The best shots we've ever seen hit on TPC Sawgrass' 17th hole

The par-3, island green, 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is arguably the most famous par-3 hole in golf. 

 

Through the years, there have been countless memorable moments on the tricky hole, which has yielded eight holes in one, listed here: 

 

2017 - Sergio Garcia, first round

2016 - Will Wilcox, second round

2002 - Miguel Angel Jimenez, first round

2000 - Paul Azinger, third round

1999 - Joey Sindelar, first round

1997 - Fred Couples, fourth round

1991 - Brian Claar, third round

1986 - Brad Fabel, first round

 

We could easily point to those eight shots as the best we've ever seen on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass. But, it's probably better to call all of those the "best scores" on 17... after all, they're all "ones."

 

RELATED: The craziest things that have happened on TPC Sawgrass' 17th hole

 

Some of those aces made our list of best shots we've ever seen hit on TPC Sawgrass' 17th hole, but not all of them. 

 

Here's a closer look at the seven shots we believe to be the best.

 

7. Paul Azinger's ace in 2000 

 

Azinger's ace in the third round of the 2000 Players was just the fifth on that hole in tournament history. He finished T17 in the tournament that year. You can see the ace at the 1-minute mark of the video below:

 

 

6. Will Wilcox ace in 2016

 

Any hole-in-one is incredible to see. But not all reactions are created equally. 

 

Will Wilcox went absolutely bananas after his ace on No. 17 in the second round of the 2016 Players. It was the first ace in 6,300 shots in the Players Championship and he did it with a yellow ball.

 

The celebration was just the best. Wilcox nearly injured himself and the caddies and then ran over to high-five fans around the tee. 

 

 

5. Sergio Garcia ace in 2017

 

Sergio Garcia is one of the most electric players in golf. And what a memorable year 2017 was for Serge. Just a month after winning his first major at the Masters, he went and recorded the eighth ace in Players Championship history on No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass.
 

 

4. Sergio Garcia's shot in 2008 playoff

 

At the 2008 Players Championship, Sergio Garcia found himself in a playoff with fun-loving Paul Goydos. 

 

After watching Goydos find the water with his tee shot on the first hole of the sudden-death playoff, Garcia really needed only to find dry land with his own tee shot. But he did a lot better than that.

 

Check out this strike with the tournament on the line, which would be Garcia's biggest win to date:

 

 

OK. Sergio would two-putt from there for par, but it was still enough to win by two strokes.

 

3. Rickie Fowler in 2015

 

The biggest victory of Rickie Fowler's career remains the 2015 Players Championship. 

 

Trailing by five shots with six holes to play, Fowler played them in 6-under par, going birdie-par-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie to force a playoff. 

 

After the three-hole aggregate playoff (holes 16–18) ended with Kevin Kisner and Fowler still tied, they returned to the 17th for sudden-death. Fowler put his tee shot to five feet on the island green 17th, and made birdie to win. 

 

Just to review, Fowler birdied the 17th three times in as many tries (he had five birdies in six tries for the week). That's nearly unthinkable. And the last tee shot, which you'll see below, was dangerously close to costing him the tournament.

 

 

2. Fred Couples hole-in-three

 

In the first round of the 1999 Players Championship, Fred Couples did something rather ordinary: he his his tee shot on the par-3 17th into the water. No shame in that. Thousands before and thousands after would do the same.

 

But what he did next remains unmatched.

 

Couples re-teed, hitting three. With that next shot, he found the bottom of the cup on the fly for the rarest of pars.

 

In true Couples fashion, the ultra laidback superstar's reaction to his amazing par was similar to that of his reaction when the first shot found a watery grave. 

 

Just Freddie being Freddie.

 

 

1. Tiger Woods and the 'better than most' putt

 

In the 2001 Players Championship, Tiger Woods faced a 60-foot, downhill, triple-breaking putt on the par-3 17th. 

 

What he did with that putt, as Gary Koch famously said, was, "better than most."

 

 

It sure was. Woods would go on to win the Players Championship for the first time in his career that year.