Made For the Movies

Who should play who in the inevitable Hollywood adaptation of Michael Block’s incredible PGA performance?

May 22, 2023

You heard it a million times over the weekend and you’ve heard it a million more in the hours since: Club pro Michael Block’s Cinderella run at the PGA Championship, including a magical hole-in-one on the 15th hole to earn an automatic berth in next year’s tournament, is the stuff movies are made of. And when life imitates art, that can only mean one thing:

Art will imitate life right back.

So buckle up movie buffs, golf sickos and the folks who just found out about this on ‘Good Morning America.’ It may not be tomorrow, it may not even be next summer, but one day ‘Won Over: The Michael Block Saga’ will grace big screens all across the world. And when it finally does, whether Oscar-bait or outright garbage, we can only hope the cast looks something like this …

Michael Block - Adam Sandler

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Although ‘Barry’ mastermind and comedic shapeshifter Bill Hader was in the running until the very end, fellow SNL alum Adam Sandler gets the nod thanks to his naturally, erm, blocky frame and silverscreen golf pedigree. Roles such as Little Nicky, Zohan and Mr. Deeds haven’t aged particularly well, but Sandler has flexed his dramatic chops in films such as ‘Punch Drunk Love,’ ‘Click’ and ‘Uncut Gems’ over the years, and will hope to bring a scruffy realism to the role of Block.

Michael Block’s Caddie John Jackson - Chris Pratt

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With ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ grossing $1.23 billion worldwide—good for the fifth biggest animated film of all time—and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ earning a cool $660 million, The Summer of Pratt 2.0 (following mega-hits ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and ’Jurassic World’ in 2014) is in full swing. Now the former ‘Parks and Rec’ goof turned action hero rides that momentum into the role of caddie John Jackson. Was he the one that told Block to go with 7-iron moments before his fateful ace? Audiences will have to buy their tickets and find out …

Brooks Koepka - Channing Tatum

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As if the square-jawed, square-shouldered, square-everything resemblance isn’t uncanny enough, Tatum and Koepka mirror each other in the most important and intangible way of all: Pure alpha swagger. Tatum’s star has waned in recent years, but perhaps a Wanamaker-winning run at Oak Hill will put him back on the map just as it did for Brooks.

Rory McIlroy - Barry Keoghan

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Barry Keoghan is one of the most inspiring stories in Hollywood. The Irishman earned his first Oscar nomination for his performance in ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ in 2022 after spending much of his youth bouncing in and out of foster homes. While he doesn’t possess Rory’s good looks, his acting chops more than make up the difference, helping him to bring an appropriate world weariness to the North Irishman’s recent major performances.

Viktor Hovland - Rory Culkin

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Pick a Culkin, any Culkin. As brother Kieran enjoys a career-defining run on ‘Succession,’ Rory gets his shot in the hard-luck role of Viktor Hovland. After a starring turn in 2018’s ‘Lords of Chaos’—an excellent biopic about infamous Norwegian black metal trailblazers Mayhem—the youngest Culkin is perfect fit for the Oslo-born, metal-loving Hovland. We can’t wait to see what sort of anguish Rory brings to screen in his pivotal third-act scene, his PGA Championship hopes turning to dust in an unassuming fairway bunker along the 16th hole.

Scottie Scheffler - Austin Butler

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A lanky southern gentleman with wild footwork? Sunday’s sneaky runner-up is a role Austin Butler was born to play … well, that and Elvis. Best of all, it’s a lineless role. Word is Butler got stuck in The King’s accent after his performance in Warner Bros.' big-budget biopic and still hasn’t recovered.

Jim Nantz - Tom Hanks

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Speaking of former ‘Elvis’ stars, only a true legacy actor is fit to tackle one of sports’ greatest legacies, and you can bet Hanks will bring every ounce of his everyman aura to the role of America’s most iconic sports broadcaster. Audiences will feel as if they’re kicking back in Hanks’ living room (or desert island, as it were) as he poeticizes par save after par save and purrs through Block’s unbelievable final-round ace. Nantz was in the running to cameo as himself, much like Masters broadcast partner Verne Lundquist in ‘Happy Gilmore,’ but the box office numbers don’t lie: Hanks is still Hollywood’s number-one dad.

Amanda Renner - Margot Robbie

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Margot Robbie will take on the role of CBS sportscaster Amanda Renner, who helmed Michael Block’s tearful, heart-wrenching interview following the conclusion of his final round at Oak Hill. Robbie is generally known for more colorful roles—Harley Quinn and Barbie certainly jump to mind—but her Oscar-nominated performance as Tonya Harding in 2017’s ‘I, Tonya’ proves she can handle the unique challenges of a sports biopic. Plus, producers will need an actress with experience to deliver lines like “You are the Chase Sapphire Shot of the Day!” with a straight face.

Greg Norman - Mel Gibson

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It just wouldn’t be a Hollywood adaptation without some unnecessary embellishment. Thus LIV Golf provocateur Greg Norman steps into the fold as the metaphorical devil on Block’s shoulder. Appearing at the bar the night before Block’s final round, Norman offers Block a fat stack of cash to take a dive and let the spotlight shine solely on LIV star Brooks Koepka. Block, despite being tempted by the [insert fictionalized problems back at home] the money might fix, realizes that nothing is worth more than his pride. Who better to bring the extremely problematic former tour pro’s menacing, mincing character to life than extremely problematic former megastar Mel Gibson? A fellow Aussie, Gibson won’t even need to work on his accent.

Jay Monahan - Kevin Costner

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A tip of the cap to ‘Tin Cup’, the Hollywood story Block’s real-life run most closely mirrors, the artist formerly known as Roy McAvoy joins the cast as embattled PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. That’s the official story, but insiders say that Monahan, an executive producer on the film, was given carte blanche to cast his own character. Unfortunately Ben Affleck declined the role.