Michael Block reveals one way his life has changed for the WORSE since PGA heroics

Michael Block returns to the PGA Championship this week hoping to repeat his heroics of 2023.

The Californian club pro finished in a tie for 15th at Oak Hill last year – which included a hole-in-one in the company of two-time champion Rory McIlroy – to seal his place in the field at Valhalla this week.

Block’s exploits were almost a bigger story than Brooks Koepka winning his fifth major and his third Wanamaker Trophy, and the so-called ‘Block Party’ continued long after the tournament was over.

However, speaking ahead of this week’s championship, Block revealed that his life hasn’t changed exclusively for the better since he was thrust into the spotlight 12 months ago.

In fact, there’s one thing about his ‘old life’ that the Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club pro particularly misses.

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“The sad part is I haven’t been able to teach since then,” said the 47-year-old. “I’ve been so busy and on the road and playing and all types of things, so I had to give off all my students to fellow instructors, which was a bummer, but they’re in good hands.

“My door has to stay shut in my office, which is a bummer. Usually it’s open and I can say hi to the assistants and everyone that’s walking through, but it’s been such an onslaught of people and things like that, I can’t keep my door open.

“So it’s crazy, but like I said, everyone’s enjoying it back at the club. I have full support from the management and the ownership there, and the assistant pros that have literally taken the golf club under their wing while I’ve been gone. I can’t thank them enough for what they have done.”

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Reflecting on what he described as the “magical carpet ride” of last year’s PGA Championship, he added: “It was just almost kind of a blur, surreal moment,
exactly what you sitting at home would think it’s like. It’s to a tee just like that.

It’s like if somebody walked up to your house and they — obviously those people winning 10 million dollars when someone walks up to their house and knocks and the door and they open it. That’s exactly how it felt for me minus the 10 million dollars, but just the whole, ‘what just happened right now’.

“I wouldn’t trade any part of it for the world. I’ve loved every moment of it. The people I’ve met, the places I’ve been able to go, the tournaments I’ve been able to play in.

“Hopefully it inspires a lot more people to do the same.”

• For a complete PGA Championship preview, tune-in to the latest episode of The bunkered Podcast. Available now wherever you get your podcasts.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor