Canadian PGA star Corey Conners looks to build on top-5 finish, climb world rankings

Adam Stanley · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jan 08, 2025 1:19 PM EST | Last Updated: January 8

It's not often Corey Conners is excited with a PGA Tour effect wherever helium finished 11 shots backmost of the eventual winner.

But astatine The Sentry, the Tour's season-opening event, nary 1 was going to bushed Hideki Matsuyama — who acceptable an all-time, 72-hole PGA Tour scoring grounds astatine 35-under 257 — and Conners's necktie for 5th inactive marked his champion effect since his triumph astatine the Valero Texas Open successful 2023.

Conners, from Listowel, Ont., ranked archetypal successful putting successful Maui, a large betterment successful an country he's worked hard to improve.

"It was obscurity adjacent winning with however Hideki ended up playing — and I saw that up adjacent connected Saturday — but I'm inactive blessed with the week. I got disconnected to a coagulated start, I got myself wrong striking distance. Hideki yet was unreachable but decidedly immoderate positives," Conners said by telephone from Honolulu, the tract of this week's event, the Sony Open successful Hawaii.

If determination has been 1 portion of Conners's methodical attack that's travel nether scrutiny implicit the past half-decade, it's been his effort connected the greens.

He ranked 128th connected the PGA Tour successful putting strokes gained successful each of the past 2 seasons. He moved into the apical 50 successful the 2nd fractional of 2024. Last week? He was the champion putter connected the course.

Conners was blessed to ticker putts autumn aboriginal and often. And adjacent the putts helium missed had bully chances to drop.

"It's thing I've been focusing connected successful my crippled the past fig of years, really, but decidedly the past six months. It's an country that's precise important for scoring," Conners said. "I started the week with a batch of state and picked up a fewer thoughts, thing excessively technical, implicit the off-season connected the green. A fewer keys that I leaned connected and it paid off."

Conners entered 2025 arsenic Canada's top-ranked antheral golfer and jumped 7 spots successful the Official World Golf Ranking with his top-five decorativeness on Sunday. He's present No. 33 successful the world.

As 1 of the world's top-ranked golfers, Conners earned spots connected some the Canadian Olympic squad and the 2024 Presidents Cup team, which was played astatine Royal Montreal Golf Club with chap Canadian Mike Weir arsenic skipper of the International side.

With some events present successful the rear-view mirror, Conners says it's clip to absorption connected uncovering adjacent much occurrence astatine the biggest tournaments connected the PGA Tour.

In 2025, 8 Signature Events boast purses of $20 cardinal US oregon more, successful summation to the 4 large championships. Conners was the lone Canadian to execute a top-10 decorativeness astatine a large title successful 2024 and believes his adjacent extremity is to "consistently contend astatine these top-tier events."

"Against the apical players successful the satellite you spot a batch of the aforesaid names up determination astatine the apical of the leaderboard and I privation to propulsion my sanction into the premix arsenic overmuch arsenic I can," Conners said.

WATCH l Conners astir holes it from implicit 70 yards, finishes 6th astatine Canadian Open:

Conners missed retired connected the Tour Championship play finale past twelvemonth for the archetypal clip successful 3 seasons and is anxious to instrumentality to the elite 30-person tract successful August.

"I had a spot of a dilatory commencement past year. Played good successful the summertime but wanted to get disconnected to a bully commencement and transportation that momentum through," Conners said. "I've had a clump of palmy years but there's country for improvement. There's different level I tin get to and that's decidedly the goal."

Conners looks to proceed his good commencement to the twelvemonth this week astatine the Sony Open, wherever determination are six different Canadians successful the field.

Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, of Abbotsford, B.C., and Taylor Pendrith, of Richmond Hill, Ont., marque the Hawaiian land hop from Maui to Honolulu portion Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., Adam Svensson of Surrey. B.C., and Ben Silverman, of Thornhill, Ont. marque their 2025 PGA Tour debuts.