The 2023 PGA Championship that saw Brooks Koepka win his fifth major was consumed by the feel-good story of Michael Block, a club pro from Southern California who shocked the world and finished tied for 15th at Oak Hill Country Club.

The PGA of America uses the PGA Championship to highlight its club pros across the country, most of whom work at golf courses full-time, teaching lessons and taking care of course business. 

Twenty of those PGA Professionals qualified for the event, but Block, who works at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, California, was the only one to make the cut, his first time doing so after four other PGA Championship appearances.

Already a wild story halfway through the tournament, Block battled with 2013 U.S. Open Champion Justin Rose on Saturday before playing Sunday’s final round with superstar Rory McIlroy. 

The made-for-Hollywood story climaxed when Block sent the gallery into a frenzy with a hole-in-one on the par-3 15th hole. The improbable run culminated with Block sinking a par putt on the 18th green to clinch a tie for 15th. 

Not only did that finish earn Block $288,333 but also a spot in next year’s PGA Championship. 

Block appears to be one of golf’s hottest commodities at the moment. He participated in live walk-and-talks on the air with ESPN and CBS during his second and third rounds and has been invited to play in this week’s PGA Tour event in Texas, the Charles Schwab Challenge, and the RBC Canadian Open in June.

Brooks Koepka’s two-shot victory over Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland at the PGA Championship vaulted the 33-year-old into golf history and fueled LIV Golf’s ongoing battle with the PGA Tour.

The win gave Koepka his fifth major championship, the same number as legends like Seve Ballesteros and Byron Nelson. The $3.15 million paycheck is actually less than the $4 million Koepka took home from his most recent victory on the LIV series last month in Orlando. 

The PGA Championship this year boosted its overall purse to $17.5 million, up from the $15 million it shelled out last year.

Koepka held a one-shot lead heading into Sunday’s final round and was able to clinch victory after losing his 54-hole lead at the Masters to Jon Rahm. The win is the first major championship for a player currently competing on LIV and will almost certainly be a talking point for the controversial series as it moves ahead.

Three LIV golfers finished in the top 10, with Bryson DeChambeau at T-4 and Cam Smith at T-9. At Augusta National, Koepka and fellow LIV golfers Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed gave the circuit three golfers in the top five.

The biggest takeaway from Koepka’s triumph is that competing on LIV instead of the PGA Tour does not automatically take a player out of major form. But the larger question will be whether LIV can parlay Koepka’s performance into more interest in the league weekly.

Last week, college athletes took significant steps on the path toward fair compensation. 

The National Labor Relations Board targeted the NCAA, Pac-12, and USC in a complaint filed last Thursday saying that college athletes should be treated as employees.

The complaint alleged that USC’s media policies violated labor laws. The school’s handbook tells students to “smile” and “be positive” when being interviewed by the media. It also tells students not to “post anything that would embarrass USC, your team, or your family” on social media.

The legal action, which has been in the works since December 2022, sets up a court battle over the status of student athletes this November. The moves also open the door to unionization and employment status for the college football and basketball players who create the biggest media draws for their conferences.

The Pac-12 is negotiating its next set of media deals. Its current 12-year pacts with Fox and ESPN expire next year and bring an average annual value of $250 million. USC is departing the conference for the Big Ten, along with UCLA, in 2024.

In a lengthy rebuttal to the NLRB’s complaint, the conference warned against calling student-athletes employees, saying that “a wage for their ‘services’ is antithetical to the educational relationship between the schools and all of the students who participate in the Conference’s many sports, including those who play football and basketball at USC.”

Foot Locker’s stock dropped 27% on Friday after the company reported an 11.4% drop in sales for the quarter.

The retailer’s total sales for Q1 2023 were $1.92 billion compared to $2.17 billion year-over-year. Net income for the three-month period ending April 29 was $36 million — a sharp drop from the $132 million reported for the period in 2022.

CEO Mary Dillon attributed Foot Locker’s sales decline to the “tough macroeconomic backdrop” that forced the company to lower product prices to “both drive demand and manage inventory.”

In March, Foot Locker said it will close 400 U.S. retail stores by 2026, and close another 125 stores operated by its Champs Sports subsidiary. In their absence, Foot Locker announced its “Lace Up” sales strategy, in which the company will open 250 new “concept” retail stores targeting locations in communities drawn to sneaker culture. 

Nike Collab

In an attempt to rejuvenate sales, Foot Locker plans to partner with Nike to feature more LeBron James and Kevin Durant retro shoes this holiday season. While Foot Locker joins many retailers in struggling with the modern economic climate, the Swoosh’s Q3 revenues, announced in March, grew 14% year-over-year.