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The most entertaining 10 minutes or so in the first round of the PGA Championship wasn’t provided by Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, or even the rookie Bryson DeChambeau, whose four-under-66 was good enough to lead the club outright when play was suspended on account of the dark Thursday night. .
No, the most attractive impulse contentto use the slang of the day, came by way of 46-year-old Michael Block of the Southern California Pro Club.
You knew some fun was coming when, just moments away from their walk-and-talk meeting in their namesake Oak Hill drivable, Scott Van Pelt, Andy North and Curtis Strange said, “You guys see me driving?” “
That’s the thing you’d tell your friends at a four-ball match on a Saturday morning, not a national television audience in one of the most iconic moments of your career. But then again, Block is not your typical club pro. 10-time Southern California PGA Player of the Year, Block is playing in his fifth PGA Championship this week — and after a five-bird, par-70 that saw him tie for 20th, he looks just as comfortable as most follower a trip Pros in this area. Block also played in the US Opens at Oakmont (2007) and Shinnecock Hills (2018), so when he colorfully described Oak Hill what might result if Oakmont and Shinnecock had a “baby” — as Block said during an interview with ESPN — he said it with authority.
Block’s session with SVP and Co had been weighing him down earlier in the tour, especially after he made a double-bogey 6 in the tenth to drop to three on the day. “I told the caddy, go, we’ve got birdie holes coming up,” Block said after his round. “I knew I was going to be on TV coverage of the 14th hole with a couple of guys on ESPN, and I didn’t want to go into that being three or four, honestly.”
Mission accomplished: Block bounced with birdies on the 12th and 13th to climb back up to a more than respectable one by the time he slipped his AirPod into his ear on the 14th tee and started yelling with the boys in the booth.
nerves? Nary tag them from Block, who needed a few minutes to fully charm the ESPN crew.
Block talked through his tee shot and how happy he was to be left in the green dugout, which offers friendlier lies than juicy roughs. He talked about Oak Hill’s bouncy lanes, which were useful to him and other shorter people in the field. He grinned at the thoughts of his housemates at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club, in Mission Viejo, baking drinks for him in the grill room. All good things, but it got better when Block started talking about another area of his expertise: teaching golf.
Old Arnold Palmer [saying] “Swinging your hammock is a big thing for me,” he said. “I don’t teach one way. I teach what that person has the ability to do and learn, and that has been a huge benefit of teaching over the past 25 years or so for me. I’m not trying to teach anyone to swing Tiger or Rory, because that’s not going to happen. So you have to be realistic with what you have. You must be realistic about your abilities and goals. And that’s a big thing – I try to be honest with my guys. You know, the first couple of years, there you were getting all over it and telling everyone the same thing. Once you gain confidence in your teaching or playing, things will get better.”
When Block played the 14th hole, his self-confidence almost vanished—not only by how he interacted with the broadcast team but also by the way he carried himself: pausing his hold when his partners were playing, walking purposefully but tardily into his game. White hoodie, hands folded into pockets.
When he got to his ball in the sand, Block even joked with Van Pelt, North and Strange about what kind of odds he could get in the 3. When it was his turn to play, he removed his AirPod, and climbed into the cellar. Within seconds, she threw the ball on the green area. He picked it heavier than he would have liked, leaving the shot about 25 feet below the hole.
“Well, I’m dead now,” quipped Van Pelt, “because I just booked all the action on him getting up and down.”
Block missed a birdie attempt but caught another shot in the back nine — stuffing his approach into a 466-yard par-4 16 — and also dug in 22 feet on 17 for a gritty save. How good is his 70 even average? On a day when only 14 players, among those who finished, broke, that was pretty good.
After his tour, Block said, “I’m not at all happy to be an equal in my life no matter where I am.” “When I’m done, whether it’s the PGA Championship or playing at home against my kids, I just — I need to get back. That’s who I am. So I made sure I got back to par, and I did, and I don’t care if it In a major game or a skins game on Tuesday at the local club, that’s how I roll. Honestly, that’s how I’m going to play for the next three days.”
If he can somehow manage a few hits better than that, who knows, Block might be in the mix come Sunday. And just in case that happens, they’ll hopefully put another microphone in his ear.