Sergio Garcia's dream season continued Thursday as the Masters champion became just the eighth player to ace the iconic 17th hole during the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
The last to do so on the famed island green was Willy Wilcox in the second round of last year's event. Before that, there was a 14-year gap for a hole-in-one on No. 17 dating to Miguel Angel Jimenez in 2002.
"I hit a good shot. But it was 3 yards past the pin," Garcia said. "It could have done anything. It could have stayed there, gone farther. It was nice that it spun back into the hole. And I needed it after the start that I had. I turned a poor round into a decent round.''
It was the second hole-in-one of Garcia's PGA Tour career. He also put a "1" in the scorecard at the 2008 BMW Championship. Garcia, who used a 52-degree wedge from 123 yards, said it was his 12th career hole-in-one and fifth in competition.
It was also the 14th time that Garcia recorded a score below par on the hole since 2003 -- which is the most of any player. Of the previous seven players to ace the hole, only three finished in the top 40 that week. Two players failed to make the cut entirely.
Garcia said he had some issues getting back into a good rhythm after the layoff following his Masters win.
"I was up in the clouds," he said. "When I finally woke up I was 4 over after 6. At least we were able to salvage the round there at the end.''
Information from ESPN's Bob Harig was used in this report.
