The Block Party has been called off this weekend at Quail Hollow. Michael Block played in his seventh PGA Championship this weekend, but it was nothing like the fairy tale in 2023 at Oak Hill. There were a few highlights—sticking his approach on the difficult par-3 17th hole to six feet on Thursday and hitting a driver off the deck on Friday before taking a bow to the Charlotte crowd. But the PGA pro who electrified the Rochester, N.Y. crowd in ’23 by making a hole-in-one while paired with Rory McIlroy shot 75-82 this year to miss the cut by 14 shots.
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Block instantly became a crowd favorite in Rochester, helping him to catapult him to a very unlikely finish in 2023 (T-15). The pro from Arroyo Trabuco in Mission Viejo, Calif., wishes he had that this year. When asked about his struggles in 2025, he pointed to the crowds as not motivating him to hit the shots needed to play better.
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“I love crowds,” Block told GOLF.com’s Josh Schrock. “That’s kind of the funny part is I wish there was a huge crowd on every hole because that’s when I hit my shots. I really do. I always do. It’s the weirdest thing. When there’s no one around is when I hit my worst shots.
“That’s something that I need more in my life is a bigger crowd. I just need to play a little better so it could happen. I could only imagine what would have happened if I would have been playing really good this week.”
The 49-year-old also cited the soft fairways, as being someone who only carries his driver 270 yards, being the main reason for him not being able to keep up on a 7,600-plus yard test at a brawny Quail Hollow. But it’s clear Block is a performer—playing in multiple PGA Tour events in 2023 on sponsors exemptions after his popular finish at Oak Hill.
It’s tough to expect droves of fans to follow a PGA pro shooting in the 80s at a major when the rest of golf’s stars are about, but Block clearly wishes it went differently this year. So do many golf fans.
Block will get another chance to draw some crowds as he was given a sponsor exemption once again to next week’s field at Colonial.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
