Tag: Island Green

Beau Hossler now owns a piece of (unfortunate) Players Championship history at 17th hole

The hole claimed another victim but this one goes in the record books.

Beau Hossler was not the first, and he will definitely not be the last.

During the second round of the 2024 Players Championship, Hossler etched his name in the record books at TPC Sawgrass, but not in the way he would want it.

He hit the 1,000th ball in the water at the par-3 17th hole since 2003, when ShotLink began tracking shots at the hole.

While Ryan Fox made the 14th ace on the 17th in the first round Thursday, Hossler’s shot hit the back of the green before hopping into the water long on Friday.

It’s important to note, since ShotLink didn’t begin tracking data on the hole until 2003, there have been plenty of golf balls to find the drink over the years that aren’t “on record.” That’s why Hossler’s name is attached to the record.

The good news, Hossler, who turns 29 on Saturday, was able to get up and in for bogey, keeping him just below the projected cutline with nine holes to play.

But a double-bogey 6 on the fourth hole, his 13th of the day after starting on the back nine, led to a 1 over total, putting Hossler two shots off the projected cutline of 1 under.

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Alex Smalley makes third island green ace of the week at 2023 Players Championship

Twelve holes-in-one have been made on the famed 17th at TPC Sawgrass dating back to 1991.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Aces are wild at the par-3 17th at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass this week.

On Sunday, Alex Smalley became the latest to make a hole-in-one at the famed island green. The 26-year-old Duke product had made a double-bogey seven thanks to a water ball at the par-5 16th.

“I figured I might as well just go right at it,” Smalley said.

He stepped up at the 133-yard par 3 with a sand wedge and delivered another highlight reel moment.

“I guess it landed right on the downslope and just went in,” he said.

Smalley, who recorded his fourth career hole in one, joined Hayden Buckley, who started the fireworks early on Thursday morning in the first round, and Aaron Rai, who made his ace on Saturday during the third round.

Smalley’s ace in the final round is the 12th at the hole since Brian Claar in 1991, and first in the final round since Fred Couples in 1997.

After he picked his ball out of the hole, he motioned as if he intended to toss the ball into the water.

“My caddie told me it would be pretty funny if I kind of fake threw it in the water, so I went ahead and listened to him,” Smalley said. “There was no way I was teeing off on 18 with that ball, either. It’s in my bag somewhere.”

Aaron Rai aces the 17th island green at TPC Sawgrass, second hole-in-one this week at 2023 Players Championship

“It was a little bit of a blur.”

It happened again.

An ace on the par-3 17th hole at the famous island green. This time, it was Aaron Rai on Saturday during the third round of the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

On Thursday, Hayden Buckley hit one. Rai did it in similar fashion, hitting his shot about 15 feet past the front left pin before it spun back and into the hole.

“Felt at a very good number with my gap wedge,” Rai said. “Hit it great, looked great in the air and very pleased to see it go in. That was an incredible moment.”

It’s the first time in Players history there has been two holes-in-one at the 17th hole in the same year. It’s the third one in the past two years, with Shane Lowry making one in a similar location during the third round last year.

On Saturday, the par-3 17th was playing 122 yards. Here’s a look at everyone who has hit a hole-in-one on the 17th in Players history.

2023: Hayden Buckley, 1st round; Aaron Rai, 3rd round
2022: Shane Lowry, 3rd round
2019: Ryan Moore, 1st round
2017: Sergio Garcia, 1st round
2016: Willy Wilcox, 2nd round
2002: Miguel Angel Jimenez, 1st round
2000: Paul Azinger, 3rd round
1999: Joey Sindelar, 1st round
1997: Fred Couples, final round
1991: Brian Claar, 3rd round

The ace put Rai to 6 under thru 17 holes. He also birdied the par-4 18th hole after a great approach shot to finish at 7-under 65 and 9 under for the tournament.

“It was a little bit of a blur,” Rai said. “I saw it go in, and then I looked to the left to almost see, is it real and I saw almost the crowd’s hands in the air.

