Proving once again he is the best player among club professionals in the Southland, Arroyo Trabuco head pro Michael Block qualified for the 98th PGA Championship at storied Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. (July 28-31).
Block, 40, earned an exemption in the year’s last major championship by tying for seventh in the 312-player field at the PGA Professional National Championship contested at Turning Stone Resort in Verona, N.Y., in early July. The top 20 club pros at the PNC earned berths at Baltusrol.
Block closed with a 3-under 69, the second-lowest final round among the 70 club pros who made the final cut, to finish at 5-under par and qualify for his third major championship. He previously competed in the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla, by virtue of winning the PNC that year, and qualified for the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont. He also was an alternate at the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional.
“I’m actually more excited than nervous now; I used to be more nervous than excited about competing with the tour pros,” Block said before heading to Baltusrol.
Block, the head pro at Arroyo Trabuco since it opened in Mission Viejo in 2004, also has distinguished himself during PGA Tour events on the West Coast Swing. He qualified for and then made the 36-hole cuts at the 2013 Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club and the 2014 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines – a rare accomplishment for a club pro.
“I’m not nearly as (awestruck) playing with the big names as I once was. … I know a lot of the guys now because I’ve played eight tour events and made four cuts,” he said. “This will be my third major, so I’m definitely more comfortable than I’ve been – not only with my game but the circus (atmosphere) that goes with it.”
Block also credited his tournament experience for remaining patient and bouncing back from a rough start in last month’s PNC at Turning Stone.
“On my second hole of the tournament, I hit a 3-wood straight right, out of bounds and took a double (bogey),” he said. “I was 2-over after two holes.”
After lecturing himself about not letting two holes knock him out of tournament, he teed up the same 3-wood on the hole and “striped it down the middle” and got both shots back by the end of the day. In the fourth and final round, he birdied three of his last eight holes to punch his ticket to the PGA Championship, earning $16,500 for his seventh-place finish.
His career-best check was $75,000 for winning the 2014 PNC and Walter Hagen Cup in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Hagen Cup also earned him six PGA Tour exemptions in 2015
