It was a classic Corey Conners type of round Thursday at The Players Championship.
And with that, the Canadian has found himself in the mix at a big-time tournament.
Conners shot an opening 3-under 69 at TPC Sawgrass – a course he told Sportsnet.ca Monday is one of the “favourites” they play each year on the PGA Tour – and is just two back of the early lead heading into Friday.
He’s currently tied for 10th.
The first round of The Players was suspended at 7:37 p.m. ET with four players left to finish their opening rounds, including one of the co-leaders, Austin Smotherman.
Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges, Sepp Straka, and Sahith Theegala all shot 5-under 67s earlier in the day. There was a 21-minute delay Thursday due to a passing storm that made the golf course unplayable.
Conners saw his tee time in the afternoon delayed by 30 minutes, but it seemed to matter little to the Canadian, as he birdied his opening hole, the par-4 10th. He gave it back with a bogey on the island-green par-3 17th but added birdies on Nos. 1, 2, and 7 before getting into the house.
If anything, Conners’ opener at TPC Sawgrass was a microcosm of his season as a whole.
His world-renowned ball striking returned as he ended the day third in strokes gained: tee to green and sixth in strokes gained: approach to green. He struggled with the putter again Thursday, however, losing almost a shot-and-a-half to the field.
His putter was cold while his iron play was hot.
Conners missed seven putts of less than 15 feet on Thursday (including two of eight feet or less), six of which were for birdie. If he managed to make just a third of those, he’d be tied for the lead.
Conners told Sportsnet.ca before the tournament he is a “momentum putter” and just needed to get some mojo going by seeing balls fall into the hole. It happened occasionally Thursday, but there is room to improve.
“I’m working hard at it as I’ve been trying to do the same stuff that served me well last year,” Conners said of his putting. “It’s been getting better.”
The good news is that Conners will get out early Friday for his second round on fresh greens and will look to make a tidy move on the leaders before the weekend. It’s almost cliché to hear a golfer say how close they are, but in Conners’ case, it’s a singular part of his game that just needs a slight improvement over the next 18 holes.
Sudarshan Yellamaraju, who is making his debut at The Players, has one hole to complete in his first round Friday morning. He’s currently at 1 over and the second-best Canadian on the leaderboard.
Mackenzie Hughes, Taylor Pendrith, and Nick Taylor all shot 2-over 74s.
AJ Ewart, who is also making his Players debut and is grouped with Yellamaraju, is 5 over through 17 holes.
