Canada’s Conners hopes to build on top 10 finishes over past two years at Masters

Corey Conners has been in rivalry on the Masters the previous two years. This week, he’s able to lastly don the inexperienced jacket.

Conners, from Listowel, Ont., is one in every of three Canadians competing at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership beginning on Thursday. He tied for tenth on the occasion in 2020 after which tied for eighth final yr.

‘“I’m going to should work exhausting and try to belief myself on the market,” mentioned Conners about being in attain of successful his first-ever main this weekend. “However I’m very excited to get again and I’m enthusiastic about the place my recreation’s at.

“I really feel like I can get myself a practical likelihood to form of get within the combine for the weekend.”

Conners completed in a tie for forty sixth in 2019, his first time enjoying on the Masters as an expert, his rookie season on the PGA Tour.

He’s come a good distance since then.

A 5-under 67 on Sunday helped Conners tie for thirty fifth the Valero Texas Open and maintain on to the thirty second spot on the world golf rankings for a second straight week, matching a profession finest.

It was the most recent in a month of stable play on the PGA Tour, together with a tie for eleventh on the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 6, a tie for twenty sixth on the Gamers’ Championship on March 13 and a third-place end on the World Golf Championships-Dell Applied sciences Match Play on March 27.

His “worst” efficiency this season was a tie for fortieth on the Shriners Youngsters’s Open on Oct. 10, when he was 10-under par general.

“I’m only a common man from a small city in Canada,” mentioned Conners. “I’ve had some good outcomes, however I really feel like there’s nonetheless much more that I’m capable of obtain or that I can obtain.

“So I’m going to maintain working exhausting and see the place it takes me however by no means get too far forward of myself and check out to not let my head swell up too huge.”

Conners performed a apply spherical with Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., at Augusta on Tuesday.

Weir, who gained in 2003, would be the first Canadian to tee off on Thursday at 8:11 a.m. ET. Hughes is subsequent at 9:39 a.m., and Conners will start at 12:13 p.m.

The 30-year-old Conners mentioned that watching Weir’s win almost twenty years in the past is one in every of his favorite recollections as a fan of the game.

“I used to be so nervous watching, (Weir) most likely felt extra snug than I did,” mentioned Conners. “I at all times bear in mind again to that second, seeing him win, and watching each single yr from then on.

“When the Masters is on it additionally form of signalled that Canadian golf season was about to get began fairly quickly.”

Out of deference to the Masters the entire different vital males’s and ladies’s excursions — the LPGA, Epson Tour, and Korn Ferry Tour — have taken the week off.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed April 6, 2022.

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