The Bogeyman Dan

O’Neill

Golf

- it never fails to grab you, on one level or another, and make you cry.

The most recent incident was the PGA Championship at Oak Hill. Perhaps you thought the major championship would be missing some punch without the presence of Tiger Woods. Perhaps all the noise about LIV and such matters have been off-putting. Perhaps your attention was waning.

And in steps Michael Block, a Parkway Central High guy, a University of Missouri-St. Louis guy, a teaching professional and fine player in his own right, but just a guy.

Who winds up being the star of the show.

“I didn’t cry when I had my kids,” said Block, 46, who couldn’t help but shed a tear as it all sunk in. “I cried, for some reason. If you love golf, you know. I cry about golf, to be honest.”

Who among us, participating in the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association, reading this newsletter, playing this game, can’t relate? Golf does that to you, time and time again. With his performance in Rochester, including a stunning hole-in-one on Sunday, Block was the consummate “Cinderella story,” the one Bill Murray memorably described in Caddyshack, the one golf writes so uniquely.

What other sport allows you to come out of the crowd, step onto one of its storied playing fields and take a turn at-bat. The reason we relate is that when it comes to golf, we’re all Cinderellas, all up against it, all trying to conquer something that can never truly be conquered. But every once in a while, we have a moment, we have to pinch ourselves.

In the case of Block, who now lives and teaches in the Los Angele area, there have been more than one. Five years ago, he was at Bellerive Country Club for the 2018 PGA Championship, having qualified at the PGA Professional Championship. As a local product, he was afforded the honor of hitting the first shot on Thursday morning. That alone was the thrill of a lifetime.

He had been a 15-year old kid at Bellerive in 1992, working as a patron on the 13th hole, snagging autographs from professional giants like Nick Price and Payne Stewart. And then he was a 31-year old kid playing alongside them. He qualified for both the U.S. Open and PGA that year.

“This is something I’ll cherish the rest of my life without a doubt,” Block said that week at Bellerive, though he missed the cut. “I can’t believe it’s even real for PGA members such as myself that grew up a mile from this course... To be that guy on the other side now is pretty surreal.”

The feeling is one golf specializes in, for pros and amateurs alike. Jim Holtgrieve has felt it, playing alongside Arnold Palmer at Augusta National. John Kelly has felt it, going from a classroom at CBC High to the first tee at Oakmont and the 2007 U.S. Open. Tom O’Toole Jr. has felt it, going from a stick boy for the St. Louis University hockey team to the president of the USGA.

On some level, if we’re lucky, we feel it. Golf does that, over and over again.

The game did it again for Block at last month’s PGA. He played remarkably well at Oak Hill. He played alongside two-time U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy on Sunday. He tied for 15th, earning the opportunity to try it again at the 2024 PGA at Valhalla Golf Club, and he made it happen with a spectacular ace at No. 15 and an improbable save at No. 18.

He was just a guy... who was getting hugs from McIlroy, text messages from Michael Jordan, a $283,333 payday and a sponsor exemption into the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club the following week.

It’s happened before and it will happen again, maybe even for Block. On June 15-18, Block and his 18-year old son will be at Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles, participating in U.S. Open Final Qualifying. The 2023 U.S. Open is at Los Angeles Country Club, just around the corner.

Imagine, a club pro working in the LA area qualifying for a U.S. Open in his backyard, alongside his son. And remember, the club pro is one who already had the exhilarating experience of playing in a PGA Championship in his hometown.

Difficult to say if stranger things have happened, but if they have, they’ve happened in golf.

“I’m like the new John Daly,” Block said at Oak Hill, “but I don’t have a mullet, and I’m not quite as big as him yet. I’m just a club professional; right? I work. I have fun. I have a couple boys that I love to play golf with. I have a great wife. I have great friends. I live the normal life.

“I love being at home. I love sitting in my backyard. My best friend in the world is my dog. I can’t wait to see him. I miss him so much it’s ridiculous, my little black lab. But, yeah, it’s been a surreal experience, and I had this weird kind of sensation that life is going to be not quite the same moving forward, but only in a good way, which is cool.”

Golf does that. It never fails to grab you, on one level or another, and make you cry.