For the 14th time in the 50-year history of The Players Championship, a golfer has made an ace on the island green, the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass. Following a record three aces on this hole a year ago, Ryan Fox made the first in this edition of The Players with a wedge to the 124-yard pin.
Fox played it exactly as designed, using the slight backstop of the green to bring the ball all the way back down to the front. A lot of golfers have attempted to play the hole this way so far in Round 1, but only Fox was able to make the shot through the morning wave.
Remarkably, Fox’s ace came just one hole after he eagled the par-5 16th making him the first player in history to accomplish that back-to-back feat, according to Justin Ray. Those scores shot him back into contention after a rough start to his first round, which began on the back nine of TPC Sawgrass.
With the hole-in-one, Fox joins a list that includes Shane Lowry, Sergio Garcia, Paul Azinger and Fred Couples. Incredibly, there were no aces on the island green from 2002-16, but there have now been five in the last three years.
| 2024 | 1 | Ryan Fox |
| 2023 | 4 | Alex Smalley |
| 2023 | 3 | Aaron Rai |
| 2023 | 1 | Hayden Buckley |
| 2022 | 3 | Shane Lowry |
| 2019 | 1 | Ryan Moore |
| 2017 | 1 | Sergio Garcia |
| 2016 | 2 | Willy Wilcox |
| 2002 | 1 | Miguel A. Jimenez |
| 2000 | 3 | Paul Azinger |
| 1999 | 1 | Joey Sindelar |
| 1997 | 4 | Fred Couples |
| 1991 | 3 | Brian Claar |
| 1986 | 1 | Brad Fabel |
The 17th on Thursday is playing about as easy as it will play this week. Even with some water balls, a double bogey and a triple bogey early in the day, players are still averaging right at par in Round 1 (officially 3.03 at the time Fox went through). Most of that is because there’s little wind, and the rest of it is because this is an easy pin location.
The ace moved Fox to 3 under, two back of leaders Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele at the time he made it on No. 17.