Too Easy? Players Championship Sees Record Ace Count at 17

If anybody can make TPC Sawgrass’s island-green par-3 17th hole look easy, it’s the best professional golfers in the world. Now, with the ace count up to three at the 2023 Players Championship, the hole is starting to seem more and more gettable. But the numbers paint a different picture. 

On Sunday, Duke University standout Alex Smalley stepped up to the 17th tee at 2 over par for the tournament. His wedge shot took one bounce on the island green’s fringe and then disappeared—the ball slam-dunked into the cup for Smalley’s first career ace on the PGA Tour. 

According to Justin Ray, golf Twitter’s resident statistics expert, there were 7,400 shots hit from the 17th tee at Sawgrass from 2000-2016 at the Players, and there were only three aces throughout that span. 

This week, the hole has defied the odds. There have only been 400 tee shots on 17 and Hayden Buckley, Aaron Rai, and Smalley have all made aces, bringing the 2023 count up to three. 

Smalley’s ace was also the first hole in one in the final round of the Players since Fred Couples made one on 17 in 1997. 

Unlike the pin positions from Thursday and Saturday’s rounds, the Sunday hole location on the island green isn’t one players typically fire at. Smalley admitted that his decision to take on the tucked pin was related to the sloppy double bogey he made on the 16th hole. 

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

Despite the epic hole-out, Smalley played the two-hole stretch in even par. 

Based on the results, the 17th hole might appear as a walk in the park this year, but in reality, it’s far from it. 

“Anyone who hasn't been on the 17th green doesn't realize how much slope there is,” Smalley said. “That front section of the green has got a lot of slope back down to the front towards the water, and then that right side where the pin was today, there's a lot of slope going left to right.”

The recently rained-on greens are soft, winds are down, and the PGA Tour talent pool is deep as ever, but perhaps it’s best to assume that the aces at 17 this week are a statistical anomaly—at least until next year.