Michael Block pauses and takes a sip of his drink before he tries to sum up his experiences over the past 12 months.
“The most surreal year of any club professional to ever live in the history of golf,” he eventually says.
It may sound hyperbolic but it’s undeniably true. After a captivating run at last year’s PGA Championship, which saw the head golf professional at Arroyo Trabuco contend at Oak Hill and ultimately finish T15, Block’s world was turned upside down.
From PGA Tour sponsor invites to charity invitationals and pro-am appearances alongside the likes of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, the unassuming 47-year-old has experienced it all.
“The last 12 months have been a dream,” he says, speaking to Golf Monthly ahead of his return at this year’s PGA Championship. “I’ve been places and played golf with people I’d never have dreamed of.
“I’m 48 years old next month and I’ve been able to enjoy every moment of it. If this had happened to me when I was 26, I would have treated it so differently. I’d have kidded myself into thinking I’m going to go on Tour and do this all the time.
“At this age, I realise it for what it is. I’ve just gone with it and said yes to everything – I’m going to enjoy it for however long it lasts.”
In amongst it all, Block has, at times, been the target of social media’s unrelenting ire, in part his own doing but largely what amounted to a thinly-veiled jealousy for a man living out his dream.
But now, as his story comes full circle this week at Valhalla, the course on which he made his maiden PGA Championship start back in 2014, the Californian is hopeful for a warm embrace from the local crowds.
“Social media is a whole bunch of crap,” he says. “I wish I didn’t have to use it and at the beginning, it hurt me to see the things people said about me. But now I just feel really bad for those people.
“I just try to make as many people play golf and love the game as much as I do and hopefully we can inspire some more people out in Louisville this week.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Block, though, is realistic about his chances. He has made the cut at just one event since last year’s Oak Hill heroics – a T27 finish at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open – but is leaning on his memories from Rochester as well as his love for Valhalla, where he…
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