TPC Sawgrass No. 17: By the numbers (and the numbers are incredible)

(Editor’s note: With the Players Championship just days from starting, we’re taking a look at the famous 17th hole in a series of posts from longtime Florida Times-Union golf writer Garry Smits. This is the fifth and final. Here’s the first about how Alice Dye inspired the island, and another on its merchandise line, one about changes and another about the way it resonates with fans.)

Tom Lehman played the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass better than any PGA Tour pro ever, with a cumulative score of 11-under par in 62 Players Championship rounds and an average score of 2.822. Mark Wiebe is second at 10-under par in 42 rounds (2.761 average) and three players are tied for third at 9-under: Bob Gilder, Scott Hoch and Hale Irwin.

Tom Lehman has the best career record at the 17th hole of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, playing it 11-under par in 62 career rounds at The Players Championship.

The active player with the best record at No. 17 is Rickie Fowler, who is 8-under in 43 rounds (2.81). That doesn’t count his two playoff birdies at the Island Green when he won in 2015.

Who’s the leader for Island birdies?

Longevity had its place for Bernhard Langer. In 26 Players Championship and 21 cuts made, Langer racked up 26 birdies at No. 17. Adam Scott is next with 22, followed by Hal Sutton with 19 and Davis Love III, Lehman, Phil Mickelson and David Frost with 18 each.

Not among the top 10 on that list, but still memorable at Paul Azinger and Kyle Stanley. They are the only two players to have birdied No. 17 in all four rounds of a Players: Azinger in 1987 and Stanley in 2017.

How many holes-in-one have been made at No. 17?

There have been 14 aces at the Island Green, the most recent by Ryan Fox in the first round in 2024.

It took four years for the first hole-in-one at the Island, by Brad Fabel in 1986. There were six aces through the 2002 tournament, then a 14-year gap until the next, by Willy Wilcox in the second round in 2016. Since then, there have been eight aces and six in the past seven years.

Sergio Garcia celebrates his hole in one at the 17th hole of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass during the 2017 Players Championship.

A Players champion has never aced the 17th hole the same year he won.

Who’s had the worst Island Times?

In no surprise, the player who had the highest all-time score at No. 17, Bob Tway, has the highest cumulative score at No. 17 at 30-over in 64 rounds (3.468).

In a fierce wind on a Monday finish in 2005, Tway hit five balls in the water and three-putted for a 12 that is not only the highest score in history at No. 17 but a match for the highest score on any hole at The Players (Phil Hancock made a 12 at No. 4 in 1985). Byeong Hun-An (2021) and Robert Gamez (1990) both made 11 at the 17th.

Duffy Waldorf (24 over in 46 rounds, 3.52) has the next-highest score in relation to par at No. 17 and Aaron Baddley (21 over in 48 rounds, 3.43) is third-worst.

Brooks Koepka has a chance to improve his record at No. 17 when he returns to The Players this year after missing 2023-2025. Among active players, he currently has the worst cumulative score at No. 17 at 20 over in 20 rounds and is averaging 4.0.

Swimming around the Island Green

Since the Tour began officially counting the number of balls hit into the water at No. 17 during The Players Championship, Baddeley has the dubious distinction of dousing the most balls with 14. Justin Rose is next with 11 and Koepka has knocked 10 into the drink. Past Players champions Sergio Garcia and Mickelson have hit nine each into the water.

The best and worst of the Island

Since 2003, the tournament with the most balls hit in the water was in 2007, when 93 golf balls slept with the fishes. It was the first tournament in May and the 93rd ball in the water, hit by Sean O’Hair, cost him the tournament. He was one shot behind Mickelson with two holes to play at the time.
The most balls in the water during a March player during that span also is no surprise: 68 in the weather-battered 2005 tournament, with five of them by Tway on his way to a 9-over 12 on the hole.
The fewest balls in the water since 2003 were 28 in 2014.
There have been 1,068 balls hit into the water at No. 17 since the Tour began counting on an official basis with its ShotLink technology, an average of 48.54 per year.
The highest average score at No. 17 was 3.386 in 2007 when it was the second-toughest hole on the course after No. 18. There were 16 scores of triple-bogey or higher that year and only 42 birdies. The other 17 holes had a combined 22 triples or higher.
The lowest score at 17 in one tournament was 2.902 in 1987, ranking 13th in difficulty on the course in that Players. There were only three triple bogeys or worse that week, and 114 birdies.
The scoring average at No. 17 in tournament history is 3.12, eighth in difficulty on the course.