L'ÎLE-BIZARD—SAINTE-GENEVIÈVE — Wayne Gretzky is happy to come out of retirement for one day. As a golfer, however.
The Hockey Hall of Famer and the NHL's all-time leading scorer played with professional golfer Michael Block on Friday at the Ultra Hole Challenge presented by Michelob ULTRA, an exhibition where each player had 90 attempts to get a hole-in-one.
Gretzky used to regularly play the Pebble Beach Pro-Am with his son-in-law, former world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, with the pair last teaming up in 2020.
"I remember saying to Dustin at the end of that one, 'you know, it's really hard for me, because I'm 60 years old now, and I don't hit it very far. I'm not very good,'" said Gretzky, noting that Johnson was paired with Jordan Spieth for eight years at Pebble Beach. "Those two guys, they draw some of the biggest crowds at that event.
"And then a few months later, he jumped to LIV Golf and he can't play it anymore so I don't have to play Pebble anymore."
The Ultra Hole Challenge was staged Friday night at Golf St-Raphael, approximately 90 minutes after the second round of the Presidents Cup finished at neighbouring Royal Montreal Golf Club.
Despite being one of the greatest athletes Canada has ever produced, the 63-year-old Gretzky was realistic about his chances at the hole-in-one exhibition.
"People think because you're an athlete, because I was a hockey player, I should be a good golfer. No, I'm not," said Gretzky in the clubhouse at Royal Montreal. "I'm like everyone else. I'm a 12 handicap. I don't practise, I don't take lessons.
"I play for fun. It's a great family sport, and I love it."
Gretzky has only made a hole-in-one once in his life and, like all amateur golfers, he could rhyme off the specifics in one breath: Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Dec. 30, 2021. Nine iron, 138 yards, one bounce and in.
"We were playing a fivesome and everybody's like 'Oh my god!' and I couldn't even see the ball," laughed Gretzky. "I got it the best place you could do it, Jack Nicklaus's signature hole and, of course, he built Sherwood Country Club.
"The only better thing that would be getting a hole-in-one at Augusta."
Beyond his connection to Johnson, Gretzky is a longtime fan of golf, including a decades-long friendship with Canadian golfing legend Moe Norman.
"Moe wouldn't play with anybody who was in less than a six handicap. 'No good for me, no good for me,'" said Gretzky. "He wouldn't play with me, 'no good for me,' he'd say.
"But my dad (Walter Gretzky) was a 25 handicap and (Norman) played my dad twice a week. Loved my dad."
Walter Gretzky and Norman became so close that when Wayne Gretzky was the general manager of Team Canada at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, his father left the tournament to go to Kitchener, Ont., and deliver the eulogy at Norman's funeral.
"My dad loved Moe. Moe loved my dad," said Gretzky. "If I could have videotaped them today, you would die laughing because it was so comical. My dad was so bad and Moe was so good."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2024.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
