Hayden Buckley makes ace at 3M Open, rebounds from bizarre double bogey

BLAINE, Minn. – Hayden Buckley made a hole-in-one at the par-3 17th hole during the second round of the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities.

It’s Buckley’s third career ace on the PGA TOUR, and first since THE PLAYERS Championship in 2023. It's likely the most interesting of the trio.

Buckley arrived at the penultimate hole coming off disaster at the par-4 16th. His tee ball nearly found the water but hung up in the right rough. Turns out, it would’ve been better if it did. Buckley’s attempted recovery shot hit a red penalty area marker stake just a few feet in front of him and kicked sideways into the hazard. Buckley went on to make double-bogey to drop to 6-over, well outside the cutline.

"Ironically, my caddie asked me if that red stake was in the way and I said there's no chance it's in the way, it was a good 10 feet left of my ball. I think it kind of came out low and left and hit the stake. At that point I was like, all right, I think I'm ready to book a flight out of here," Buckley said. "But yeah, we waited for about 20 minutes on the next tee box. It's never fun waiting when you're playing awful. I think weird things happen in this game. It gave me a little bit of something to smile at at least headed home."

The ace on the 17th didn’t change his fate, though it surely lightened the mood. Buckley hit a towering approach on the 178-yard, water-lined par-3 that landed just short of the pin and hopped straight into the cup.

"Obviously Sawgrass I had the hole-in-one there as well and missed the cut," he said. "I need to figure out this hole-in-one and make cut thing."