2024 PLAYERS Championship: Exploring Past Aces on the 17 Hole at TPC Sawgrass

The TPC Sawgrass happens to be one of the most meticulously crafted and challenging greens in the golf world. However, the most difficult part of Pete Dye’s masterpiece is undoubtedly the par-3 17th hole—the island green.

What may undoubtedly be every player’s most beautiful nightmare, the hole is surrounded by water (just like an island) and requires the golfer to drive the ball onto the greens over the water. And while just doing that is tougher than it sounds, there are a few who’ve even gone on to achieve the highest of glories at the hole-an ace!

Only 13 golfers have achieved the ultimate glory at TPC Sawgrass

One of the shortest holes on the PGA Tour circuit, the par-3 17th, is often regarded as a treacherous but beautiful hole. Until last year, only 12 players had managed to hole the ball in a single shot from the tee.

Brad Fabel was the first golfer ever to make an ace there, doing so in 1986. For 5 years after that, none were able to match his feat, until Brian Claar followed suit in 1991 during the third round of The PLAYERS!

Since then, despite over three decades passing, only 10 more golfers were able to achieve the same feat until last year, with Alex Smalley being the last, when he did so last year at the third round of the deemed 5th major.

The entire list of golfers who’ve ever holed an ace on the Island Green is as follows:

• Brad Fabel, 1986, Round 1
• Brian Claar, 1991, Round 3
• Fred Couples, 1997, Round 4
• Joey Sindelar, 1999, Round 1
• Paul Azinger, 2000, Round 3
• Miguel Angel Jimenez, 2002, Round 1
• Willy Wilcox, 2016, Round 2
• Sergio Garcia, 2017, Round 1
• Ryan Moore, 2019, Round 1
• Hayden Buckley, 2023, Round 1
• Aaron Rai, 2023, Round 3
• Alex Smalley, 2023, Round 4

Interestingly, the above list is incomplete. Why? Because just hours ago, during the first round of the 2024 PLAYERS another ace was holed on the Island Green. And it came from none other than golf veteran Ryan Fox!

Ryan Fox leaves the golf community in awe

Following a record three aces a year ago, the New Zealand star is now the latest player to achieve greatness at the TPC. Fox played the hole perfectly for its design. He hit the ball and used the backstop of the green to get the ball back down to the front, while everyone watched as it rolled. In the TPC Sawgrass’s 50 years of tenure, he now holds the lucky 13th ace!

Interestingly, Fox’s ace came right one hole after he managed to make an eagle at the par-5 16th, which also earned him the title of being the first player to achieve the back-to-back feat of scoring two eagles at the PLAYERS Championship (since his ace was also technically an eagle).

The back-to-back eagles boosted his score to 2 under on the front nine. He ended the round 3-under par, 69. While tying for 22nd may not have been the best finish, he certainly had the best moment of the day.

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