Go ahead and tell everyone you know that American golf is officially on the up and up.
The final three events on the PGA Tour schedule always feel like a slog given the weak-ish fields and being bookended by The Open and the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, but all three being won by an American under the age of 25 made for a mighty enjoyable close to the regular season.
Michael Brennan was the man responsible for extending the young American streak to three with his victory at the Wyndham Championship, and did so in style with a final round 64.
Over in Scotland, Michael Block did some things during the final round of the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship. It’s preposterous that Block is making headlines in August 2026 while playing on the European Senior Tour, but it would be downright irresponsible not to break down what may (or may not) have transpired with the king of content across the pond.
Joaquin Niemann won another LIV Golf event, bringing his total to nine titles on the breakaway circuit. He officially has as many LIV wins as Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau do, combined.
Welcome to Par Talk, a weekly read to get you caught up on all the happenings that took place in professional golf that you need to know. You can follow Mark on X @itismarkharris and email him at [email protected].
The future of American golf stays shining
First it was 21-year-old Jackson Koivun winning the 3M Open, then it was 24-year-old Michael Thorbjornsen taking home the Rocket Classic, and this week Brennan wins the Wyndham Championship by three shots for his second win on Tour at the age of 24 as well. It’s objectively fun, if you’re American that is, to see the final three tournaments of the PGA Tour regular season get picked off by three Americans in the infant stages of their careers.
Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker spoke early last week about his strategy when it comes to making his six captain’s picks for the September event, stressing that he wasn’t going to select young players for the sake of it, but what we’ve witnessed over the last three weeks he may be left with no other choice. Strong runs from any of these three players – or other youngsters in the conversation – throughout the playoffs is going to make things mighty interesting.
When it comes to Brennan’s performance on Sunday afternoon, it was just about as good as it gets when beginning the day tied for the lead and in the final pairing.
After settling into the round with three pars to start the day, he opted to put his foot on the gas beginning on the Par 4 fourth hole and rattled off five straight birdies. It’s probably not fair to say it was cruise control from that point onward with 10 holes left between winning a second win on Tour, but that’s certainly what it felt like with Brennan in control of his golf swing and 54-hole co-leader Beau Hossler searching for most of the day.
Brennan’s biggest weapon in the bag is the driver, and he had it working throughout the week, finishing ninth in average driving distance and third in strokes gained: off the tee. He falls into that category of player where if the putter gets scorching hot, he’s likely going to find his way onto the first page of the leaderboard in a weaker field event like the Wyndham. Seeing as how he picked up nearly nine shots on the field with the flatstick for the week, the putter was insanely warm.
Brennan’s victory at the Wyndham earns him an invitation back to next year’s Masters, and his mother delivering that news while celebrating on the 18th green made for a fantastic moment.
Do with this information what you will, but Michael Brennan now has as many wins on the PGA Tour as Ludvig Aberg.
That’s Michael Block’s music!
For anyone who may have forgotten about Michael Block, which, first of all, how dare you, but he is the PGA professional who took over the 2023 PGA Championship, finishing T-15, hitting a hole-in-one while playing with Rory McIlroy, and becoming one of the most memable and quotable characters the game has ever seen.
Despite his moment in the spotlight coming over three years ago, Block has remained a topic of conversation by qualifying for each of the last three PGA Championships, getting into the YouTube golf space, and receiving sponsor’s exemptions into tournaments here and there.
Speaking of sponsor’s exemptions, Block received one to compete in this week’s Staysure PGA Seniors Championship, which is a European Senior Tour event in Scotland not even televised in the United States, but Blockie still found a way to get us to pay attention.
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Ryan French, better known in the golf world as Monday Q Info, shared on X on Sunday afternoon that people he had spoken to explained that Block withdrew during the final round after the 12th hole and simply walked off the golf course without saying anything to his playing partners.
A bizarre alleged move, but one that wouldn’t be all that surprising coming from the character that is Mr. Block.
On top of that, it was reported that Block showed up to his final round tee time late and was given a two-stroke penalty.
Showing up late to a tee time and then quitting with six holes to go, while you’re there playing on a sponsor’s exemption, is truly unbelievable, yet things somehow got even more ridiculous when Block chimed in on social media.
After French’s reporting caught fire on social media, Block jumped on Instagram and posted a statement in which he confirmed he was “a couple of seconds late” to his tee time on Sunday because he “got caught up taking pictures for volunteers” before admitting it was “completely my fault.”
Playing victim while in the tournament on a freebie, trying to cast yourself as the good guy in the situation, is both condescending and objectively hilarious.
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Evin Priest of Golf Digest managed to get a hold of Block via text message on Sunday, to which he actually confirmed he was technically disqualified from the tournament, did tell his partners he was calling it quits, but also explained that he picked up a wrist injury while hitting a shot from a bush on the 10th hole.
The Legends Tour issued its own statement confirming Block had been disqualified after leaving the course before “completing his round and without completing the necessary process of advising tour officials of any injury or illness.”
So, nobody knew of the apparent wrist injury other than Block, who shared the information hours after French’s reporting and didn’t feel obliged to disclose the information on his own social media when explaining the situation.
Convenient is the first word that comes to mind.
Joaquin Niemann is good, and very rich
Joaquin Niemann won this week’s LIV event. Some iteration of that sentence has now been written nine times since he left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in 2022. To further put into perspective how great Niemann has been on the LIV circuit in recent years, he didn’t pick up his first win until February 2024. Nine wins across the span of 30 months isn’t too shabby.
Niemann’s win over the weekend came at Trump Bedminster, where he secured a three-shot margin over Harold Varner III. He also beat Bryson DeChambeau by a smooth 23 shots, with the two-time U.S. Open champion putting together his worst performance in years.
Niemann, who is still just 27 years old, has now earned over $80 million in on-course earnings alone since joining LIV Golf, which is a nice chunk of change to throw on top of the reported nine-figure deal he signed to begin with.
Nobody has come close to benefiting more with a move to LIV than Niemann. Yes, his major championship history is still bad with just two Top 15 finishes in 29 starts, but nine wins, which is four more than any other LIV player, is undeniably impressive.
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