A tournament full of aces

Alex Smalley bounced his into the hole from 134 yards for his first career hole-in-one on tour.

When Shane Lowry aced the 17th hole last year, it was only the 10th hole-in-one on the iconic par-3 since the Players Championship moved to the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course in 1982. That averages to about one ace on the hole every four years on the so-called island green, and there had never been multiple aces in the same tournament.

This week, there were three aces on 17 – twice to the accessible front pin on Thursday and Saturday and another to the tougher Sunday pin tucked in the back right corner of the green.