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The 2023 PGA Championship concluded on Sunday with Brooks Koepka lifting the Wanamaker Trophy. Besides Koepka's redemption at the majors, the tournament also saw several memorable stories.
The second major of the season witnessed club pro Michael Block's dream run, Rory McIlroy's return to form, and a few more interesting moments.
Here's a look at six memorable storylines from the PGA Championship:
Six notable storylines from the 2023 PGA Championship:
1) Brooks Koepka's fifth major triumph
When 2023 began, Brooks Koepka was struggling with his form and even missed the cut at International Series Oman, an Asian Tour event. However, things took a turn with him winning the LIV Golf's Orlando event. He carried his form in the 2023 Masters as he finished T2 at Augusta National.
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The former World No.1 vowed not to repeat the mistakes he did at the first major of the season and he proved it by triumphing at Oak Hill. The PGA Championship triumph has brought him to the World No. 13 in the OWGR.
2) Michael Block's dream run
If there was someone who stole the show apart from Brooks Koepka, it was Michael Block, a comparatively unknown name on the PGA Tour.
The PGA Pro made the cut at Oak Hill, paired with Rory McIlroy on Sunday, and also holed a sole ace of the event. Block became the fans' favorite for the week, received an exemption from next year's Championship, and also earned an invitation for the Charles Schwab Challenge and RBC Canadian Open.
The 46-year-old golfer termed the week as a 'dream'.
He said as per Golf Monthly:
"I didn't know it was going to happen, but I knew if I just played my darned gameiright, that I could do this. I always knew it."
3) The Ryder Cup conundrum
A lot of calculations changed after the PGA Championship result. Brooks Koepka is almost set to feature in the US team for the fourth time after great results in both majors so far.
Sep Straka finished T7, which brought him into the probable of team Europe captained by Luke Donald. Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, and Shane Lowry are other European players who finished in the top-12.
4) LIV Golfers impress again at the majors
There were many speculations about LIV-associated golfers ahead of the 2023 Masters. Everyone was eager to see how they would perform amid all of the ban and outside controversies. However, the results proved that despite playing no-cut events for the most part of the year, they were still some of the best golfers out there.
Augusta National leaderboard had three breakaway league professionals in the top-5: Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, and Patrick Reed. At Oak Hill, Koepka won, Bryson DeChambeau finished tied for fourth, and Cameron Smith ended in ninth place.
5) Viktor Hovland gets closer to the major
The T2 finish at the 2023 PGA Championship was Viktor Hovland's best performance in the majors. He has finished in the top-10 of the last three majors played. At the Open Championship, he finished for tied fourth. At the Masters last month, he ended at T7.
The 25-year-old golfer had many chances at Oak Hill. At one point, he was leading. After 69 holes, he was just one stroke short of Koepka, but a double bogey on the sixteenth shrunk his chances to achieve the glory.
Nevertheless, given the immense talent of the 25-year-old Norweigan, the major win doesn't seem much far and he believes the same.
"It is really cool to see that things are going the right direction," he was quoted as saying via Golf Monthly. "If I just keep taking care of my business and just keep working on what I've been doing, I think we're going to get one of these soon."
6) Rory McIlroy's wait for the fifth major continues
Rory McIlroy was one of the favorites at this year's Masters, but he couldn't even make it to the weekend. After taking three weeks off, he made a return at Wells Fargo Championship earlier this month and finished T47.
Having missed the cuts at Players and the Masters, the expectations weren't high for Rory at Oak Hill. However, he surpassed his own expectations and finished T7 at 2-under.
The Northern Irishman hasn't won a major since 2014 and finished runner-up twice. Koepka won his first major three years after Rory won his last, and now he has one more than the latter.
It will be interesting if Rory changes this in the next two majors or Koepka widens the gap between the two.
