Ponte Vedra, Fla. – On most days, golf can be a frustrating, exasperating outing where a few good shots are often overshadowed by the misses.
But once in a while, there are days when everything seems to fall into place and the shots come off the club with perfection.
For Corey Conners, Friday at The Players Championship was one of those days as he posted a round of 67 that started off with a stretch of five birdies over the first six holes where it seemed he could do no wrong.
He added an eagle on the ninth hole for a front nine of 30, just one off the course record at TPC Sawgrass.
While the back nine wasn’t as crisp, Conners still posted a 67 and was tied for third when he went to sign his scorecard.
“A solid day overall,” said the 34-year-old from Listowel, Ont. “A really hot start right out of the gate and I was just trying to keep my foot on the pedal.”
Conners began his day by draining a 21-foot birdie putt on the first hole. He then dialled in his approach shots leaving himself six feet on the second hole, two feet on the third, 14 feet on the fourth, and eight feet on the eighth. He holed them all.
His only blemish on the front side came on the par-3 eighth hole when he landed in a bunker and failed to get it up and down. However, Conners corrected that by holing his third shot from 102 yards on the par-5 ninth for an eagle.
The second nine wasn’t quite as clean, with bogeys on 10 and 12 that came as a result of some errant tee shots. He finished up the day on the 18th with a bogey after missing the green and failing to get up and down. Two back-nine birdies – on 11 and 16 – completed his scoring.
“I guess, you know, it isn’t going to continue all the way through,” Conners admitted of his hot start, “but I just tried to stay free and keep hitting good shots and keep giving myself opportunities and I was able to do that for the most part.”
Conners has had a mediocre season by his standards coming into the Players, with a tie for 24th his best finish through his first five starts. That wasn’t unusual as he’s never been one to thrive on the west coast swing.
He usually starts to shine when the Tour moves east, playing on the grasses more like those he grew up on. Last year at this tournament, the Canadian finished a very respectable tie for sixth.
A week ago, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the first stop on the PGA Tour after the west coast, Conners finished 49th in Strokes Gained: Putting and was sitting 160th on tour in the category heading into this week.
But when he arrived at TPC Sawgrass, he spent hours on the putting green with his coach, Derek Ingram, and the hard work appears to be paying off.
“Pleased with rolling in some of the looks,” he stated. “I rolled in a nice one on the first hole and I kind of got some momentum going. It felt like I was hitting solid putts all the way around and probably most happy about that.”
Warm weather and sunshine are expected to continue on Saturday, meaning the course will likely firm up more than it has already. The greens will tougher, and the speed will likely increase, putting a premium on approach shots, a Conners’ strength, and putting, where Conners is hoping to stay hot.
“We’ll see what the conditions present,” he said. “The course is starting to firm up a little bit as I was finishing my round this afternoon. I expect that to continue with dry conditions. I’m just going to trust my game and stick to the game plan.”