The next hole-in-one at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass during The Players Championship will be the 40th in tournament history.
There have been 39 holes-in-one at Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass during The Players Championship, all between 1986 and 2024.
No one made an ace in the first four years in The Players. The first in tournament history at the Stadium Course was either Jim Gallagher at No. 3 or Brad Fabel at No. 17. The aces occurred just minutes apart and the two players were on opposite waves of the morning groups and were both playing their eighth holes. Tournament officials have not been able to determine which player hit his shot first.
What’s the breakdown among par-3 holes?
In the history of The Players Championship at the Players Stadium Course, there have been 14 aces at 17th hole’s Island Green, 12 at No. 13, eight at No. 8 and five at No. 13.
When do they usually occur?
Expect the most aces in the early rounds, which makes sense: 144 players are taking swings, as opposed to half that in the weekend rounds after the cut is made. There have been 10 aces in the first round, 12 in the second, 10 in the third and seven in the fourth.
The most aces at one hole in one round is a tie: seven each at No. 17 in the first round and at No. 13 in the second.
Has a Players Champion made a hole-in-one?
Not during the year he won it. No player has made a hole-in-one and gone on to win the Players.
Five Players champions have made holes-in-one: Fred Couples (No. 17 in 1997, No. 13 in 2006), Phil Mickelson (No. 13, 1995), Justin Leonard (No. 13, 2006), Henrik Stenson (No. 13, 2006) and Sergio Garcia (No. 17, 2017).
Who has made the most aces?
Couples is the only player with two holes-in-one in a Players at the Stadium Course.
He’s got three if you count his famous “hole-in-three” in 1999 when he hit his tee shot in the water, then re-teed and slam-dunked his third shot into the hole. It’s the only par in the history of the tournament after a player hit into the water or a hazard in any of the par-3 holes.
Which year at The Players had the most aces?
The most aces in one tournament was in 2006 with four, all at No. 13. There are three in 2000, 2019 and 2023. In the latter year, all three aces were at No. 17.
In chronological order, there was a stretch in which seven holes-in-one in a row were made at No. 13, from Craig Stadler in the second round in 2002 to Robert Garrigus in the second round in 2008.
Players have attacked the Island Green
The last five aces made in the tournament have all been at No. 17, beginning with Shane Lowry in the third round in 2022 and continuing with Ryan Fox in the first round in 2024.
What’s the geographic breakdown?
The first 12 aces in The Players were made by American players. The first international player to make one was Joe Ozaki of Japan at No. 8 in 2000. When Fox, from South Africa, made his hole-in-one last year, he became the 12th international player with an ace, and the fourth in the last six.
Spain leads the international ace contingent with three: Miguel Angel Jimenez (No. 17, 2002), Jose Maria Olazabal (No. 13, 2004) and Garcia.
Another famous ace at No. 17
It wasn’t during The Players Championship and it wasn’t at the real Island Green but Jordan Hakim carved out a bit of history at the 2015 Players.
Hakim, at the time a student at Florida Gulf Coast University, made a hole-in-one at the replica of the 17th hole that is built at the Stadium Village, a gather area for fans with food and drink options and one of the big draws of the week, an enclosed model of No. 17 in which a 40-yard shot is required.
Hakim made a bet with his friends that he would jump into the makeshift pond if he aced the hole. Sure enough, he knocked it in the hole and jumped in the water.
Tournament officials and security were not amused and he was escorted off the property. Hakim also did not receive a $100 gift card promised to anyone who made an ace at the replica hole.
“It was just an impulse,” he told the Times-Union. “I was just so pumped up that I did it without thinking. I know it wasn’t safe and I’m sorry.”
Every hole-in-one at the Stadium Course during The Players
Here’s the history of holes-in-one at The Players Championship, at the Stadium Course (player and round):
1986
No. 3, Jim Gallagher, 1
No. 17, Brad Fabel, 1
1991
No. 17, Brian Claar, 1
1992
No. 13, Chip Beck, 1
1994
No. 8, Gary Hallberg, 3
No. 3, Russ Cochran, 4
1995
No. 13, Phil Mickelson, 2
1996
No. 13, Jay Don Blake, 3
1997
No. 8, Mark Brooks, 2
No. 17, Fred Couples, 4
1999
No. 17, Joey Sindelar, 1
No. 8, Bob Friend, 2
2000
No. 17, Paul Azinger, 3
No. 8, Joe Ozaki, 4
No. 8, Ted Tryba, 4
2001
No. 3, Chris DiMarco, 4
2002
No. 17, Miguel Angel Jimenez, 1
No. 13, Craig Stadler, 2
2004
No. 13, Jose Maria Olazabel, 2
2006
No. 13, Justin Leonard, 2
No. 13, Jesper Parnevik, 2
No. 13, Henrik Stenson, 3
No. 13, Fred Couples, 4
2008
No. 13, Robert Garrigus, 2
2013
No. 8, Michael Thompson, 1
No. 13, Chris Stroud, 3
2016
No. 17, Willy Wilcox, 2
2017
No. 17, Sergio Garcia, 1
2019
No. 17, Ryan Moore, 1
No. 13, Sungjae Im, 2
No. 13, Seamus Power, 3
2021
No. 3, Denny McCarthy, 2
No. 8, Brendon Todd, 2
2022
No. 8, Viktor Hovlan, 3
No. 17, Shane Lowry, 3
2023
No. 17, Hayden Buckley, 1
No. 17, Aaron Rai, 3
No. 17, Alex Smalley, 4
2024
No. 17, Ryan Fox, 1
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Players Championship holes-in-one: A history of aces at the Stadium Course
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