“In the second after that, I looked to the right towards my caddie and he came running at me. So it happened very fast, but it feels very vivid now that I’m even talking about it and remembering some of those images. So I couldn’t quite believe that it happened, but very, very special. Very special. Something I’ll always remember.”

Buckley was the first in Players history to go ace-birdie on 17 and 18. Rai became the second, but he was the first to finish birdie-ace-birdie.

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Hayden Buckley throws his club, hat celebrating hole-in-one at TPC Sawgrass No. 17

The first ace of the weekend occurred before anyone finished brewing their morning coffee.

What a great start to the morning for Hayden Buckley and anyone who bet on at least one ace at hole No. 17 during the 2023 Players Championship.

Just around 9 a.m. ET, Buckley rolled up to the tee box at the infamous island green at hit a gorgeous shot that landed a bit behind the flag stick, caught the slope and rolled right back into the cup for the first (and maybe only?) ace of the weekend.

Naturally, Buckley lost his dang mind in celebration and rightfully so.

The odds of any player making a hole-in-one on No. 17 this week were +250 (and boosted to +375 at FanDuel), but don’t think for a moment that Buckley’s accomplishment is something any average golfer could accomplish at this course.

TPC Sawgrass released a video tracking 95 amateurs attempting to take on the island green and only three even came away with birdies while the rest put 102 balls in the water.

It’s also the second week in a row we’ve seen an ace on Tour after Viktor Hovland pulled one off at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The moral of the story is if you like free drinks, you don’t want to miss the PGA’s Florida swing.

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Hayden Buckley aces the island green 17th at TPC Sawgrass, loses his mind Thursday at 2023 Players Championship

Just 10 players have made a hole-in-one on the iconic par 3 since 1991.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Drinks are on Hayden Buckley on Thursday.

The 27-year-old pro aced the iconic par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass and then celebrated with gusto.

“I had a little feeling something like that might happen this week,” said Buckley, who made his second hole-in-one on the PGA Tour and fifth of his life. “I don’t know, I’ve been hitting it well, but it’s always nice to see it happen on that hole, too.”

Starting on the back nine and playing in just the second group of the day to step to the water-guarded par 3 in the opening round of the 2023 Players Championship, Buckley chose a pitching wedge with just 125 yards to the front-hole location. His shot landed just right of the hole, bounced once and then spun back into the cup.

“I’m so sorry for my squeak. Holy cow,” said Christina Kim on PGA Tour Live. “Oh, I want to see that again.”

Don’t we all.

Buckley threw his hat in the air, pumped his fists, screamed, “C’mon!” and tossed his club as he slapped hands with pros Adam Long and Taylor Montgomery.

It was a much more animated reaction compared to when Buckley made an ace in Las Vegas last year as a rookie.

“It was early in the morning, nobody was really out there,” he said. “I guess I had to have a little bit more of a reaction this time. I had friends and my wife in the crowd, so I had to entertain them a little bit.”

Buckley was cruising along at 5 under through his first 11 holes when the wheels came off and he signed for 1-over 73. But an ace is an ace and he said he’d celebrated later.

“I need a lot of water, but maybe like a Maker’s and Sprite I think is what I’ll have,” he said. “I guess I’m buying a lot of people drinks, too, so that’s probably the only downside. Drinks on me, I guess.”

One year after Shane Lowry aced the hole in the third round, Buckley became the 10th player to do so since 1991:

2023: Hayden Buckley, 1st round
2022: Shane Lowry, 3rd round
2019: Ryan Moore, 1st round
2017: Sergio Garcia, 1st round
2016: Willy Wilcox, 2nd round
2002: Miguel Angel Jimenez, 1st round
2000: Paul Azinger, 3rd round
1999: Joey Sindelar, 1st round
1997: Fred Couples, final round
1991: Brian Claar, 3rd round

Buckley, a former walk-on at Missouri, finished second at the Sony Open at Hawaii, his best career finish on the PGA Tour, but entered the Players having missed his last three cuts.

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95 amateurs attempted the 17th Island Green at TPC Sawgrass and it went worse than imagined

Watch this before you laugh at the world’s best golfers for dropping a shot in the water

By now we’ve all seen the commercials of PGA players approaching the par-three 17th Island Green at TPC Sawgrass with a hefty dose of trepidation as Run-DMC’s It’s Tricky or Stevie Nicks’ Edge of Seventeen plays in the background.

