With his son on the bag, Michael Block opens PGA Championship with even-par 70

"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," Block said. "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."

Three years ago, Block became the darling of the golf world for a week when he finished tied for 15th at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club. It was the highest finish by a PGA Professional in 40 years. Since then, he's become a somewhat polarizing figure thanks to his goofy social media presence and emotional interviews. It's no secret that some people don't like him, but he doesn't care. He isn't going anywhere.

Block qualified for the PGA Championship for a fifth consecutive year by placing inside the top 20 at the PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes late last month. He fired a 3-under 69 on the final day to climb more than 25 spots up the leaderboard and punch his ticket to Aronimink, something that certain people in his life jokingly wanted to avoid.

"My wife, I don't think she even wants me to qualify," Block told Golfweek after the third round at Bandon Dunes. "We all know [Aronimink] is 7,600 yards and there's no rollout and I'll get my ass handed to me, so it's probably better that I don't play in it. But at the same time, it's really cool, so that's kind of the predicament that the Block family is in."

The Block family is surely happy he did end up qualifying because his wife, Val, watched from the gallery Thursday while his son, Ethan, carried his dad's bag.

"I have zero to lose," Block said. "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. I feel like I'm coming in here as a 2 handicapper and I get a couple shots on the rest of the field."

Block isn't receiving any pops, though. He's playing it straight up just like everyone else, and once again, he's holding his own against the world's best players on a golf course that's proving far more difficult than most expected coming into the week.

"I really don't know [the course] that well, to be honest. I'm still relying on my caddie and the yardage book to really tell me what's going on because, at age 50 — 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."

Some strategy assists from his son and a little positive self-talk has Block just three shots off the lead after 18 holes at the PGA Championship.

"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.' You're actually pretty good, buddy,'" Block said. '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 [ranked] 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 really cool. It's kind of fun."

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Club pro Michael Block opens PGA Championship with even-par 70