Michael Block is getting another shot on the PGA Tour Champions this week, and what started as a few sponsor exemptions has turned into a legitimate run at earning his way onto the circuit full time for 2027.
Block is in the field for this week’s SAS Championship, giving the longtime Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club professional another opportunity to continue a remarkable first season since turning 50. And at this point, Block isn't just happy to be there; he's trying to make sure he can come back next year without needing an invitation.
The SAS Championship field is loaded with some of the biggest names on PGA Tour Champions. It includes major champions Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen, Bernhard Langer, Davis Love III, Ángel
Cabrera and Y.E. Yang, along with Champions Tour stalwarts Steven Alker, Jerry Kelly, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Colin Montgomerie, Rocco Mediate and Steve Stricker. For Block, who has already shown he can contend on the senior circuit, it's another strong field and another opportunity to keep pushing toward full status for 2027.
He can do so by finishing inside the Top 72 of the Schwab Cup standings to make the first playoff event, and finishing inside the Top 36 after the second playoff event.
It’s quite a turnaround from where Block thought he might be when he turned 50 in June. For years, he had looked forward to becoming eligible for PGA Tour Champions, counting down the days since he was at least 45. Then Champions Tour Q-School went away just as his chance arrived.
“I was super bummed,” Block told Golfweek. “I couldn't believe it. And then when it happened, I was super upset.”
That left Monday qualifying, which Block calls “the hardest thing in the world,” and whatever sponsor exemptions he could get. Fortunately for Block, he had something most 50-year-old rookies don't have: the 2023 PGA Championship.
Block became one of the biggest stories in golf that week at Oak Hill, where the Southern California club professional made the cut, hung around for the weekend and then made a hole-in-one while playing alongside Rory McIlroy in the final round.
“Without the 2023 thing happening, unlikely that I get any sponsor exemptions,” Block said.
Those exemptions got Block onto the Champions Tour. What he has done with them has kept him there. Block finished T-9 in his debut at the Dick's Open, contended at the Rogers Charity Classic and held the 36-hole lead at the Ally Challenge before finishing T-3.
Michael Block's PGA Tour Champions starts in 2026:
Then came the Jefferson Lehigh Valley Classic in Pennsylvania, where Block once again took a lead into the final round. He was still in the hunt until a bogey at the 18th, with Steven Alker ultimately winning the tournament.
And although he didn't finish near the top last week at the Furyk & Friends in Hammock Beach, Florida, Block was solid, posting rounds of 71, 69 and 70 to finish just ahead of Darren Clarke and Justin Leonard.
Block knows his experience remains much different from those around him. Most of the players he's competing against have spent decades playing professional golf for a living. Block spent those same years running a golf shop and giving lessons.
“These guys have done this their whole life, so it's like their office,” Block said. “This is not my office. My office is doing payroll and inventory. This is not my office. So I'm trying to learn the way.”
He's not kidding. He remains the head professional at Arroyo Trabuco in Mission Viejo, California. During one recent tournament in Pennsylvania, he was handling payroll from his phone. A few weeks earlier, he was taking care of inventory while playing in South Dakota. The lessons, however, have stopped. Block said he hasn't taught one since 2023. There simply hasn't been enough time.
Ernie Els has welcomed him in player dining. Bernhard Langer has invited him to join a practice round. Players Block spent years watching are suddenly the guys he's eating lunch and playing golf with.
But Block also wants to earn enough Charles Schwab Cup points to secure exempt status for 2027, which would make the sponsor exemptions that helped get this unlikely run started much less important.
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor of Golfweek and the golf coordinator for the USA Today Network.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Michael Block in field for SAS Championship as he chases PGA Tour Champions status
