Block Digest
PGA Championship 2023: Eddie Pepperell shares hilarious anecdote about the time he played with Michael Block at the 2018 PGA Championship
The talk of the town in Pittsforrd this week has been a guy named Michael Block. The head pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, CA has taken the golf world by storm with his Cinderella run at Oak Hill. The not-so-average Joe has shot 70-70-70 on a very tough setup in nasty conditions, a picture of calm and consistency (Friday's shank notwithstanding) throughout the week. That’s been good enough for T8, earning Block a tee time with the one and only Rory McIlroy on Sunday. If you’re one of three people on the planet who hasn’t seen it yet, here’s how Block reacted when he found out he was paired with the world’s most famous golfer not named Tiger or Phil on Saturday.
If you’ve ever wondered what pure disbelief looks like, well, now you know. This isn’t the 46-year-old teaching professional's first rodeo, however. He’s played in the PGA Championship five times, including in 2018 at Bellerive Country Club, but this is his first true brush with stardom, as Golf Twitter whiz Eddie Pepperell pointed out on Sunday morning.
Oof, sorry Eddie. We can’t all be Rory, for better or worse. And speaking of McIlroy, he has a chance to make his own mark at Oak Hill on Sunday, sitting five strokes back of leader Brooks Koepka heading into the final round (Justin Thomas was seven strokes back with 18 to go last year). Needless to say, Block and McIlroy’s 2:00 p.m. tee time will be must-see TV for golf fans everywhere. Yes, even you Eddie.