his efforts, McIlroy will take home the top prize of $3.6 million, while 54-hole leader Xander Schauffele will bank $2.16 million for finishing runner-up. Even Ben An in third place cleared seven figures with a $1.36 million payday.

With $20 million up for grabs in the signature event, check out how much money each PGA Tour player earned this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Prize money payouts

Story originally appeared on GolfWeek

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2024 PGA Championship odds, predictions: Five sleepers who could surprise to win Wanamaker Trophy

The second major championship of the year isn't immune to the occasional long-shot winner.

The PGA Championship returns to Valhalla Golf Club for the first time in a decade. Back in 2014, it was Rory McIlroy who raised his second Wanamaker Trophy in a race both against the dark and the likes of Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler. While McIlroy was the favorite to take home the title at the onset of the week, the man who he played alongside in the final pairing on Sunday, Bernd Wiesberger, was a bit of an unknown.

Unknowns, long shots, sleepers -- whatever you want to call them -- they have made contending at the PGA Championship somewhat of a habit over the years. Some have even proven to be victorious. While Brooks Koepka was hardly a sleeper in 2023, Mito Pereira was the definition of one at Southern Hills. Standing on the tee on the 72nd hole with a one-stroke lead, the Chilean looked primed to cash a 200-1 ticket for his faithful backers. Instead, heartbreak ensued.

That type of emotion can only stem from the underdogs; just ask Phil Mickelson. At age 50, Mickleson became the oldest player to win a major championship with his unlikely triumph at the Ocean Course in 2021. Getting the better of Koepka on Kiawah Island, Mickelson cashed his sixth major victory and a hefty 250-1 price tag for his fans.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Rory McIlroy wasn’t comfortable on either of the par 3s on Quail Hollow Club’s front nine. They both presented awkward yardages that made it difficult for him to accomplish the swing thought that he’d unlocked two weeks earlier while winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside partner Shane Lowry.

He hit a short iron into a bunker at Quail Hollow’s fourth hole and made bogey, then missed the green left two holes later. He walked down the hill with his club behind him, his hands spread shoulder-width apart, holding the shaft parallel to the ground. He stopped on a forward tee to make a practice swing.

He looked like a man searching for his swing on a Sunday. It is not an enviable state. McIlroy saved par but fell two behind Xander Schauffele on the next hole after three-putting for par and watching Schauffele hole a 12-footer for eagle.

The months preceding the Zurich Classic were frustrating enough that McIlroy made a pilgrimage from south Florida to Las Vegas to see swing coach Butch Harmon. It seemed Sunday that the frustrations may continue, that the good vibes that emanated from McIlroy’s karaoke performance at TPC Louisiana may have possessed a short shelf life.

McIlroy, Lowry sing 'Don't Stop Believin’' after winning Zurich Classic 

Things can change quickly in this game, however. Sunday at the Wells Fargo Championship was another example. In a handful of holes, McIlroy went from trailing his playing partner to reasserting himself as one of the planet’s top players, among the few who can present a challenge to Scottie Scheffler at next week’s PGA Championship. McIlroy displayed a skill set that few can emulate but all hold in awe.

It started on the short eighth hole, where McIlroy made a 12-foot birdie putt and Schauffele missed from just inside him. Then McIlroy hit a “flighted” 8-iron into the next hole, the same sort of partial shot that had perplexed him earlier in the round. This one flew straight at the flag and stopped 10 feet behind the flag. He made the putt to draw even with Schauffele.

Rory McIlroy sticks approach to set up birdie at Wells Fargo

It was the start of an eight-hole stretch that was reminiscent of McIlroy’s most inspired performances, the type that once drew comparisons to peak Tiger Woods and make McIlroy look unbeatable. When McIlroy is on, his flowing tempo produces an unparalleled combination of length and accuracy, leaving him short approach shots that allow birdies and eagles to come with ease. McIlroy at his peak produces the sort of fawning that infuriates his detractors, but that any objective observer must admit is incomparable.

Rory McIlroy drains 33-footer for eagle to take the lead at Wells Fargo

On Sunday at Quail Hollow, those unassailable skills allowed him to play the eight holes from Nos. 8-15 in 8-under par, quickly turning his showdown with one of the world’s top-five players into a rout.

If McIlroy and Schauffele were playing match play, McIlroy would’ve won seven of those eight holes, the lone exception being when they both made par on the 11th. Schauffele made two birdies during that stretch, but McIlroy eagled both holes.

Rory McIlroy holes out from bunker for eagle at Wells Fargo

“He's Rory McIlroy, you know?” said Schauffele. “He hits it 350 yards in the air downwind and he has shorter clubs into firm greens than anyone else. When he's on, he's on.”

McIlroy was on, indeed.

An inconsequential double-bogey 6 at the last hole gave McIlroy a five-shot win, his largest winning margin since he won the 2019 RBC Canadian Open by seven. This was McIlroy’s 26th PGA TOUR victory and fourth at the Wells Fargo Championship, his most at any PGA TOUR event.

