Michael Block struggles through Charles Schwab Challenge, but fanfare remains for pro-club ‘legend’

FORT WORTH, Texas — Michael Block tried his best to hold back tears on Thursday as he walked out of the 18th green zone at the Colonial Country Club, heading to the clubhouse to sign his scorecards. .

For the 46-year-old Southern California PGA pro, a performance beyond 15 – including Thursday’s 81 – to finish his 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge run on Friday is hardly an extra. for his miracle run at the 2023 PGA Championship that he envisioned. It was there that Block, among the few PGA pros selected each year to participate in the event, made golfers of all skill levels feel able to do it. Breaking into the top 15 also made him an instant hit with the golfing world, and was given a tee off by sponsors at Hogan’s Alley this week.

On Thursday, the phrase “one of us!” was shouted out by one of the many enthusiastic spectators watching Block, playing alongside Min Woo Lee and Pierceson Coody. And while most aspiring golfers have never experienced the pressure of playing on a PGA Tour event, most who have chosen a golf club have, at some point, had to endured a round that evoked the feeling America’s favorite new pro club had to endure.

“If you play golf, you know exactly what happened,” says Block. “So I don’t really need to explain [my round] too much because, if you’re a golfer, you’ve had a day like me. You understand the truth that lies are not good and that trees are always in your way.”

There were moments from Thursday’s Block that took the magic back from Oak Hill Country Club, including an ace on the par-3 fourth hole. There were also shots that made it easy for viewers to understand. much more, including a skull approach, a bunker pitch, and even a drive to a stop on a trailer bridge before Block chose to execute his shot from the concrete.

None of that — even as Block ended the day alone in last place and trailing the leader 19 times — changed the fact that, in a week’s time, he’d hit the jackpot. Beat the odds by living what most teaching professionals can only dream of becoming golf’s greatest sensation almost overnight.

For a non-elevated event held just after the grand slam, having 23 of the top 50 ranked players in the world is a huge win for tournament organizers at Colonial. However, for all the power stars in the field, including world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, no participant has matched the fanfare that goes with Block, who broke out of the top 3,000 just last week in the Official World Golf Ranking before skyrocketing to No. 577.

The enthusiasm shown for golf’s new folk hero was steady from start to finish until Thursday’s roller coaster ride as Block trudged around the course. The smartphone sign was raised to capture footage of the Adjacent House with the first tee being a scene normally reserved for the game’s heavyweights. Custom-made “Block Party” shirts and signs are not to be missed, and Block isn’t afraid to engage in back-and-forth with some of his more vocal supporters midway through – a scene The statue is rarely seen. from full-time touring professionals.

For those closest to Block, including the touring team from his hometown club Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, California, continued public reception has been mostly It’s not surprising how well-loved Block is back home.

“Hearing all the commentary as you go through the crowd was amazing,” Matthew Donovan, the club’s general manager, told CBS Sports during Thursday’s round. “And everyone correctly described the man [Michael] To be. That’s the Michael we know. It was great.”

They’ll also be quick to let you know how much performance Block has achieved at the PGA so simply giving yourself this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is no surprise. At least not based on the clip that Block had played in the previous months, stemming from a methodical shift to his approach to the game based on the limitations of a player his age. he.

“[Michael] there’s always something special in his game,” Geoff Cram, chief executive officer of Arroyo Trabuco and an employee of the club since its opening, told CBS Sports. “I think he’s real. trying to play another game. He is trying to keep up with the others who are much younger than him and hit the ball a lot further than he is. Then he decided, ‘I have to play the game I have.’ I think he really fell into a groove and he was able to put it all together.”

Fellow instructor Bob Lasken, who has taught with Block since Arroyo Trabuco’s early days in 2004, can attest to those efforts to change his approach to competitive golf.

“With me, [slowing his game down] It’s been a huge development for him,” Lasken told CBS Sports in a phone interview. “It wasn’t like that before. When you have a player like that getting the chance to play, he’s getting better and better, he’s going to end up with this. [opportunity].”

It’s been a few years since Block set a record at Arroyo Trabuco when he played 59 in 2019. But less than two months ago, Block gained attention when he played 58 in an event for membership on the nearby north course at the Coto De Caza Golf and Tennis Club, a jarring feat at one of the most challenging courses Orange County, California, had to offer.

