Michael Block Won The Weekend By Asking The One Question That Mattered

The deserving Brooks Koepka won the 2023 PGA Championship in Rochester, NY, but the weekend belonged to a far lesser-known competitor named Michael Block, who finished the tournament in fifteenth place. Block is the head golf pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club, Mission Viejo, CA. Club pros are very good players—likely the best most of us will ever meet—but the vast majority of them have accepted the fact that they are not professional golfers.

That’s literally a different league in which pros drive the ball 40 yards further.

But someone forgot to tell Block about this disparity and, as a result, Block enjoyed the kind of weekend that makes life worth living on many levels. To start with, he never lost sight of who he was and won the city’s heart by joining Rochesterites at their favorite watering holes for a beer or two between rounds. He played glorious golf that kept him in the top eight going into Sunday’s final round and managed that rarest of feats—rarer even than a hole-in-one—by slam-dunking a hole-in-one at the par-3 15th.

(A “slam dunk” is golf parlance for hitting the ball off the tee and into the hole without disturbing so much as a single blade of grass.)

For the final, he was paired with one of golf’s biggest name in Rory McIlroy, and earned the most enthusiastic cheers everywhere he went that day. A particularly memorable moment came when, after pulling his approach to the 18th green well left of the green into the rough, Block somehow got up and down by hitting a flop shot to within seven feet of the hole and then making his par save.

He finished the weekend tied for fifteenth place, good for a payday of $288,333, far beyond his previous highest payday of $75,000 at the 2014 PGA Club Professional National Championship. The high finish will ensure that Block gets more opportunities to compete further in the PGA Tour and, who knows, maybe even get a shot at the Masters.

Not the sort of thing that 46-year-old club pros plan for most of the time.

And how did he do it? You’ll find the answer scrawled on the golf ball he plays with: “Why Not” That is the answer he gave to his caddie once when Block was facing a 22-foot putt to win a playoff to get into the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont.

“If you make this putt, we’re in the Open,” said the caddie.

“Why not,” replied Block before sinking it and punching his ticket to the Open.

Block didn’t make that cut but he did make the connection between believing in himself and creating opportunities that most of his colleagues at clubs around the country would never have.

Apparently, his son, Dylan, who also caddied for Block, inherited some of his dad’s positive thinking. At a 2018 qualifying match for that year’s PGA Championship, when Block’s confidence was badly flagging, his son/caddy came to the rescue, urging, “Dad, just don’t give up. Look inside your shoes.” And when Block did, he saw the words, “Don’t Quit,” that had been written there by Dylan.

“It calmed him down and helped him finish strong,” summed up Dylan after the match.

“I give 100 percent of the credit to my 13-year-old son Dylan for this opportunity,” added dad after he qualified for the tournament.

This weekend, Block had to play without his biggest fan and caddy by his side but played brilliant and steady golf, nonetheless, feasting on the crowd’s love and positive energy and enjoying the opportunity so much he stopped looking at the scoreboard and didn’t know what place he was in until signing for a one-over 71, posting the best finish by a club professional since Lonnie Nielsen was T-11 in 1986.

That’s what is known as “why not” golf, played freely and for the love of the contest. After Sunday’s round, he was shown a video of his home club members whooping it up big time, a video made and posted by, who else, Dylan. He still had his dad’s back and was sending showers of powerful digital mojo back to Block, who from that moment on basically couldn’t stop crying, even during his post-match interview.

“I’m living a dream. I’m making sure I enjoy this moment,” said Block. “I’ve learned after my 46 years of life that it’s not going to get better than this. No way. No chance in hell…” he managed to eke out before choking up again.

Yes, he was living a dream, but he became the author of that dream the moment he stopped with the game on the line and asked himself a question all of us would do well to ask ourselves when the time is right.

Why Not?