On a day better suited for flying kites than playing golf, Corey Conners made a giant leap up the leaderboard at the Players Championship on the strength of a six-under 66.
On a day better suited for flying kites than playing golf, Corey Conners made a giant leap up the leaderboard at the Players Championship on the strength of a six-under 66. With winds blowing up to 30 kilometres an hour, keeping the ball online in the air and on the greens became a difficult task.
Yet Conners made seven birdies against just a single bogey over TPC Sawgrass, vaulting up him 42 spots up the leaderboard. “It feels really great. I left some shots out there the first couple of days, so it was nice to have a really solid round today,” said Conners, who posted scores of 71 in the two opening rounds. “Hopefully I can get myself back into the mix depending on what the guys who are getting on the course do.” The Canadian was in the seventh group of the day to tee off and played the first few holes in less windy conditions, making birdies on the second and third. By the time he reached the sixth, however, the wind was howling and players were trying to navigate their way through it. Conners rolled in a 10-footer on six for a birdie and added another one on the par-5 ninth. His only blemish on the scorecard came on the par-3 eighth where he failed to get up and down out of a greenside bunker. Birdies on 12,15 and 18 finished up the stellar round. “It was really hard,” Conners added. “I hit a really solid drive on the 16th hole, the par-5 you’re looking to take advantage of, and it might have gone 240 yards. That might sound good to some players but I try to hit it a little bit further than that. “It was really tough. Even the downwind balls, controlling your ball. You just had to really strike it solid today or the wind was going to wreak havoc on you.” Conners went to the first tee on Saturday with a plan of being fully committed to every shot. With his caddie Danny Sahl continuing to remind him of that before every swing, they executed to near perfection, judging the wind and picking a target, and then making a decision. He also praised his putting as another key to the day as he rolled in 97 feet of putts. Those that missed only did so by small margins, leaving easy follow-ups. A lot of praise for his work on the greens went to a new club that he put in the bag before last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. “I have a lot of confidence in the new putter,” he said of his centre-shafted PING mallet-style. “I left some out there the first couple of days but it was really nice to hole a bunch today. I made a lot of key putts to keep the momentum going, a lot of par-saving putts and then the birdies when I had the opportunities.” Conners has a habit of coming up on his putts which prevented clean contact. The new putter has the shaft set back from the face a small way to correct that. That tiny adjustment has already shown great benefits as Conners finished third at last week’s event, tying for 13th in Strokes Gained: Putting. The wind is expected to continue in intensity into Sunday bringing with it the possibilities of thunderstorms. Officials were leaning towards moving up tee times in hopes of completing the tournament on schedule.“More of the same thoughts I had today,” he stated. “Just try to trust in the game. Stick to the plan and be really committed out there.”
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