Ray '12th Champion in History'... "First Two Hole-in-Ones in Tournament"

The Players Championship Round 3 Hole 17 Situation

"It was not the gate of hell, but the gate of fortune."

This time, the protagonist is Aaron Ray (England). On the 12th (Korean time), at the SoGrass TPC (par 72, 7,256 yards) in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA, Ray made a hole-in-one on the 17th hole (par 3) during the third round of the PGA Tour's "Fifth Major," The Players Championship (total prize money $25 million). The ball, hit from a distance of 122 yards, landed on the green and rolled down the slope into the hole. Ray celebrated by bumping chests with his caddie, Jason Timmis.

Aaron Ray is cheering after making a hole-in-one on the 17th hole of the third round at The Players Championship. [Ponte Vedra Beach, USA=AFP·Yonhap News]

Ray made the 41st hole-in-one in this tournament and the 36th since it moved to SoGrass TPC. The hole-in-one on the 17th hole was the 12th in history, following Hayden Buckley (USA), who made one during the first round on the 10th. This year marks the first time that two hole-in-ones have occurred on the 17th hole of The Players Championship in a single year.

The 28-year-old Ray is a "young gun" with two wins on the DP World Tour. This season, he has participated in 14 PGA Tour events, with his only top 10 finish being a tie for 7th place at the Houston Open last November. Last week, he tied for 53rd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He is currently ranked 128th in the world and 92nd in the FedEx Cup standings.

The 17th hole at SoGrass TPC is a nightmare for tour players. Although the hole is short, the island green makes it difficult to attack the hole due to constantly changing wind directions and strengths. It is known as the "death hole," where PGA Tour players lose more than 50 balls each year. Up to last year, a total of 868 golf balls have been lost. Bob Tway (USA) scored 12 strokes, 9 over par, in the third round of 2005 after losing his ball to the water four times. This year, Chad Ramey (USA) also sent his ball into the water twice during the second round, resulting in a quadruple bogey collapse.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.