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Dean Bilton

Brooks Koepka wins PGA Championship, but Michael Block steals the show with incredible ace

Brooks Koepka closed out his fifth major triumph with a two-shot win at the PGA Championship. (Getty Images: Michael Reaves)

Brooks Koepka has held his nerve to win the PGA Championship, joining an elite group of golfers to have won five majors.

The American Koepka held a one-shot lead over Norway's Viktor Hovland coming into the final round and shot a steely 67 to run away with a two-shot win.

Meanwhile, the cult hero of this year's PGA Championship, Michael Block, produced a moment for the ages with a slam-dunk hole in one.

Block qualified for the year's second men's major as a PGA professional — a club pro, who works at a public course in California giving lessons and working in the pro shop.

His performances at Oak Hill this week had already made him one of the stories of the tournament, and had earned him a prime tee time alongside Rory McIlroy for the final round.

But nobody could have predicted the scenes at the par-three 15th hole.

Block stepped up to the 151-yard hole, hit a pure iron and watched the ball sail dead on line with the flag. Then it disappeared.

The crowd reaction told the story, as Block asked McIlroy and his caddie what had happened — the ball had gone straight in the bottom of the cup without so much as a bounce.

Block would go on to shoot a 1-over 71 to finish 1-over for the tournament — his 15th place finish ensured he would qualify again for next year's PGA Championship.

Koepka, who left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf in 2022, lifted the Wanamaker Trophy for a third time and first since he won at Bethpage in 2019.

Until today, that was Koepka's last of his four major titles, all won in a two-year stretch when he was the most dominant golfer on the planet.

"I look at where we were two years ago and everything that's gone on. I'm so happy right now, I'm lost for words. This is the coolest thing," Koepka said.

"I don't know how many guys have won five times, but to be with that list of names is absolutely incredible. It's something that, I'll be honest, I'm not even sure I dreamt as a kid that I'd win this many."

Injury and loss of form had derailed Koepka's career since that 2019 win, but at Oak Hill he recaptured the old magic.

Koepka made three consecutive birdies on the second, third and fourth holes to lay down a marker at the start of his fourth round, and despite a pair of bogeys on the difficult sixth and seventh, he never relinquished his lead.

A bogey on the par three 11th even managed to help Koepka maintain momentum, after an incredible shot from a greenside bunker.

Hovland had kept pace with Koepka for most of the round, but a wayward tee shot on the 16th found a perilous fairway bunker. His subsequent shot from the sand plugged in the wall of the bunker, leading to a telling double bogey.

Koepka birdied the 16th after a fabulous approach from the rough, effectively closing out his win with three holes to spare.

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