A 46-year-old golf sensation doesn't plan to play on the PGA Tour because he wants to spend more time with his family
- Michael Block became an overnight sensation for his play at the PGA Championship.
- Block capped off his incredible week with a 15th-place finish and a hole-in-one in the final round.
Michael Block had a week most golfers dream about. But unlike most, he says he has no interest in making it a weekly habit.
Block, a local PGA professional, became a cult hero last week at the PGA Championship when he went toe-to-toe with the world's best golfers, many of whom were much younger than him.
But despite the sudden fame and obvious talent, Block said he wasn't planning any tours because he had bigger priorities at home.
"No, I don't want to play any tours," the 46-year-old told Golf.com after his appearance at the PGA Championship. "I just want to come out and compete when I'm around and then go back to my club and hang out with my family."
And it's not that Block isn't playing professional golf; he wants to do it on his terms.
This week's tournament was his 25th career PGA Tour event and his fifth career PGA Championship. He has also played in two US Opens.
Here is how Alan Bastable of Golf.com described Block: "It might surprise you — or even mildly irk you — to hear that a player of Block's talent wouldn't want to push his competitive limits and see how far his ability can take him. But to have that opinion is to not understand Block's DNA. He's not just a player. He's a teacher, a mentor, a husband, a father of two teenage sons, a dog-lover, a talker, a schmoozer."
Block capped off his incredible week at the PGA Championship tied for 15th place — and he even sank a hole-in-one while playing with Rory McIlroy.
The top-15 finish earned Block a spot in next year's PGA Championship, and the Colonial National Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas, has invited him to play in this week's event.
When CBS asked whether Block would increase his $150-per-hour teaching rate, he said that he had done well enough for himself — including a $290,000 paycheck this week — and that he only taught friends and people he wanted to be around.
This is the same philosophy another great sports teacher found later in his career.
The then-Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer explained in 2018 how the NFL legend Bill Belichick chose players. Belichick told him that at this point in his career, he only wanted to coach guys he wanted to be around, Meyer said.
After Block's final round, CBS showed Block a video of people back at his home course celebrating his hole-in-one.
Block broke down in tears after he saw the video and learned that his son had filmed it; he said that his life was already great the way it was.
"I'm livin' a dream," he said. "I'm making sure that I enjoy this moment. I've learned that after my 46 years of life, that it's not gonna get better than this. No way. No chance in hell. So I'm gonna enjoy this. And thank you."