Hole-In-One Alert!! Two-Gloved Aaron Rai Aces The Legendary 17th At THE PLAYERS Championship
What island green!? Aaron Rai has never heard of you!! LET'S GOOOOOOO!
Damn is TPC Sawgrass an electric atmosphere on this hole. Other than the rowdy-as-fuck 16th at TPC Scottsdale, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more dramatic, compelling par 3 on the PGA Tour than No. 17 at THE PLAYERS Championship.
My favorite part of this is the fact that Rai wears dual gloves. Haven't seen that stunt since Tommy Gainey. Am I missing anyone? Don't think so.
Can always count on the stat gawd Justin Ray to deliver something cool in the moment:
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Unfortunately for Hayden Buckley, his ace at the 17th didn't really help his cause, as he missed the 36-hole cut at +4. Here was his majestic shot from Thursday's opening round:
Weather cut Friday's action short, and with the softer conditions, Sawgrass' greens are far more receptive and the scores are veering way into the red as a result. Although it sucks that so many of the field's biggest stars stumbled out of the gates, we still have Scottie Scheffler near the top with a bunch of guys who could earn a truly career-changing victory this weekend.
In a stark constrast of fortunes, Chad Ramey had quite the opposite experience at No. 17 to finish his second round, plunking two in the water to make a quadruple bogey. Even WITH that, Ramey is only three shots off the lead held by Min Woo Lee as of this writing.
Anyway let's not let this moment go overlooked with superfluous, different narratives. Aaron Rai is only five off the pace thanks to that ace. And I'll take a blog that ends on a rhyme any time.
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok