Corey Conners Adds Canadian Flare to Masters with Improbable Texas Open Win
- Details
- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2019-04-08
By Adam Stanley, Sportsnet
Up until last year, Mike Weir shared a spot in the champions’ locker room at Augusta National with 1957 winner Doug Ford.
Ford passed away in May 2018, and now Weir is alone.
And up until Sunday night, there wasn’t even another Canadian in the Master's field next week.
Enter Corey Conners.
Conners, of Listowel, Ont., captured the Valero Texas Open by two shots Sunday for his first PGA Tour win.
The victory comes with a plethora of opportunities including a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and a US$1.3-million payday, which is the most beneficial career-wise.
But the very last Master's invitation is the most thrilling.
“It’s a bit of a whirlwind right now,” he said after the victory.
“It’s not what I expected to be doing after this week ended, but really excited.”
Ask those closest to Conners and you’ll quickly realize a win on the PGA Tour was an issue of “when” and not “if.”
Golf Canada National Team head coach Derek Ingram told Sportsnet he believes Conners is a Jim Furyk/Matt Kuchar-type player who will be a consistent winner on the PGA Tour for more than a decade.
“He’s just that consistent, smart, and committed,” said Ingram.
“He is getting more and more comfortable on the PGA Tour, and as this continues … watch out. He is going to be in this position more and more.”
The 27-year-old Conners wasn’t even in the Texas Open field to start the week.
Given his standing on the PGA Tour’s season-long FedEx Cup race last year, he doesn’t have full status for 2019.
Conners had to enter an open qualifier on Monday to try and earn one of four final spots.
He tied for third in the qualifier and won a 6-for-1 playoff to get into the field.
Two of the three other qualifiers missed the cut, and one finished next-to-last.
Conners became just the fifth Monday Qualifier ever on the PGA Tour to go on to win a title and the first since 2010.
Fellow Canadian Brooke Henderson is one of two Monday Qualifiers on the LPGA Tour to do it.