Corey Conners set for 2:30 p.m. Masters showdown with Rory McIlroy
Article content
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Masters fans north of the border this weekend will be looking at the Augusta National leaderboard much like shelves at the grocery store, skipping past the name brands to support Canadian.
Justin Rose. Bryson DeChambeau. Rory McIlroy. Scottie Scheffler. No. No. No. No thanks.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Corey Conners set for 2:30 p.m. Masters showdown with Rory McIlroy Back to video
Halfway through the season’s first major, Corey Conners has inserted himself into a murderer’s row of major champions fighting for the green jacket.
“I’m excited to be in the mix, regardless of who’s up there,” Conners said Friday after adding a two-under 70 to Thursday’s four-under 68. “I’ve got lots of trust in my game, so we’ll just go out and play golf.”
Finishing at six-under through 36 holes, Conners trails eight-under leader Rose by two strokes and is one back of reigning U.S. Open champion DeChambeau.
The 33-year-old Canadian is tied with McIlroy and will be paired with the popular Northern Irishman on Saturday.
“I never like to get too far ahead of myself, but it’s a big deal to win majors, especially the Masters tournament,” Conners said. “Probably the biggest golf tournament in the world. I remember where I was watching Mike (Weir) win in 2003. And it’s an exciting opportunity, and I’m just going to try and have fun, and we’ll see what happens.”
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Conners has an affinity for Augusta National where he has finished in the top-10 three of the past five years. Known for his tremendous ball-striking, the concern with the Listowel, Ont., native has long been his short game, and, more specifically, his putting.
“He’s always driven it on a string and been a great ball striker, but whatever he’s found around the greens and on them, he’s been working hard, and it’s fun to watch,” said fellow Canadian Nick Taylor on Friday.
What Conners has found on the greens, at least in part, stems from a new prototype Ping centre-shafter putter that his father Mike urged him to test. The new putter went into the golf bag last month at Bay Hill with immediate results. Conners has never finished a season inside the top-100 in putting stats, but in the four tournaments since making the switch his strokes-gained-putting has ranked 13th, 21st, 36th, 49th, and has coincided with three top-ten finishes.
“I’ve seen a lot in the last few months that I’m not surprised at all by Corey,” Taylor said. “I think a lot of these holes fit his eye. He’s been playing phenomenal. Everyone knows that. He’s just in a great head space. He’s seeing the shots, hitting them, and for me, the sharpest part about his game is probably around the greens and on the greens.”
Coming down the stretch on Friday, Conners began to look slightly tentative with birdie putts, leaving several short of the hole, something he will have to remedy as the pressure ratchets up on Saturday and Sunday.
“With the wind blowing, I didn’t want to be knocking the putts too far by the hole coming in,” he said. “I was a little protective. I feel like I can learn from that and just try and be a little freer going into the weekend.”
Conners is looking to join Weir as the only Canadian man to win a major championship.
“He’s a great supporter of all of the Canadian players on the PGA Tour,” Conners said of Weir. “He was very complimentary of my round yesterday and how my game was looking.”
tap here to see other videos from our team.
A Saturday marquee Masters pairing with McIlroy looked very unlikely after the Irish four-time major champ closed Thursday’s opening round with two double bogeys over his final four holes to fall back to level par. But a furious Friday 66 has the game’s most popular player right back in the hunt to win his first green jacket and complete the career grand slam.
“Just proud of myself with how I responded today after the finish last night,” McIlroy said after his round. “I just had to remind myself that I played really good golf yesterday, and you know, I wasn’t going to let two bad holes sort of dictate the narrative for the rest of the week.”
McIlroy didn’t seem overly concerned with the big names he’s sharing the leaderboard with.
“I was just looking for my name,” he said. “I was not really worried about the others.”
Of four Canadians in the field, only Conners and Taylor will play the weekend. Taylor, a five-time PGA Tour winner, shot a one-under 71 on Friday to reach level par for the week.
The 54-year-old Weir finished at four-over par, missing the cut by two strokes. Masters rookie Taylor Pendrith finished at eight over.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.