The Michael Block magic hasn’t completely worn off since the end of the PGA Championship, but he has nothing left in Fort Worth, Texas.
Four days after finishing with a T15 performance at Oak Hill – which included a hole-in-one – the 46-year-old teaching pro competed in the Charles Schwab Challenge on a sponsor exemption. He didn’t post a repeat performance in the first round, though he had his moments.
The block started with three straight bogies, then came about a yard from hitting another hole-in-one on the fourth hole at Colonial Country Club.
Six holes later, Block was in a tight spot when a 277-yard drive landed on a bridge on the far right of the fairway. Block a way saved par, starting with an incredible escape from the bridge that landed just short of the green.
That was the good one.
The bad came on the remaining back nine, where Block went bogey, bogey, bogey, par, double bogey, double bogey, par, double bogey to finish the round 11-over and in last place by a margin of four stroke. . Rory Sabbatini was next to last at 7-over.
Speaking to reporters after the round, Block had a level view:
“It’s one of those days in golf. If you play golf, you know what’s going on. So I don’t have to explain it too much because, if you’re a golfer, you’ve had the day that I You understand the facts where the lies are bad and the trees are in your way every time. Even your good shots are bad, your bad shots are worse, etc., etc. yet.
“This is it. I can live with it. I thought it was going to happen in the third or fourth round last week at Oak Hill, and it never happened. It happened today, and I’m not surprised by it, to tell you the truth .”
While Friday’s round was particularly good – Block posted a 4-over 74 – he finished 15-over for the week. He missed the cut, and was at the end of the field.
He will surely reflect on what a wild few weeks it has been at some point. For now, he just wants to get back to his family.
“I’m not going to let it all out until I get into the — when I get to my house and I’m sitting in the backyard — no, I can’t talk about this stuff right now,” Block said Friday. . “My black lab Messy, she’s been waiting for me. I haven’t seen her in almost two weeks, and I can’t wait to get home and throw the ball with her.”
In overall numbers, it wasn’t an impressive performance from Block, who has already received a lot of recognition. He won’t spend the final round playing a major champion like Rory McIlroy. But for a man who qualified for the tournament last week through a qualifier for club professionals and made his first major cut 16 years after his first appearance, any moment of the day was a a beautiful scene in a play that loves someone.
