Michael Block has achieved one senior-tour goal. Now another is within reach

Michael Block’s PGA Tour Champions debut in June ended with a disaster on the 54th hole at the Dick’s Open, where a triple bogey dropped him to a tie for ninth. Block was playing on a sponsor exemption and afterward said he was frustrated not only because the finish took him out of contention, but because it made his primary goal harder to achieve.

“That cost me a lot of points, a lot of money, a lot of everything, which is very frustrating. I’m just here trying to make my way possibly onto this tour and that hurt a lot,” Block said.

As a nonmember, Block needed to make seven starts for his earnings to become official and for him to become eligible for the PGA Tour Champions postseason and membership on the senior circuit. This week, at the Jefferson Lehigh Valley Classic, Block is making his seventh start. As long as he completes Sunday’s final round, he will be eligible for the postseason. The $326,486 he earned in six starts would already be enough to place him comfortably inside the top-72 cutoff for the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs.

“It’s spiraling upwards, which is good,” Block said Saturday of his PGA Tour Champions career. “I’m having a great time. My biggest prerogative right now is to enjoy it. And to be honest, no one says this while they’re playing, but I say, ‘Commit, have fun, enjoy the moment.’ I say it out loud because I really need to. These guys have done this their whole life, so it’s like their office. This is not my office. My office is doing payroll and inventory. This is not my office. So I’m trying to learn the way, but I need to say it out loud.”

Block has already checked off one senior-tour goal, and on Sunday in Allentown, Pa., he can reach another. After shooting a bogey-free 63 in the second round, he will begin the final round with a one-shot lead over Stephen Alker.

“To be out here and leading again in one of these events is amazing,” Block said. “I just hope I’ve learned from what happened before. Going into tomorrow, I have no idea who I’m playing with, but I hope it’s a couple of my boys and we’ll have a good time. That’s it.”

“What happened before” was at the Ally Challenge, where Block led on the back nine before Alker made a flurry of closing birdies to win the title and Block stumbled to a tie for third. They will be paired again Sunday. Block believes he can avoid a repeat of the Ally Challenge.

“Just keep being you,” Block said of what he learned from his loss to Alker. “Like, don’t try to be the quiet Michael. Quiet Michael doesn’t work. Michael having fun works. Michael being quiet, Michael trying to be somebody he’s not, doesn’t work. That’s what I’m going to do tomorrow.”

Three years ago, Block burst onto the scene at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. Now the club professional from Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club is headed to the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs after just seven starts.

“I really didn’t think it was a possibility with such a short season left [after turning 50 on June 15] that I could make the playoffs, but that was my goal—and now it’s going to happen. It’s unbelievable,” Block told The Orange County Register’s Randy Youngman earlier this week.

If he can hold off Alker and the rest of the challengers Sunday, Block could arrive at the playoffs with a win already on his résumé.