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Golf Monthly

Sport

Mike Hall

Michael Block Books PGA Championship Return In Qualifying Event

Michael Block PGA Championship

Michael Block at the PGA Professional Championship .

Michael Block will have the chance to rekindle the magic of his 2023 PGA Championship appearance after booking his place in this year's event with a T3 placing at the PGA Professional Championship.

The head professional at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in California began the tournament as one of a field of 312 in Port St. Lucie, Florida, with the promise of berths at the Quail Hollow Major for the top 20 after Wednesday’s final round.

Block set the early pace with a seven-under 64 in the first round to put his dream of a seventh PGA Championship appearance and fourth in succession firmly on track. That left him top of the leaderboard, and he was still in touch after a second-round 71, although by that point, Tyler Collet, who is the PGA Assistant Professional at John’s Island Club in Florida, had opened up a three-shot lead.

Heading into the third round, Collet had begun to run away with it, leading by seven and with Block in seventh after a 75, just three shots clear of seven players tied for 18^th.

Tyler Collet eased to victory at the tournament (Image credit: Getty Images)

For the final round, only the top 70 and ties remained, and Block, whose son Ethan was his caddie, would have been aware he needed an improvement on Wednesday to secure his spot. Any nerves he had would have settled with a birdie on the opening hole, although his first bogey of the day wasn't far behind, coming on the third.

Another birdie came on the seventh, followed by a string of pars taking him to the last hole. Block then finished disappointingly with a double bogey for a 73, but he didn't seem worried about that as he gently tossed his ball into the nearby lake in jubilation.

He finished on four-under for the tournament to get over the line by four shots. Later, Collet completed the formalities of his win with a bogey to finish on 15-under for a remarkable 10-shot victory.

For Collet, not only does his achievement hand him prize money of $66,700 and the Walter Hagen Cup, he has also landed exemptions into six PGA Tour events over the next 12 months.

Further down the leaderboard, a playoff was required to determine the final taker of a PGA Championship place after four players, Brad Lardon, Michael Kartrude, Brad Lardon and Andy Svoboda, finished even for the tournament in T20.

Svoboda was the first to be eliminated after the first additional hole, with Chang dropping out after the second following a bogey, leaving 60-year-old Lardon up against 33-year-old Katrude. The two made par in the third extra hole and on the fourth, Lardon's birdie attempt was heading in before a flagstick thwarted him and he tapped in for par. Kartrude followed suit and onto the fifth playoff hole they went. There, Kartrude edged through to book his place in the PGA Championship.

As for Block, in his six previous appearances in the PGA Championship, he has missed the cut in all but one – the 2023 edition at Oak Hill, when a dream week unfolded, as he even contended for the title before finishing T15.

Michael Block was low professional at the 2023 PGA Championship (Image credit: Getty Images)

That was enough to finish ahead of established stars including Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm. He was also paired with Rory McIlroy in the final round, where he made a slam dunk hole-in-one at the par-3 15^th.

Thanks to his performance in Florida, Block is now just two weeks away from getting another chance to shine at the event.