Corey Conners is able to make a giant splash on the world stage

JUPITER, Fla. — It’s Saturday afternoon on the Masters, and the bottom is shaking.

Corey Conners, who’s within the second-to-last group of the third spherical, simply witnessed Rory McIlroy chip in for an eagle on the second gap. The Canadian offers McIlroy a smile and a thumbs up, as McIlroy is en path to going 5-under for his first 5 holes.

Of course, McIlroy would go on to win the Green Jacket the following day and Conners would end tie for eighth — his fourth top-10 end on the Masters within the final six years. 

“It was just nuts,” Conners informed Sportsnet from his yard in Florida. 

The water of Conners’ pool is lifeless calm within the morning solar. He pours an espresso from a modern machine right into a Tim Hortons mug, its decrease profile becoming completely below the spout. In 2021, Conners recorded a hole-in-one on the Masters and the espresso store in Listowel, Ont. — his hometown — named a donut after him and despatched an enormous care bundle of goodies. 

Conners is wearing a gray cashmere hoodie sporting the International Team crest, a present from the Presidents Cup, and black train shorts. His spouse, Malory, and two youngsters, Reis and Tate, are inside. It’s a really regular scene and also you don’t assume, at first blush, that is Canada’s greatest male golfer. 

But you dig into the year-that-was, and the expectations for the longer term, and it’s clear — simply being Canada’s top-ranked golfer isn’t the place he desires to cease. 

The time is now for Conners to make a giant splash on a giant stage. 

“I’ve obviously worked hard and I don’t feel like I’ve changed very much over the years. I just love where I came from and have received a lot of support from my hometown,” Conners mentioned of how a person from a city of about 9,500 grew to become, at one level this 12 months, one of many top-20 golfers on the planet. “It is pretty cool and I’m proud of the work and how things have gone, (but) you want to try to be a top-10 player in the world and winning more and getting into contention more often.” 

Conners has been one of many sport’s (not simply one in all Canada’s) most constant golfers over the past half-decade. He has simply two wins to his credit score — each coming on the Valero Texas Open — however he’s been a gentle presence on the PGA Tour’s most spectacular occasions.

Conners recorded seven top-10 finishes this season and 6 have been at both a significant or a signature occasion. He was the primary Canadian male since Mike Weir 20 years in the past to report two main championships top-10s in the identical season and was trending towards one other on the U.S. Open till a wrist harm pressured him to withdraw earlier than the ultimate spherical. Conners says his wrist is “100 per cent” now, but it surely took an extended time than he would have preferred to have gotten so far, calling it a “finicky” harm. 

“It definitely makes me feel better now. It was very annoying and there was some uncertainty there. But I’m very relieved (to be 100 percent),” Conners mentioned. 

This week, he’s taking part in within the Tiger Woods-hosted Hero World Challenge. It’s a subject of simply 20, and Conners — who has performed within the occasion earlier than — earned his method in, given his place within the official world golf rating. It was no small feat. 

While Nick Taylor has gained probably the most (5) out of the Canadian crew that has referred to as the PGA Tour dwelling over the previous couple of years, Conners has had probably the most constant success at majors — particularly at Augusta National. He’s fast to confess that he’s able to take the following step, particularly with how a lot expertise he’s packed away. Take The Open Championship this previous summer season, for instance. Conners performed the previous couple of holes in 1-under simply to make the minimize, together with hitting a 4-iron to a foot on a late par 3 at Royal Portrush. 

“It’s hard not to enjoy yourself at major championships,” Conners mentioned. “I’d love to turn those top-10s into better chances to win but I think just a comfort level. The golf courses are all demanding. The Open I back-doored into that top 10 but there was some resiliency in my game. I didn’t give up.” 

In order to take a significant throughout the end line, there’s a “little more to it” than simply making a number of extra putts, Conners mentioned with a small snigger. For him particularly, there was at all times a day or two the place issues didn’t click on. Unfortunately for this 12 months’s Masters, it got here within the closing spherical, when he shot a 3-over 75. 

Ironically sufficient, Conners really had one in all his poorest statistical efforts together with his ball-striking in 2025, however he had the very best placing 12 months of his profession. He zoomed all the way in which as much as 67th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: placing for this season from 128th — the place he completed within the stat in each 2024 and 2023. 

“There are so many good players and competition is so strong (on the PGA Tour), you just need to do everything well to win,” Conners defined. “The weeks I started off well I didn’t finish, and the weeks I finished well I didn’t start off very well — it’s meshing those two things.”

It’s not simply Conners who’s, after all, desirous to win a giant one among the group of Taylor Pendrith, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor — winners, all, on the PGA Tour already, and who will make up the Canadian contingent on the circuit subsequent 12 months together with Sudarshan Yellamaraju (who earned his card through the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025).

Adam Svensson, Adam Hadwin and Ben Silverman might want to attempt to climb their method again through Q-School. The group has continued to develop their expertise and maturity, Conners mentioned, and he feels it’s a matter of time earlier than somebody wins a significant or a signature occasion. With that door damaged down the opposite guys, he believes, will leap proper by way of. 

This upcoming 12 months is also one other Presidents Cup 12 months, and Conners is champing on the bit to make his third straight group alongside his countrymen and try to extract a measure of revenge after their loss on dwelling soil in Montreal in 2024. Pendrith has performed the final two with Conners, whereas Hughes made his first group final 12 months. 

“The last two (Presidents Cup teams), I’ve been part of, there are a lot of similar guys, and we’ve got closer and made better relationships. That will strengthen the team play on the course as well,” mentioned Conners.  

Conners has been an expert for a decade now and, as an individual, he has not modified a lot. His definition of success, nonetheless, has modified — being a father and a husband will do this. Golf is his major focus however being a dad is simply the very best, he mentioned. He and his spouse have additionally gotten a little bit louder about their basis — the Corey and Malory Conners Family Fund — which helps donate monies to a wide range of causes in Listowel and the encircling areas for sports activities and training. 

“We’re trying to open doors to everyone,” Conners mentioned. 

The south Florida solar is shining a little bit brighter now because the espresso and dialog finishes. Conners mentioned he and McIlroy are pleasant, speaking usually on the personal membership they’re each members of in Jupiter, though McIlroy’s globe-trotting schedule has prevented them from really teeing it up collectively. Maybe within the new 12 months. That second Saturday on the Masters, Conners mentioned, was a spotlight of his 2025 marketing campaign. He’s an enormous fan, on the finish of the day, and loved watching it unfold — particularly since Conners obtained a number of again on the scorecard come Saturday night time.  

“The energy and the electricity,” Conners defined, “was unbelievable.” 

It might be becoming, then, if McIlroy will get to place a Green Jacket on Conners subsequent April. Weir has waited lengthy sufficient for a locker mate. This golden technology, the success of which Canadian golf followers have by no means seen earlier than, is due for a giant one. 

“Looking back at it all, it’s been pretty cool,” Conners mentioned, “but I do feel like I’ve got a much higher ceiling for the next few years to try to reach.”