WATCH: Aaron Rai helps make Players Championship history with ace on 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass

Aaron Rae entered the 18th hole at 8 under at the 2023 Players Championship to get a little closer to the odds, but the score itself was not always the focus of his attention at the time. No doubt the first thing he thought about was how he had gotten to the 8 below by that point: an ace record on the famous par-3 17th hole of TPC Sawgrass that would go down in history.

Ace of Heaven – part of the 3rd birdie eagle on the 16th-17th – second in the tournament on the 17th hole, i.e. first time it happened in the players’ championship. It’s only 12th in this hole’s history, but 41st in Players Championship history.

Here are the last 10 that took place on the famous 17th including Hayden Buckley from the first round. What’s really crazy is that from 2003 to 2015 there wasn’t a single ace. Now there were two in three days!

With one, Rai jumped to a tie and finished 7th in the rankings 8 below, just four behind leaders Min Woo Lee and Scotty Scheffler at the time he made an ace.

The 17th player played just 122 yards from the front left pin on Saturday. It was one of the easiest holes on the 18-bird golf course. However, Rai is the only player with such a coveted ace.