Jack Hirsch/Golf
ROCHESTER, NY – At first, Michael Block seemed to ignore the question, but then you could see it hit him.
difficult.
I mentioned John Rahm earlier. I just want to get your reaction. You hit him with six shots…
Block, chief golf professional at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club, in Mission Viejo, California, has just played the two rounds of his life. He opened the PGA 105 Championship with consecutive rounds of 70 equal to all but confirmed that he will be one, if not the only, PGA pro to take place this week. Heck, if he keeps it up, he might find himself in a Sunday afternoon pairing.
Rather, Block briefly rose to within striking distance of the lead during his second outing. Not even a disastrous shank and double bogey later could sink him as he pinned himself, nearly flying a brutal sixth and feuding the rest of the second nine.
Meanwhile, the Masters winner Ram has yet to start his second round on Friday after opening with a six-over 76.
Towards the end of his press conference after the second round, Block was asked how it felt when he hit the golf dog Alpha.
At first, Block’s expression did not change.
“Hmmm,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Beautiful, very cool, to say the least.”
Hold for another two minutes.
He said, “I wish you guys would come to my office and hang out with me and come learn with me in the back of the driving range with my students who are there now,” he began to fight back tears. “Sorry. I don’t know why that makes me emotional, but it does.
“Sorry John.”
This is why fans love underdogs in sports.
The odds have always been against Block this week. This is his sixth time playing in a PGA Championship and twenty-fifth PGA Tour start overall. Of more than twenty appearances, it would be his fifth cut and first in the PGA Championship.
This does not mean that he is not an accomplished player. The 46-year-old was the 2022 PGA Professional Player of the Year and is the 10-time Southern California PGA Player of the Year.
But the PGA professional has yet to finish in the top 30 at the PGA Championship this century. No professional club has won a major since 1948, although ironically the winner has ties to Oak Hill. E. Claude Harmon won the 1948 Masters as a club pro and is the father of longtime Oak Hill pro Craig Harmon – and Butch, the famous coach. Claude Green framed jacket at Oak Hill FC, on loan from Augusta National.
Seventy-five years later, Block is trying to do the same by winning the PGA. He does not doubt his chances.
He said, regaining his composure: “I don’t know whom I hit, and whom I didn’t hit.” “I’m going to go out there and do my best, put my head down and play the best I can in the next couple of days.”
He plays weekends with a “why not me” attitude.
“As weird as it sounds, I’ll compete. I promise.”