Corey Conners teed off early Friday, put in a day’s work, and his under-par score through 36 holes at the Open Championship got better and better as the day went on.
The Canadian, who shot a 1-under 70 in the second round, was the first golfer to get into the clubhouse in red numbers at Royal Troon. The first two days have been a microcosm of Conners’ game overall — steady, no mistakes (he hasn’t found a greenside bunker yet this week), and constantly doing the right thing when needed.
The wind gusted upwards of 50 km/h through the afternoon at Troon, and Conners looked at the calm conditions early as a massive opportunity. He teed off in the fourth group of the day.
“It wasn’t too bad teeing off first thing this morning. Lighter breeze. Wanted to try to take advantage,” Conners told reporters in Scotland. “I’m happy to be under par for that round. Could have been a little bit better again. A few shots I would like over. Made a few putts today but definitely left a few out there too.
“If you had told me at the start of the round, I certainly would have taken 1-under par.”
Conners is tied for seventh through two rounds of the Open Championship, six back of the lead held by Shane Lowry. He is one of just 10 golfers under par through 36 holes.
Daniel Brown and Justin Rose — whose 3-under 68 was tied for the low round of the day — are tied for second at 5 under, two back of Lowry.
The last time Lowry was in this position at a major – the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush – he won. To his credit, he knows there is lots of golf left and isn’t trying to get too far ahead of himself. The hefty Irishman was asked if he made a good front-runner.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a good runner,” Lowry said with a big laugh. “I put myself there in a few big tournaments, and I've managed to knock them off. So, I've done it a few times. I don't know. It's hard to win tournaments. We'll see. I'll tell you Sunday evening.”
It was a bit of an up-and-down day on the scorecard for Conners, who opened with a birdie and added two more before making the turn — including on the devilish par-3 8th Postage Stamp hole. He made two more bogeys on the back nine but also had birdies on Nos. 13 and 16.
Conners said the stretch between Nos. 7 and 14 was the best of the week.
“I hit some great shots there (and) kind of recovered from some sloppy ones early and unfortunately wasn’t able to keep that mojo going but those holes I played them really well. Gave myself great looks,” Conners said.
Conners and Mackenzie Hughes (tied for 13th at 1 over) are the two Canadians to make the cut. Adam Hadwin (10 over) and Nick Taylor (8 over) both failed to make the weekend. The cut came at 6 over.
Conners was his usual robotic self with his game plan, hitting almost all of the same clubs off the tee for the second straight day. He also saw a much-improved effort on the greens, sitting 24th in strokes gained: putting on Friday, a jump of more than 100 spots in that stat from Thursday.
He said there might be “some adjusting” on the weekend depending on the wind conditions but was chuffed to see that the plan he and caddie Danny Sahl worked on was working well.
While there are plenty of options available with the links layout, the key, Conners said, was just to stay committed to the choice.
“There’s a different strategy (available) on pretty much every hole,” Conners said. “There are definitely options, you just need to be committed to whatever you’re doing.”
Conners came into the week after a tie for 10th at the Genesis Scottish Open last week and a top-10 result at the previous major on the schedule, the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, and said that momentum has indeed continued at Troon.
“I’m feeling comfortable out there. I feel like my game is strong,” Conners said. “Just try to keep hitting good shots and get myself some looks and see what we can do.”
Scottie Scheffler, the Masters winner, and Xander Schauffele, the winner of the PGA Championship, are amongst those also under-par at the Open Championship heading into the weekend.
Bryson DeChambeau, the winner of the third major of the year, the U.S. Open, will not play the weekend after finishing at 9 over through two rounds. His closest challenger at Pinehurst, Rory McIlroy, also missed the cut.
“I think once I made the eight on the fourth hole, that was it. Twenty-two holes into the event and I'm thinking about where I'm going to go on vacation next week,” McIlroy said.
Tiger Woods was also one of the early finishers, and he shot a 6-over 77 to finish at 14 over for the week. Woods said he would absolutely tee it up at Royal Portrush in next year’s Open Championship, but we wouldn’t see him again until the Hero World Challenge and the PNC Championship alongside son Charlie later in the year. Woods said he was off to Detroit to watch Charlie at the U.S. Junior Amateur next week.
Woods found the weekend at the Masters but missed the cut at the other three majors this season.
“I've gotten better, even though my results really haven't shown it, but physically I've gotten better, which is great,” Woods said. “I just need to keep progressing like that and then eventually start playing more competitively and start getting into kind of the competitive flow again.”
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.