Player Championship: Two golfers add holes

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Well, the Player Championship field probably had an excellent Friday night after two players got the unlikely feat within a few 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, opening his shot in the 165-yard third with an 8-yard touchdown pass.

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

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

And then, a few hours later, Brendan Todd also made his first hole in his career on the PGA Tour.

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

And after taking the ball out of the hole, Todd seemed to recognize the success his bank account was about to achieve now that he had to buy drinks for all his competitors, saying: “It could be expensive.”

For McCarthy, who had two hole workouts in one but no competition, the ace was the culmination of an excellent round that catapulted him into contention at the flagship PGA Tour event.

“I thought it was good to have fired a big shot, exactly what I was trying to do and he disappeared,” the 28-year-old later said. “I was pretty surprised. I think I let go, like a ‘Woo!’ “I don’t know exactly what I let go of, but I looked around and everyone was telling me I was coming in.

“Today I had a really good number for this pin. It was a perfect eight iron for me, and I just went up there and ran the shot. I was a little lucky to get in.”

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Todd interprets his shot from the 18th tee.

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

Lee Westwood hit a Friday 6 below 66 to move to the middle of the position Friday with a score of 9 below, one ahead of compatriot Matt Fitzpatrick.

While the chances of professional golfers making a hole in one are significantly higher than that of your average player, they can continue their entire career without making any.

The odds of a touring player touching a hole in one are 3,000 to 1, while for average players it is 12,000 to 1, according to the national record of the hole in one,

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