Two golfers score holes-in-one in same round at Players Championship

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Two golfers score holes-in-one in same round at Players Championship

Published Saturday, March 13, 2021 9:18AM EST

Denny McCarthy chips to the green on the fifth hole during the second round of the The Players Championship golf tournament Friday, March 12, 2021, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

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It’s customary for pro golfers to buy a drink for all their fellow players after hitting a hole-in-one.

Well, the field at the Players Championship probably had an excellent Friday evening after two players achieved the unlikely feat within hours of each other.

In the second round of the PGA Tour event, Denny McCarthy was the first player to make a hole-in-one at TPC Sawgrass this year, holing his tee shot at the 165-yard third with an 8-iron to shoot up the leaderboard.

The ace was only the fifth on the hole in tournament history and the first of McCarthy’s PGA Tour career.

And then, just a few hours later, Brendan Todd also rolled in his first hole-in-one of his PGA Tour career.

The American completed the achievement at the par-3 eighth with a 213-yard effort with his 5-wood. It was the first hole-in-one at the eighth since Michael Thompson’s ace during the opening round of the 2013 contest.

And after picking his ball out of the hole, Todd seemed to recognize the hit his bank account was about to take now he had to buy drinks for all his competitors, saying: “Could get expensive.”

For McCarthy, who had two practice hole-in-ones but no competitive ones, the ace was the crowning moment on an excellent round which catapulted him into contention at the PGA Tour’s flagship event.

“It felt good that I actually hit a great shot, exactly what I was trying to do and it just disappeared,” the 28-year-old said afterwards. “I was pretty surprised. I think I let out, like a, ‘Woo!’ I don’t know exactly what I let out, but I looked around and everyone was telling me it went in.

“I just had a really good number today to that pin. It was a perfect 8-iron for me, and just stepped up there and executed the shot. Got a little lucky to go in.”

He came into this week having missed six of his last eight cuts, but his second-round 69 and a 6-under total has him among the leaders.

Lee Westwood hit a bogey-free 6-under 66 to move into the halfway lead on Friday with a 9-under score, one ahead of compatriot Matt Fitzpatrick.

Although the odds of professional golfers hitting a hole-in-one are significantly higher than your average player, they still may go their whole career without one.

The odds of a tour player hitting a hole-in-one are 3,000 to 1, while for average players they are 12,000 to 1, according to the National Hole-in-One Registry,

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