8 Facts And Stats You Should Know About The Iconic Par-3 17th Hole At TPC Sawgrass

You can’t make a list of the most recognizable golf holes on the planet without mentioning the 17th at TPC Sawgrass. That par-3 is the main attraction when the course hosts The Players Championship each year, and it’s steeped in a ton of lore thanks to what’s transpired there over the years.

These are the stats and numbers golf fans should know about the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass

The 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass sits alongside the 16th at Cypress Hill, the “Road Hole” that is the 17th on the Old Course at St. Andrews, and the stadium constructed around the 16th at TPC Scottsdale during the WM Phoenix Open when it comes to the first holes to spring to mind when you’re talking about the most iconic holes in golf.

The island green gets thrust into the spotlight when The Players descends upon Ponte Vedra Beach each year, and with the tournament taking place this week, I figured there was no better time to do a deep dive into the hole.

How many players have made a hole-in-one on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass during The Players?

The inaugural Players Championship was held at TPC Sawgrass in 1974, and statistically speaking, you can expect someone to make a hole-in-one on the 17th every four years.

Prior to the start of the 2026 tournament, 14 PGA Tour players had made an ace during a competitive round. Brad Fabel was the first to do so in 1986, and Ryan Fox became the most recent member of that club in 2024 while joining a list of notable names that also includes Fred Couples, Paul Azinger, and Sergio Garcia.

If you’re curious, no one has won the tournament the same year they achieved a hole-in-one, and no one has gotten one more than once.

What’s the highest number of aces that have been recorded on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass in the same tournament?

There’s been an uptick in the number of holes-in-one at The Players over the past decade or so, and those numbers are skewed by what transpired in 2023.

Prior to that year, there had not been a tournament where more than one golfer was able to jot a “1” down on their scorecard.

However, three of them managed to do that when everything was said and done: Hayden Buckley kicked things off with one in the first round, Aaron Rai got one on Saturday, and Alex Smalley completed the trifecta on the second-to-last hole of his final 18.

How many players have birdied the 17th at TPC Sawgrass in all four rounds during The Players?

Golfers who make the cut at TPC Sawgrass get to take on the 17th on four separate occasions, and success on one day by no means guarantees the same outcome on the others.

In fact, there are only two men who’ve reduced their score every single time they stepped up to the tee box over the course of a tournament: Azinger did so with four birdies in 1987 while finishing in sixth place, and Kyle Stanley joined him in 2017 en route to a tie for fourth.

What’s the worst score a PGA Tour player has carded on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass?

In 1990, Robert Gamez set the record for the highest score on the par-3 when he recorded an 11, and that stood for 15 years before he was topped by Bob Tway.

Tway was sitting in a tie for sixth when he arrived on the 17th toward the end of his third round, but that was not the case by the time he headed to the tee box on 18. His first shot found the water before he headed to the drop zone, but his next three also managed to find the drink before he ended up on the green sitting 10.

He three-putted from there to drop to 66th, and the 12 he recorded is still the highest shot recorded on that hole during The Players. However, he has nothing on an amateur hack who once managed to shoot a 66.

How many balls have landed in the water surrounding the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass during The Players?

The PGA Tour has only been tracking that particular stat since 2003, but prior to the start of The Players in 2026, a grand total of 1,068 balls have been sacrificed to the golf gods on the 17th hole (an average of around 48.5 per year).

No player has been responsible for more of them than Aaron Baddley, who’s put 14 in the water. The 2007 edition of The Players featured the most overall with 93, while 2014 marked the fewest at 28.

However, the pros are only responsible for a tiny margin of the balls that end up missing the green each year, as the folks at TPC Sawgrass collect around 100,000 of them from their watery grave on an annual basis.

What’s the longest putt a PGA Tour player has made on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass?

Tiger Woods was responsible for what is probably the most memorable putt on the 17th hole with the approximately 60-foot birdie that sparked Gary Koch’s iconic “Better than most!” call in 2001.

However, Jhonattan Vegas is responsible for the longest putt on a green that measures 78 feet across, as he converted a putt that was officially marked at 69 feet and 7 inches in 2019.

What’s the average score on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass?

Statistically speaking, most players usually don’t have trouble making par on the 17th. The average score is 3.12, which means it’s only the 8th-most difficult hole on the course. However, that also makes it the hardest par-3 under 150 yards on the entire PGA Tour.

That first number also jumps to 4.03 if your shot lands in the water, as you’ll need to hole out from the drop zone if you want to avoid a bogey.

Which current PGA Tour player has the worst track record on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass?

Tway holds the record for the highest cumulative score at the 17th over the years, as his aforementioned implosion contributed to being 30-over in the 64 rounds he played at TPC Sawgrass.

That gives him an average score of 3.47, which is not great but still better than Brooks Koepka. He has averaged an exact bogey by going 20-over in the 20 rounds he’s played heading into 2026, which is the worst of any golfer who’s taking part in The Players this year.