Club pro Michael Block wasn’t the only one who cashed the biggest check of his life at the 105th PGA Championship on Sunday.
His caddie, John Jackson, did the math on the calculator app of his phone Sunday evening after Block finished T-15, the best result by a club pro since 1986, and earned $288,333. Jackson’s take home: $20,183.31.
In a video that was posted on social media, Block looks at the figure (7 percent of Block’s winnings) on Jackson’s phone, smiles widely, slaps him five and gives him knuckles.
“It’s been unreal, surreal, literally a dream, a movie, whatever,” Jackson said Sunday as Block was honored at the 18th green for being the low finisher among the club pros. “Mike and I were pinching ourselves going down the fairways. It was weird. The whole thing is crazy.”
Such a cool moment between Michael Block and caddie John Jackson
Jackson did the math on what his paycheck will be from this week. Their reaction is priceless.
$20,183.31
pic.twitter.com/UBlhRh1qmu
— Golf on CBS
(@GolfonCBS) May 22, 2023
Jackson’s regular job is caddying for resort guests at Spyglass Hills in Pebble Beach, California, where he’s looped full-time since 2017. In college, Jackson played for the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters and was part of the NCAA Division II National Championship team in 2011.
Block was one of 20 PGA professionals to qualify for the PGA Championship. He is a 10-time Southern California PGA Player of the Year and the reigning PGA Professional of the Year. Jackson and Block met as competitors at a California State Open around 10 years ago. Block played at the TaylorMade Pebble Beach Invitational one year and Jackson got on his bag and they almost won.
Jackson had previously worked a few majors, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – but only for amateurs – and the PGA Tour Champions Pure Insurance Open for the last 15 years. Jackson caddied for Block at the PGA at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last year during the practice rounds but got promoted to full status at Oak Hill.
“He called me and said, ‘Do you want to do the whole week this year?’ And we made it the whole week,” Jackson said.
Of Block’s hole-in-one, Jackson noted that he hadn’t made a putt all day. “I said, ‘Just hit it closer,’ ” Jackson recalled.
He did, flying a 7-iron at 15 directly into the cup.
“I wasn’t helping much because I was pumping him up,” Jackson said.
Some insight into the club choice on 15 and why Michael Block’s caddie John Jackson thinks this story is resonating with so many people
#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/rXDsU602XA
— Golf on CBS
Initially, Jackson planned to decompress on Monday and Tuesday and get back to reality. He said he had some vacationers who had requested work. That all changed when Block was offered a sponsor exemption into the PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, which got underway Thursday. Jackson is back on the bag for another Tour start and a chance for another gigantic payday.
“I’d do it again right now if I could,” Jackson said Sunday.
It turns out he didn’t have to wait that long.