What usually follows is a knee-buckling montage of elite golfers watching their tee shots roll back into the water or miss the island entirely. And there’s no shortage of people watching at home who can’t wait to criticize these pros for missing a 137-yard chip shot that they believe is all too easy.

Well, 95 amateurs were captured trying to prove it when TPC Sawgrass two months ago. It went spectacularly off the rails.

Seasoned golfers of all ages and handicaps gave No. 17 their best shot —from an even shorter distance than the pros — and proved just how difficult one of the most famous holes in the sport really is thanks to data collected by the course.

Here are some quick stats from just one day of tracking shots:

  • 95 players put 102 balls into the water
  • Every group that played hit at least one shot in the water
  • 3 of 95 amateurs carded a birdie
  • 23 of 95 made par
  • 57 of 95 made double bogey or worse
  • Total score to par +225
  • Curse words uttered: incalculable

Dating back to 2013, the 109 pros have hit 13 shots into the water. The amateurs likely eclipsed that number by the time the third group reached No. 17.

What’s most telling about the video is just how nerve-wracking it is for amateurs to stand in the tee box even when their round has already gone well above their typical score. Amateurs talked about being 100-over par on the day and still feeling the anxiety that comes with staring down the island.

Rates to get onto the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass start at $600 between September and May. Of course, if you’d like your money back afterwards, you can always jump in the water at No. 17 and collect the thousands of Titleist Pro-V1s sitting at the bottom of the pond.

Let’s do some quick math and say an average 100 balls per day go into the drink. That’s around 27,200 during peak season,

Remember that the next time you get ready to laugh at the best golfers in the world for missing a chip shot.

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Check the yardage book: TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course for the 2023 Players Championship on the PGA Tour

StrackaLine offers hole-by-hole maps for the 2023 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, including the island-green 17th.

The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, the site of the 2023 Players Championship on the PGA Tour, was designed by legendary architect Pete Dye with plenty of input from his wife, Alice. The layout in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, opened in 1980 and has been home to the tournament since 1982.

The Players Stadium Course ranks No. 1 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access layouts in each state. It also ties for No. 15 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern courses in the U.S., and it ranks No. 11 among all resort courses in the U.S.

The course will play to 7,275 yards and a par of 72 for the Players Championship. The layout this year includes a new back tee on the par-5 ninth that could stretch the hole past 600 yards.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week.

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The 10 highest single-hole scores on No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass

It’s in the unique category of golf conversations, where one only needs to mutter “Island Green,” and the person or persons will immediately understand where they’re headed-No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass. Few holes in golf are as famous, a mistake (it …

It’s in the unique category of golf conversations, where one only needs to mutter “Island Green,” and the person or persons will immediately understand where they’re headed—No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass.

Few holes in golf are as famous, a mistake (it wasn’t originally to be an island green) that exemplifies a sport that thrives on them. Playing between 125 to 140 yards, the 78 feet of green and the water that surrounds it has long been a nerve-wracking battle of short-yardage control, where golfers have to battle themselves along with the winds and Lady Luck.

The par-3 17th has become a must-see moment during the Players Championship, too. Since 2003’s tourney, 757 balls have landed in the water at the 17th, 49 of them in 2019—including a donation by Tiger Woods:

Woods carded a quadruple-bogey (7) that day, the same as Sergio Garcia’s 2013 meltdown that helped end his title chances. Neither makes the worst of the worst, though.

Currently, the 10 highest scores on No. 17 belong to these guys:

Ronnie Black, 1984: 8

(Golfweek)

The first round of the 1984 Players Championship at the Stadium Course has been labeled the “Meanest Day at 17.” With 40-mph wind gusts, guys were playing anything from a 5-iron to a wedge. That day, the hole played 122 over par (a 3.8-plus average). Ronnie Black stepped away from a logjam of six golfers who recorded a seven, one-upping the pack with a dreaded ‘snowman.’

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