PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 14, 2026

Michael Block

Aronimink Golf Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Michael Block is with us now at the 108th PGA Championship. Michael, even-par for you today. What can you tell us about your opening round?

MICHAEL BLOCK: Yeah, great round. Paired with D.J. and Rasmus, two absolute bombers. The big thing at the beginning of the day was -- and I told Ethan, my son, who's caddieing for me. I said, Do not try to hang with them. We're just going to play our own game.

Bunt it down the fairway. Main thing was get it in the fairway, put it in a spot, on the green or even off the green that would give us an opportunity to still make a par. And be very just -- kind of dissect Aronimink, to be honest, which is what we did today.

I dissected it to a 70 -- I shot 70 today? That's kind of cool. Yeah, had a great time. Everyone out there in Philly was very supportive. A lot of great people. Everyone in my group was great. Ethan, my caddie, and my son, killed it. We're very happy with the end result.

Q. So I remember Oak Hill you didn't have much time to prepare or practice for that, and things went the way it went. I wonder about the preparation for this week after coming from Bandon Dunes, no?

MICHAEL BLOCK: Bandon, I had 30-mile-an-hour winds at Bandon the last two rounds. So this was nothing, to be honest. I came out here, which I've learned, I come out here on Sunday, play the back nine, so I know that no one's going to be on the front nine the next day. I've learned a couple ways to do the practice rounds.

So I do nine holes every day starting on Sunday, so I get to see the course twice. Here I am after seeing the golf course -- I really don't know it, to be honest, that well. I'm still relying on my caddie and the yardage book to really tell me what's going on because, at age 50, to be honest, back in the day, I'd walk on a green, and kind of like it would be imprinted in my head. Now I don't remember anything. It's kind of funny.

Q. Michael, it's got to always be good to bounce back, come back from 12, you birdied 13, you bogeyed 4, I guess, and birdied 5. The bounceback has got to be key.

MICHAEL BLOCK: When I look at that, it's more than anything -- when I made that double bogey, I didn't hit a bad shot, in my head. I never hit a bad shot. Even on my bogeys today, I never hit a bad shot. They just didn't end up with our calculations to be in the correct spot, and it is what it is after that.

So I can live with that. We executed the plan that we had at the beginning of the day. I sat up in the morning from 6:00 a.m., and I marked all the yardages in the book and everything else and said, Here's where we need to be on our second shot or a shot into the green, right? This is such a second-shot golf course, it's insane.

Probably the most second-shot golf course I've ever played in my entire life, and I'm old. So I learned that, and I felt that, and I felt like my son and I really -- we kept to it the whole day. Even though I made a double or a bogey here and there, I never lost confidence.

That's the big thing, I think, in golf. The average guy playing golf or the golf pro or whoever it might be, you can't lose confidence over a bad shot, and that's a really, really important key that I try to teach not only myself, but my students as well.

Q. I heard you say earlier that you're playing with nothing to lose. Can you explain what you mean by that?

MICHAEL BLOCK: I have zero to lose. I'm about to be 50. I can see my wife and my kid up on the hill there right now, and my boss, they support me 100 percent. There's zero losing this week.

They don't expect me to play well. They hope I play well, and they know I could play well, but I could get last place, and I'm still going to be loved and have a great job and everything else, and that's perfectly fine with me.

That really gives you a lot of confidence, to be honest. If I didn't have that, it would be really tough to pull the trigger and hit a tough shot on a tight lie from 165, having to cut a 7-iron into a tucked right pin where if you miss it within eight feet, you're going to make a double bogey, which is going to happen a lot out here.

So I don't have that in my head, and I find that what I have in my life between my family and my job and the golf course I'm at, it allows me a huge advantage. Like, I feel like I've got shots. Like I feel like I'm coming in here as a 2 handicapper and I get a couple shots on the rest of the field.

Q. What have you learned about yourself since 2023? Do these PGA Championships feel different for you since that point?

MICHAEL BLOCK: I was in the bathroom on hole 12 or 13 today, and there was no mirror, so I wasn't looking at myself. But I said, You got this. I go, You're actually pretty good, buddy.

And I just kept going. I'm like, I'm with D.J., one of my idols, a guy I looked up to my whole life, and Rasmus, who's an unbelievable player, he's like 63 in the world. They both hit it 50 yards by me on every shot. I'm just going, You got this, bud. You got it. It's cool. It's really cool. It's kind of fun, to be honest. I'm proud of myself for just grinding it through and having fun with the boys.

Q. Similar question but from maybe a golf perspective. Is there anything you can take from three years ago at Oak Hill that's helping you right now this week? I think you mentioned the preparation and how you sort of prepared for this week, the things you've picked up over the years.

MICHAEL BLOCK: I know I can do it. It's very reminiscent of Oak Hill, to be honest. I just shot even-par again, same thing I did in Oak Hill in 2023 the first round.

I feel like I can do it again tomorrow. I'm at 6:45 out, No. 1, first group out. The green's going to be perfect. It's going to be so much nore quiet. The wind's going to be down a little bit.

I feel like I could get out there and shoot another even-par, something like that, and put myself in halfway contention going into the weekend, which to be honest is going to be unbelievable.

I see that the weather is going to be in the mid-80s. The greens are going to get baked out. It's going to be hot, which for my body I love heat. It would be a lot of fun. I would love baked out greens and some heat and to be able to play this weekend.

Obviously my biggest goal going into tomorrow is play my game, don't be an idiot, play smart, and leave myself under the hole, and get up-and-down and make a couple putts and don't get frustrated when you miss the putt because it's going to happen, and go have fun.

Q. And how about these fans in the Northeast? Just like Rochester three years ago, you're pretty experienced now knowing they're behind your back?

MICHAEL BLOCK: Hundred percent. East Coast, I'll tell you what, I'm telling everybody, I'm moving out here to the east side, I'm telling you.

It's amazing the support I've always gotten obviously from New York and now here. The cheers I was getting all day long from the fans here in Philly were amazing. I'm very lucky. I feel like a lot of people have jumped on the blocky bandwagon. The block party's good.

Yeah, it's fun. I have so much fun with everybody. It's tough not to. I feel very lucky and very fortunate to be sitting here right now with you guys.