Perhaps even more signs of what was to come for Block happened a short drive north at Shady Canyon Country Club in Irvine, California. According to Lasken, Block played a match against world No. 4 Patrick Cantlay – who hails from the same region – in which the eight-time PGA Tour champion hit Block 1 out of 9. Block was never close to needing those extra hits, shooting 65 while Cantlay settled on 70.

“That has come a long way,” Lasken said. “When you have that confidence against the world No. 4, and then you’re out there at the PGA Championship, you’re like, ‘I sucked these guys. I can do this.’ ”

Amazingly, Block’s challenges at the Charles Schwab Challenge are a reminder of how big the gap is between certified teaching professionals — still better equipped to play on stage. this more than most — and who make a living by competing on this circuit stage. Block has joined the Colonies with 25 previous starts on the PGA Tour, topping the list of Southern California stops, though only four of them made him short on the list. Discarding the hopes of many, a fifth won’t be on the card this weekend.

But like the praise from his supporters this week at the Colonial, the reception Block received from the top touring pros out there doesn’t depend on what his transcript looks like. . And befitting an instructor by trade, the lesson Block has taught some of the game’s biggest names far outweighs anything related to spin mechanics.

“You’re going to look back and think about a few weeks in your life, and this was possibly one of the best weeks I’ve ever had,” Jordan Spieth said of Block’s run. “Like, man, we [as touring pros] get to do it every week. I think if you can help keep that perspective and be a little more like Michael Block every week, that would be a good thing for all of us.”

World No 7 Max Homa has gone so far as to award Block, whom he has known since his childhood in Southern California, the title of “legend” for Block’s ability to reach a point where few people instructions have been obtained.

“There are a few [PGA professionals] it’s — you know, golf,” said Homa. “Some don’t really play [competitively] much more. And then you have some people like Michael who are still very good at golf. I think that’s what gave them their legend. You hear about these people. You see them. You play events with them. So I think that’s where it comes from.”

If there is any doubt about the impact Block has had on the golfing community, the scene back home at Arroyo Trabuco speaks for itself. Amid a stream of callers from out of state looking to book tee times and club lessons to virtually all Arroyo Trabuco-branded gear selling out in the wake of Block , no one had ever foreseen something of this magnitude.

Meanwhile, other newly formed Block fans have reached out to the club just to convey a message of gratitude.

“It’s crazy,” Cram said. “There is a lot of support. We always have people calling with a wish [Michael] lucky and said they had seen him on TV and were inspired by him.

“We had one person reply via the website that they were going to quit golf. Then they followed Michael, and they decided not to play golf. [quit]. They decided to try one more time. If he inspires people to keep playing golf, that’s great.”

As described by Lasken, what had long been a local “Bloc party” has now taken to the national level.

“He was always supported at Arroyo,” Lasken said. “He’s such a great guy. Now, other people are understanding why we’ve been supporting him so much.”

Through all of that, Block’s only request is for his colleagues – including Lasken, Donovan and Cram – to get their fair share of promoting culture at a club. set allowed Block to make this dream come true.

“Our club did very well before that,” said Block. “It will always work well one way or another, whether this happens or not, with or without me.”

Only when real mania surrounds such a golfer. For years, golf was engulfed in “Tiger Mania” as Tiger Woods dominated golf at a record that may never be touched again; an injured Woods still moves the needle like no other 26 years after winning the first of 15 major career wins at the 1997 Masters.

“Block mania,” if such a term is appropriate, might just be a footnote to what Woods has done for the sport. Granted, there’s still another chance for Block to play alongside the best of the game next month following an additional exemption to the RBC Canadian Open outside of Toronto. The 2023 US Open Championship at Los Angeles Country Club is still going on for both Block and his eldest son, Dylan, after both secured their spot in the final qualifying round in the coming weeks.

But that doesn’t change the fact that this fairytale-like ride, like all good things, will eventually end in one form or another.

If “Block’s party” was indeed halted once and for all on Friday in the Lone Star State, Block knew his flight back to Southern California would end with a welcome home from family, friends, and students. His will be the best. And for all the ups and downs of this journey, it makes every second of it worthwhile.

“I’m going to live with it,” Block said. “I thought [a bad round] there was going to be the third or fourth round last week at Oak Hill, and it never happened. It happened [Thursday], and I’m not surprised by that, to tell you the truth. The experience I had last week was next level. … That’s what it is.

“At the same time, I sat there, I thought about it and said, ‘I’m going to meet my boys’ [Friday] night.'”