This year Michael Block will be playing in his fifth straight PGA Championship after being one of 20 players to punch their ticket for Aronimink at the PGA Professional Championship.
The American, who will turn 50 on June 15, shot a closing 69 at Bandon Dunes to climb 33 spots into a tie for 10th after posting a 78 on day three in high winds.
It was particularly poignant as Block had been on a golfing trip to Bandon in 2023 and one of the members of that party died two weeks before his recent qualification.
“If he was here right now, it would be insane,” Block said. “I was calling myself the mountain lion. You know what the mountain lion does? It attacks from behind. Never attacks from the front. I’m weird. And so I’m like, what’s my mountain lion song? And boom, Metallica, let’s go. That’s the vibe I needed.”
What is Michael Block best known for?
This will be Block’s eighth PGA Championship but it will always be his 2023 showing that stands out. That week at Oak Hill not only was he the only club pro to make the cut, the first time he had achieved that, but he was in a tie for second place at one point on day two.
On the Saturday he was partnered with Justin Rose, a level-par 70 moving him up to eighth, and he then picked up the golden ticket when he was paired with Rory McIlroy on the Sunday. And of course he then produced the shot of his life when he made a hole-in-one at the 15th, his first in tournament play.
“I could hit a hard 8, but all day long when I tried to hit anything hard, I was pulling it. So I was, like, I’m going to flight a little 7 in there into the breeze from 150. It was playing about 167 in my head. So I hit it, and it’s just right at it and all of the you sudden it disappears. I’m like, cool. I’m like, thanks, guys. Rory is walking down the pathway 20 yards away from me and turns around and starts walking back towards me with his arms open to give me a hug. And he goes, you made it.
“I go, what? I’m like, seriously? He’s like, yeah, you did. He had to tell me five times that I made it. So it was a pretty cool experience to have Rory be telling me that I made a hole-in-one in front of God knows how many people that were supporting me.”
He would shoot a 71, tie for 15th and earn $288,000 (his previous highest cheque was $75,000 for winning the 2014 PGA Professional Championship). It would also give him an invite into the following week’s event at Colonial – where he would finish last – and qualify him for the 2024 PGA.
What other Majors has he featured in?
He has also played in two US Opens and two of the great Championships, in 2007 at Oakmont (+16 MC) and 2018 at Shinnecock (+23 MC), where he came through sectional qualifying.
Where does Michael Block work?
At Arroyo Trabuco, south of Los Angeles in California. Click on the tab ‘Instruction Staff’ and Block is one of eight PGA pros. Arroyo Trabuco is a public course designed by Tom Lehman and Casey O’Callaghan. An hour’s lesson will cost you $250 while you can have a nine-hole playing lesson for $500. Block has the course record at Arroyo Trabuco after shooting a 59 in 2019.
Where is Michael Block from?
He grew up in the St. Louis area and played college golf at Mississippi State before transferring to the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He then graduated with a degree in golf course management at the San Diego Golf Academy, became at assistant in Palm Desert from 1998-2004 before the move to Arroyo Trabuco.
What has Michael Block won?
Block is a serial winner in the Southern California PGA and he has played on two PGA Cup teams. On Wikipedia he has seven professional wins alongside his name; the 2001 California State Open, the 2014 PGA Professional National Championship and five Southern California PGA Championships since 2017.
How many starts has he had on the PGA Tour?
He is listed as having 35 starts and he’s made the cut in five of them.
How does he see himself?
“I’m like the new John Daly but I don’t have a mullet and I’m not quite as big as him yet. I’m just a club professional; right? I work. I have fun. I have a couple boys that I love to play golf with. I have a great wife. I have great friends. I live the normal life. I love being at home. I love sitting in my backyard. My best friend in the world is my dog. I can’t wait to see him. I miss him so much it’s ridiculous, my little black lab.”
What’s his mindset?
“I told my caddie at the beginning of the day (at Oak Hill) that I’m not going to look at leaderboards throughout the day, no matter what happens. Good, bad or indifferent, I’m not looking, because in the past, sometimes I get ahead of myself. I start booking rooms at hotels that I’ve never even qualified for, and it’s never worked out well. I no longer get ahead of myself.
“I had no idea where I was. And if you put me at 120 yards out on 17, hitting my third shot, and if you put me on 18 hitting my third shot from that 40 yards, sidehill lie out of the rough to a tight pin on 18, and you’re telling me I’m going to get up-and-down on both of those to make next year’s PGA Championship, there’s no way in God’s green earth I would have done it. So lucky enough, I didn’t look at the leaderboards. I was just grinding my butt off, and I did it.”
Read next: Revealed: The biggest LIV Golf flops in major tournaments