![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/PGAC.05.12.26.DC_.BDC08822-1-1024x683.jpg\")
The Corebridge Financial team players (Each PGA Professional in the field at the 2026 PGA Championship | Darren Carroll\/PGA of America<\/strong><\/p>\nALSO: How to qualify for the PGA Championship at Aronimink in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n ALSO: Meet the PGA Professionals playing at the PGA Championship in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n We need PGA Professionals at the PGA Championship<\/p>\n He might have been a subject of derision since, which he now attributes to his own actions, but Block\u2019s story has been more compelling than anything at this event for a while, aside from the World No.1 being arrested.<\/p>\n 20 club professionals are scattered around the roster of the world\u2019s best golfers this week, representing the lifeblood and grassroots of the sport.<\/p>\n The PGA Professional Championship is the platform where Block and his pals can qualify, and is essentially the equivalent of the regional and final qualifying we see at the US Open and The Open. <\/p>\n The PGA Professional Championship brings together a vast network of golfers looking to play in a major. It features a 312-player field from 41 PGA sections. It was born in 1968 and has provided a formal pathway for those who work at the community level to compete at the world level.<\/p>\n Are any of them going to win? No. Does anyone win The Open having got through regional qualifying? No, but no one questions why it is a thing. <\/p>\n \u201cI hear it,\u201d Block said in a chat with Alan Shipnuck<\/a>, about the idea that PGA Pros shouldn\u2019t be welcome.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that motivates me to want to play well. If the club pros always finished 136th-156th at the PGA, I would agree that the number should go down, that 20 spots is too many. But that never happens. Guys make the cut, guys finish well ahead of many of the best players in the world. <\/p>\n \u201cBut we have full-time jobs, we\u2019re not used to a stage like that or course conditions like that, so of course some guys struggle. But I do think it remains an important way to showcase that club pros have game, too, and to maintain what has always been part of the history of the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n It is a great shame when the discussion is focused on shutting the door to PGA Professionals and closing down a concept that actually makes the PGA Championship unique, which is what we cry out for when the second week of this month rolls around.<\/p>\n While understanding that a major tournament might not be the appropriate platform to say come one, come all, their presence represents an intimate connection to where we all started at the beginner level.<\/p>\n That isn\u2019t a feeling that exists at any of the other majors. Top amateurs and up-and-coming golf pros can battle through the various stages of qualification to play at Shinnecock Hills and Royal Birkdale, but this is a distinct pathway for those who teach the game, and run golf clubs to cater for those who want to be the next Scottie Scheffler.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be approving payroll from the driving range at Aronimink,\u201d Block added. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty funny how much shop business I have done in the middle of the PGA Championship or at PGA Tour events.\u201d<\/p>\n I imagine his peers will be doing the same. <\/p>\n In a game that has reached the peak of greed and gross evaluations of self-worth in recent years, the PGA Pros that tee it up in Newtown Square this week will bring a welcome departure from that, playing for the experience, the love and that distant hope of \u2018You never know\u2019.<\/p>\n NOW READ: Which LIV players are in the PGA Championship?<\/a><\/p>\n NOW READ: PGA Championship field 2026: Who is playing at Aronimink?<\/a><\/p>\n