Hayden Buckley, in just the second group to reach the 17th hole at the Stadium Course on Thursday, made a hole-in-one.
Buckley spun back a pitching wedge from 125 yards for the 11th-ever ace on the iconic par 3.
“I had a little feeling something like that might happen this week. I don’t know, I’ve been hitting it well, but it’s always nice to see it happen on that hole, too,” Buckley said following his roller-coaster round.
After the eagle, Buckley birdied the par-4 18th, becoming the first player in Stadium Course history, according to the Tour, to go 1-3 on Nos. 17 and 18. He then birdied the par-4 first to reach 5 under par.
From there, however, his round tapered off. Buckley made two bogeys and two doubles on his inward half for a 1-over 73.
“After [his 11th hole], just didn’t really hit any greens. I hit it in some bad places. I was hitting the ball great all day. I hit it great off the tee except for one or two holes I decided to lay back and missed the fairway,” he said.
“Really I thought every aspect of the game was pretty solid all day. It’s just, you hit it in the wrong place out here, you kind of have to chip out and hope to make par or bogey, and I just couldn’t do it.
“I feel like I handled the hole-in-one really well, just after that I just simply didn’t play well.”