Weekend Update: Tom Kim Earns Military Exemption, Michael Block Stumbles, and More

We’re firmly in the throes of fall, but that doesn’t mean the golf world was quiet over the weekend. Neither was Michael Block, but what else is new?

The DP World Tour is in full swing, the PGA Tour stopped at one of the most scenic venues in pro golf, and Brian Rolapp is getting mentioned in Truth Social posts.

Here’s everything you missed from an eventful weekend in golf.

In what he described as the longest day of his life, South Korea’s Tom Kim won individual gold at the Asian Games, earning an exemption from mandatory military service.

Immediately after finishing as the top scorer on either side at the Presidents Cup, Kim boarded a plane headed straight to Japan. He landed at 5 a.m. local time Tuesday, played a practice round in the rain, and began the competition Wednesday. After taking a one-shot lead into the final round, Kim pulled away to win by three.

"At a Tour event, it is not as if you would feel tension every day from Thursday to Sunday," Kim said. "But this week, I was nervous from start to finish.”

Not a quote for PGA Tour brass to frame in Ponte Vedra!

The victory solidifies what has been a wildly successful 2026 for the 24-year-old, who experienced a downturn in 2025 after a hot start to his PGA Tour career. Kim recorded just one top 10 last season. This year, he has rebounded with four — not including the Asian Games — highlighted by a win at the Scottish Open and a third-place finish at the U.S. Open.

Kim still needs to improve off the tee and/or with his putter to project as a top-10 player in the world, but his trajectory is encouraging. And now, the possibility of a military-service interruption no longer looms over his golf career.

On the DP World Tour, Adrian Meronk claimed a two-shot victory at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, his fifth DP World Tour title and first non-LIV Golf victory in nearly three years. Decked out in Cleeks GC gear, an emotional Meronk celebrated his return to the winner’s circle. At 33, the Pole is still in search of his first Ryder Cup appearance, and being left off the team in 2023 clearly hasn’t left his mind. Meronk finished fifth on the European points list that year but was passed over by captain Luke Donald for a spot at Marco Simone. He wasn’t shy about his frustration back then or now.

“I was super close last time,” he said at St. Andrews on Sunday. “I felt I would get in and I didn't.”

Making the team at Adare Manor remains a long shot, but Meronk is at least off to a strong start in the new qualification window.

Elsewhere at the Dunhill, Sunday brought disappointment for both 54-hole leader Casey Jarvis and faithful fans of Petty Season. The 23-year-old South African carded an even-par 72 to finish tied for second, narrowly missing the chance to provide a perfect bookend to the Petty Swing after being among the notable omissions to represent the International side in the Presidents Cup at Medinah.

Jarvis already won twice on the DP World Tour earlier this year and is another young name to keep tabs on over the next 18 months.

Also at the Home of Golf, disgruntled Celtic fans threw tennis balls featuring Dermot Desmond’s face onto the course to protest his management of the football club. Had Desmond’s face not been taped to the tennis balls, you could have mistaken it for a protest of Smash GC: Desmond was playing alongside former Smash owner Brooks Koepka.

Out in Utah, Austin Smotherman overcame a late double bogey to capture his first PGA Tour win, a two-stroke victory at picturesque Black Desert. As is typical during the fall swing, there was plenty of youth near the top of the leaderboard. Twenty-three-year-old Ben James racked up a third consecutive top-five finish on Tour, while 24-year-old David Ford — No.1 in PGA Tour University’s class of 2025 — finished T-3 for the second top five of his young professional career. Positive signs for what 2027 could have in store for each player.

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On the Champions Tour, golf’s preeminent showman produced fireworks yet again, both between the ropes and behind the microphone. Michael Block entered the final round of the Jefferson Lehigh Valley Classic with a one-shot lead, but more Sunday struggles — and getting hit by a golf cart? — opened the door for him to get “Alkered,” as PJ Clark would call it.

Fortunately for all of us mortals, Block did, however, reveal the secret sauce behind his rise to becoming one of the biggest threats on the Champions Tour

“Just keep being you,” Michael said. “Quiet Michael doesn’t work. Michael having fun works. Michael trying to be someone he’s not doesn’t work.”

So there you have it. If you want to be great, look yourself in the eyes in every bathroom mirror and speak in the third person. The blueprint is right there, folks.

Lastly, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday morning to lobby for the Sunshine Protection Act. Appended to the post was a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp expressing the Tour’s support for the bill.

In the letter, Rolapp cites an estimate from the National Golf Course Owners Association that permanent daylight saving time would generate an additional $250,000 of annual revenue per golf facility in America. He also contends that more evening daylight during fall and winter evenings would benefit the Tour’s broadcast partners.

If the bill passes, the PGA Tour will still get to suspend play for darkness while players AimPoint three-footers and wait for the green to clear on every par 5 in the world.

They’ll just do it an hour later.