Corey

Conners

The Canadian will be a fan favorite this week and he gave those fans a show today. Conners piped 11-of-15 fairways (T6 from the morning wave) and landed 16 GIR (best of the morning wave). That steady striking allowed a stress-free navigation of Oakdale in round one. Conners currently shares the early lead with three other golfers (Aaron Rai, Justin Lower, and Chesson Hadley). If this lead holds then it would be the fifth time holding a first-round lead or co-lead for Conners. The most recent instance came at the 2023 Valero Texas Open which he went on to win.

The Canadian pelted 13 GIR which was tied for fifth-best among the early wave. That steady striking allowed his putter to shine, gaining 3.1 strokes putting at press time. “I felt like I was seeing the lines really well and hit a lot of really solid putts.” Highlights included a 25-footer at the fifth and a 30'5" birdie blast at the 15th. Conners is playing in his fifth PGA Championship with a T17 in 2021 as the only other notable finish. He raced out to a first-round lead that week and he’s right in the hunt this week at Oak Hill Country Club. Conners has two wins on his PGA TOUR resume but still searching for his first top-5 finish in a major.

Conners played in the final group alongside 54-hole leader Patrick Rodgers and Matt Kuchar. It was Conners who walked away with the blemish-free round. “I’ve drawn from some of the experience I had here and really happy with the way that I hit the ball and got myself in position. Drove it great, hit a lot of really good iron shots. Yeah, just kept things simple, felt relaxed.” Conners gained a whopping 9.5 strokes on approach throughout the week. He got the job done with four bogeys and a pair of doubles on his card (23 birdies). Conners has now two career PGA TOUR wins with the other also coming at TPC San Antonio (2019 as a Monday Qualifier).

Conners and Pendrith are two of a record eight rookies on Trevor Immelman’s International squad, and the two paired to form the first-ever all-Canadian duo in Presidents Cup history Friday when they faced Billy Horschel and Max Homa in the day’s final Fourballs match. But that footnote is the lone highlight of the week for the friends and former roommates, as each man has gone 0-3 through team play while the Americans have climbed out to an 11-7 lead. Conners has been a particular disappointment, expected to contribute with his world-class ball-striking, but a balky putter has flared up at all the wrong times and doomed his alongside Pendrith and twice with Sungjae Im. Pendrith lost a pair of 1-up matches across the first two days but ran into a buzzsaw Saturday in the form of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, who improved to 4-0 while Pendrith and Hideki Matsuyama were the lone International pair who failed to register a point in the afternoon session. Conners and Pendrith are the only players from the 24-man competition who have yet to contribute at least a half-point. There are two more chances for the Canadian flag to fly triumphantly at Quail Hollow, as Conners faces Xander Schauffele while Pendrith drew Tony Finau in Sunday’s Singles play.

The Canadian is known as an elite ball-striker and lived up to his reputation this week at Wilmington Country Club. Conners gained 3.2 strokes off-the-tee (5th) and another 5.6 strokes on approach (2nd). His short game let him down but it’s tough to complain too much about a top-5 finish. “I feel like I’ve had a solid season. Still trying to get in the winner’s circle again, but a lot of really solid play, giving myself some chances, and really excited to be going back to East Lake.” Conners became a PGA TOUR winner at the 2019 Valero Texas Open and it still searching for his second title.

The Listowel, Ontario, native and RBC ambassador will be the low Canadian (of 20) this week, claiming the Rivermead Challenge Cup, and the only top-10 finisher after matching a career low (x3) and nearly setting a new mark, save for a missed birdie at the last from 7'2". On 11 (of 13) fairways and 17 greens in regulation, he rang up an eagle-3 at 11 (from 9'4") and six birdies at 4, 5, 7, 12, 14 and 16, two from between nine and 12 feet. At last check, the 30-year-old gained 4.901 strokes approaching and 5.291 tee-to-green, and 1.241 on-the-green with 28 total putts. This was his seventh Canadian Open and just a second cash (80th/2016), his third top 10 of the season in 18 events, first since T6 at the Masters five starts ago, and wraps the week with progressively better rounds of 71-69-66-62, totaling one eagle and 17 birdies against seven bogeys. See link below to post-tourney comments.

The 30-year-old Canadian, ranked No. 31 in the Official World Golf Ranking, most recently finished T-12 at the RBC Heritage following a T-6 finish at the Masters. Also this spring, Conners was T-11 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and third in the WGC-Match Play, where he lost in the semifinals to Kevin Kisner, 2 down, before beating Dustin Johnson in the consolation match, 3 and 1. On the season, he’s made 11 cuts in 14 starts with seven top-25 finishes plus a T-5 at the unofficial QBE Shootout in December. His stats are reflecting his fine form of late: Conners is sixth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, third in GIR percentage and T-13 in SG: Tee-to-green. In one previous appearance at TPC Potomac, at the 2018 Quicken Loans National, Conners finished 41st.

Conners started his day on the 10th tee and traded four birdies with a bogey and a double before making the turn. He coasted home though with a pair of birdies and then a hole-in-one at the par-3 seventh hole. " hit a 7 iron. The wind was blowing from left to right. I seem to like that wind direction, holds my natural shot shape pretty straight. So I was trying to be aggressive, hit a solid 7-iron there, just trying to make sure I covered the front of the green where I know the ball kind of releases to where the pin was. Saw it land. Just kind of stopped watching it. The hole wasn’t really in view. A bunch of people put their hands up around the green, so I figured it went in.” That goes in the books as his fourth career ace, all dropping home since the 2020 BMW Championship. Conners missed the cut in his first three tries at the RBC Heritage but snagged a T21 in 2020 and improved to a T4 last year. He’s right back in the hunt after day one.

The Canadian was up-and-down thru 13 holes (3 birdies, 4 bogeys), but steadied from there with three birdies on his trot to the finish line, all 3s, coming at 14 (near-hole-out eagle), 17 (from the pine straw) and 18, the latter two from between 12 and 21 feet. For the week, he handed in rounds of 70-73-72-70 and tallied 16 birdies against 13 bogeys en route to his third top 10 at the Masters in five visits, third consecutive, and his third in 13 overall majors. The 30-year-old, whose previous best in the majors was T8 here last year, also bags his second top 10 of the season in 13 events, joining a solo 3rd two starts ago at the WGC-Match Play, where he was one of three players to finish with a 6-1-0 record, joining runner-up Kevin Kisner and champion Scheffler, his one loss coming against Kisner in the Sunday morning semifinals. The RBC ambassador is in the published field at this coming week’s RBC Heritage in South Carolina. See link below to post-tournament comments.

The Canadian, who’s signed for rounds of 70-73-72, owns two top 10s in 12 prior major appearances, both at Augusta National. He finished T10 at the 84th Masters (Nov. 2020), T15 after 54 holes (74-65-71-69), and a T8 last year, where he was solo 6th at the three-quarter pole (73-69-68-74). Today, on 11 (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, the 30-year-old was 2-under thru 14 (4 birdies, 2 bogeys) before squaring bogey-6 at 15 (3-putt from 33 feet) and bogey-5 at 18, where he had a birdie look from 22 feet, but hit his first putt 42 feet and left the come-backer back up the hill six feet short. The Kent State alum, who also 3-jacked the fifth for bogey from 64 feet, will be in the fourth-to-last pairing on Sunday with 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett. See link below to post-round comments.