The man who engineered a fairytale hole-in-one at the 2023 PGA Championship is attempting to repeat in Montreal on Friday night alongside a Canadian hockey legend.
PGA professional Michael Block and Wayne Gretzky will be at the Royal Montreal Golf Club on Friday night as they attempt to hit hole-in-ones at the course which is currently playing host to the President’s Cup.
“I’m trying to win a Canadian golf for life which is pretty cool,” Block said during an appearance on Global News Morning.
“So, yeah, a Canadian can actually guess which ball if Wayne or I make a hole-in-one, which ball goes in they could actually possibly win golf for life.”
Block took part in a similar event last year when he failed to make a hole-in-one as he had 90 attempts to do so.
“It’s tough, you know?” he explained. “I mean, the odds to make a hole-in-one are difficult.”
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That said, the club pro gained notoriety after hitting a hole-in-one at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club which propelled him to a 15th-place finish and a $288,333.33 payout.
“That was insane. You know, to make that hole-in-one for the ball to go directly in the hole,” he said. “Playing with Rory McIlroy in the final round at Oak Hill was absolutely a dream come true.”
Including his miraculous shot at the PGA championship, the 48-year-old figures he has hit around five hole-in-ones over his lifetime.
Another of the five came a few minutes after he met Gretzky, while filming a promotional video.
“When we were doing the content shoot, I actually made a hole-in-one with Wayne,” Block said. “I literally met him five minutes before this and we’re sitting there and we’re hitting the shots just for video and stuff and literally on, like the fourth or fifth shot, the ball goes in the hole.”
On Friday night the pair will each have 45 shots from 90 feet away as they attempt one of golf’s rarest feats.
“Of course, I want to make a hole-in-one, but if Wayne can possibly make that, the crowd is going to go crazy, and I might just jump in the pond,” Block said.
The golf pro noted that he plays with another hockey legend at home in California and that those who normally play their sports on ice tend to be adept on the fairways as well.
“There are so many good hockey players out there. I mean, Teemu Selanne is one of my good friends back home and we play a lot of golf and he’s an amazing golfer,” Block said.
“It does transfer over. I mean, hockey players are amazing golfers and they all have a ton of power to off the tee.”