“Whenever I sort of hit some of these milestones or do these things, I always think back to, for example, like 20-year-old me playing in this tournament for the first time,” McIlroy said. “If I had known back then that this is the way everything was going to pan out, I probably wouldn't have believed you. Anytime things like this happen, I feel incredibly lucky and grateful that I have the opportunity to do what I do.”

He shot a final-round 62 to win his first PGA TOUR title here in 2010, broke his own course record five years later to win by seven and then won again at Quail Hollow in 2021.

He shot Sunday’s low score in this year’s win, a 65 that was marred only by that closing double bogey on an approach that caught the creek past the green. He finished at 17-under 267 (67-68-67-65) to win by five on a week where firm greens gave a major-championship feel. Schauffele was the only other player to finish double digits under par.

“I know what I’m capable of,” McIlroy said. “Whenever I fire on all cylinders, this is what I can produce.”

It was a performance that was unlocked by the victory in his previous start, where the joy that accompanied winning alongside his friend, and the swing key he uncovered in New Orleans, allowed McIlroy to swing freely.

Now he will arrive at Valhalla for this week’s PGA Championship on a two-tournament winning streak. The last player to win a major after claiming his previous two starts? That was McIlroy in the 2014 PGA, also at Valhalla, which he won after victories at The Open and World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.

“Going to a venue next week where I've won,” he said, “it feels like the stars are aligning a little bit.”

Rory McIlroy’s news conference after winning Wells Fargo Championship

The 2014 PGA Championship was his fourth major victory in a three-year stretch, but he has not won one since. McIlroy is often compared to that former version of himself, and those comparisons will likely be renewed in Kentucky as questions are posed about his 10 years without another major. McIlroy insists he is a better player than he was then, and a better person.

Yes, he admits that he possessed a “killer instinct” that has been missing in recent years, but McIlroy enjoys the process of personal growth too much to remain an avatar of a former self. Just as he shed his baby fat for a sleeker, more muscular build, McIlroy’s mind has also undergone a transformation. An enthusiastic reader of self-help books, McIlroy’s growth mindset has led him on a quest for enlightenment. Being less brash may make him less dominant, but his emotions and his game have become more even-keeled, leveling out the peaks and the valleys and producing more consistency on and off the course.

“I've been sort of banging this drum for the last few years, but I'm a way better player now than I was back then,” McIlroy said. “I haven't had the major record to back that up, but I've had the wins, I've done everything else there is to do in the game since 2014. The only thing I need to do is get another major. You know, a win like this going into the PGA Championship next week is a good way to prep for that.”

McIlroy’s best showings are always set up by his driving. He said he unlocked a swing key at the Zurich that carried over to this week. Being on familiar fairways also helped him swing without inhibition. He averaged 325.5 yards on all tee shots this week, 8.5 yards longer than the No. 2 player in that stat. He led the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and SG: Tee-to-Green, and he was second in both Greens in Regulation and average Proximity to the Hole.

The shots that made him the happiest weren’t tee shots, but the finesse irons he hit that displayed greater variety in his shotmaking.

“The two best shots I hit today were the three-quarter 8-iron into nine and the 9-iron into 13, just really good iron shots when I needed to hit them,” McIlroy said Sunday. “So that gives me more satisfaction and more confidence than any of the drives I hit out there.”

Rory McIlroy takes nice line off the tee to set up birdie at Wells Fargo

He succeeded throughout the bag, ranking in the top 10 in every Strokes Gained category (Off-the-Tee, Approach-the-Green, Around-the-Green and Putting). He also got up and down 17 times in 23 opportunities to rank second in scrambling for the week.

His bogey at the fourth hole Sunday was his lone bogey in a 53-hole span that commenced with the start of the second round. The only other over-par hole he had was the inconsequential double bogey at the last hole, which cut his winning margin to five shots.

“I’ve never seen someone who reminds me of Tiger Woods more than when Rory McIlroy is in full flight,” CBS analyst Trevor Immelman said on the broadcast.

McIlroy made five putts from outside of 10 feet Sunday, including a 34-footer for eagle on No. 10 (where Schauffele missed a 12-foot eagle putt of his own). McIlroy’s short game helped him maintain his newfound lead when he missed both the fairway and green at Nos. 11 and 12. The bunker shot he holed to eagle the par-5 15th bordered on the outrageous, McIlroy making a mockery of a golf course that played more than a stroke over par Sunday.

The victory was McIlroy’s first individual title on the PGA TOUR since the Genesis Scottish Open last July and his first individual title in the United States since THE CJ CUP in South Carolina in the fall of 2022. The Hero Dubai Desert Classic, which he won in January, was his only individual title between the Genesis Scottish Open and Wells Fargo. Before the Zurich, McIlroy had finished inside the top 15 once in eight PGA TOUR starts this year.

“I just went through a bit of a quiet spell there for a couple of months at the start of this year,” he said, “but I feel like I'm back where I need to be.”

Sean Martin is a senior editor for the PGA TOUR. He is a 2004 graduate of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. Attending a small school gave him a heart for the underdog, which is why he enjoys telling stories of golf's lesser-known players. Follow Sean Martin on Twitter .