Michael Block made one mistake during Saturday’s second round of the inaugural Jefferson Lehigh Valley Classic. He snuck a look at the leaderboard on the 18th hole at Lehigh Valley Country Club.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I’m 7-under for the day,” Block recalled. “‘That’s pretty cool.’
“That was the first time I looked at it. You would think I would know where I am at, but I don’t that.”
The 50-year-old PGA Tour Champions rookie is a club pro minus the pedigree of Saturday playing partners Kevin Sutherland and Ben Crane plus most others in the field.
Block leads veterans Steven Alker and Richard Green, a pair of 55-year-olds with victories on their PGA Tour Champions resumes, entering Sunday’s final round. Block is position to win an event for the second time in his brief, 7-event Champions career after finishing tied for third in late August at The Ally Championship.
Block, who turned 50 in June, is the head golf professional at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, Calif. He was born in Reno. He grew up for a 10-year stretch in Iowa and carries himself inside the ropes like a kid.
“It’s really cool having people out there because they take my mind off of what I’m doing,” he admitted. “It helps me not focus on where I’m at that day.
“The players out here have been amazing. The support I have from the fellow Champions Tour players is amazing.”
Block started off Saturday with back-to-back birdies on the first two holes before a string of seven consecutive pars to finish the front nine. He then put together five birdies in a seven-hole stretch from No. 10 through 16.
A huge roar from the crowd reverberated throughout the grounds after his lengthy birdie putt on the par-3 16th.
“Putts started going in,” Block said about his round. “I put in a new putter this week. I’ve been playing with the same putter for the last 25 years. Then, out of nowhere, I started using the line [on the new putter].
“Since then, they’ve been falling in. I’m like, “We’re on this, so I kept doing it. My wife and my son and my best friends are like, ‘What are you doing [with a new putter]? All of a sudden, I can just feel it.”
Block had his entire game working on Saturday. He was 4-for-4 in scrambling and first in the field with 1.64 putts in greens in regulation. He was middle of the road in driving distance on the 6,760-yard, par-70 layout.
The California resident also is making sure he remembers a simple mantra on every hole, particularly when he is playing well.
“Commit, have fun, enjoy the moment,” Block said. “I say it out loud because I really need to. These guys have done this their whole life, so it’s like their office. My office is doing payroll and inventory, answering emails.
“I’m trying to learn the way.”
Alker is at 10-under-par after a second consecutive 65 that included four birdies on the back nine. He is a 13-time winner who entered this week third in the Charles Schwab Cup standings behind Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson with two more weeks before the Schwab Cup playoffs.
Green slipped to third, two shots back, after a bogey-5 on the last hole Saturday. He has one win (2025 Rogers Classic) and $5.4 million in PGA Tour Champions earnings.
Ryan Armour, another 50-year-old tour rookie looking for his first win, is three shots back in fourth after a 64 Saturday that included seven birdies to go with a lone bogey on the par-4 fifth.
Tag Ridings, PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang and Robert Karlsson are four shots back in a tie for fifth.
Block will need a hot putter Sunday to help offset the nerves of trying to win for the first time. Ever. He’s had mixed results during his six previous Sunday final rounds. He twice was even par. He twice was under par and plus-2 and plus-7, respectively, in his last two Sundays.
“I have no idea who I’m playing with,” he said. “I’m going to have a good time. Crowds here have been amazing. Allentown has been amazing. Once I started going up the leaderboard, the crowd started getting huge, which is fun.
“And, I kind of picked up on it a bit, to be honest.”
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com