Michael Block in the field for this week’s PGA Tour Champions event. Here’s why

Michael Block in the field for this week's PGA Tour Champions event.

Key points

• But Block additionally wants to earn enough Charles Schwab Cup points to secure exempt status for 2027.
• Then came the Jefferson Lehigh Valley Classic in Pennsylvania, where Block once again took a lead into the final round.
• "Without the 2023 thing happening, unlikely that I get any sponsor exemptions, " Block remarked.
• Tim Schmitt is the managing editor of Golfweek and the golf coordinator for the USA Today Network.
• The SAS Championship field is loaded with some of the biggest names on PGA Tour Champions.

Michael Block is getting another shot on the PGA Tour Champions this week, and what began 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 on another sponsor's exemption, giving the longtime Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club professional another chance to continue a remarkable first season since turning 50. At this point, he's trying to create sure he can come back next year without needing an invitation.

For context, 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 solid 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 create 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 informed Golfweek. "I couldn't believe it. And then when it happened, I was super upset."

That left Monday qualifying. It block calls "the hardest thing in the world, " and whatever sponsor exemptions he could obtain. 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 created the cut, hung around for the weekend and then produced a hole-in-one while playing alongside Rory McIlroy in the final round.

Those exemptions obtained 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 remarked. "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. Meanwhile, the lessons, nevertheless, have ceased. Block remarked 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 additionally wants to earn enough Charles Schwab Cup points to secure exempt status for 2027. It would produce the sponsor exemptions that supported secure this unlikely run began much less notable.

Taken together, the developments around michael Block in the field for this weeks PGA Tour Champions event. Point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.