CALIFORNIA - After his scintillating performance at the PGA Championship over the weekend, club pro Michael Block climbed from place 3,580 to No. 577 in the latest Official World Golf Ranking, released Monday.

The head pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, Calif., Block finished tied for 15th at 1-over 281. It was the best finish for a club professional at the PGA Championship since Lonnie Nielsen tied for 11th in 1986.

Being inside the top 15 ensured Block would be exempt into next year’s PGA Championship. He won’t have to play the annual PGA Professional Championship to qualify, as he has done in years past.

Block, 46, also was awarded an exemption into this week’s PGA Tour event, the Charles Schwab Challenge. He’s +40000 at DraftKings to win the event.

And he took home a check for US$288,333 (S$388,067).

Block took on the world’s best and cemented his status as a cult hero on the par-3 No. 15 on Sunday at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y., with a hole-in-one.

“It’s been a surreal experience, and I had this weird kind of sensation that life is going to be not quite the same moving forward,” Block said.

Brooks Koepka won his third PGA Championship, shooting a 9-under 271, and won US$3.15 million.

Scottie Scheffler finished in a tie for second place with Viktor Hovland of Norway, good enough to return him to No. 1 in the OWGR ranking. Spain’s Jon Rahm, who held the top spot, fell to No. 2. AFP