Players’ Championship: Two golfers score holes

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Well, the field at the Players’ Championship probably had an excellent Friday night, after two players made the unlikely phase a few hours apart.
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, putting his tee shot in the third with 165 yards with an iron 8 to shoot in the standings.

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

McCarthy plays his sixth tee shot during the second round of the Players' Championship.

And then, just a few hours later, Brendan Todd also played in his first hole in his PGA Tour career.

The American completed the achievement at par-3 eight with an effort of 213 yards with his 5-wood. It was the first hole in one of Michael Thompson’s aces in the opening round of the 2013 competition.

And after taking the ball out of the hole, Todd seemed to recognize the blow his bank account had taken him now, having to buy drinks for all his competitors, saying: “It might be expensive.”

For McCarthy, who had two training holes, but not competitive, the ace was the culmination of an excellent round that catapulted him into contention at the PGA Tour pilot event.

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

“I just had a really good number on that needle today. It was a perfect iron for me and I just stepped in there and fired the shot. I was a little lucky to get in.”

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Todd plays his shot from the 18th tee.

He entered this week after missing six of his last eight cuts, but his second round of 69 and a total of 6 under has him among the leaders.

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

Although the chances of professional golfers hitting a hole in one are significantly higher than your average player, they can still pursue their entire career without one.

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

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