Canadian Corey Conners cemented himself as a favourite heading to the Masters with an incredible show of ballstriking enroute to his second PGA Tour win.
Corey Conners can, as announcer Paul Azinger said on television hit his drives “right through a donut hole.” It was that display off ballstriking that led Conners to a decisive 4-under finish on Sunday at the Valero Texas Open for his second PGA Tour win. Conners’ first win, which came four years ago, was at the same tournament.
With tough conditions, Conners battled all day to hold off American Sam Stevens by a single shot.
“It was definitely a battle out there today, but I trusted my ability and thought about a lot of good shots I had hit previously in the week with certain conditions,” Conners said after the round.
It was definitely tough out there, but I’m really happy and proud of the way I battled. I kept things pretty simple. That was kind of my focus starting the day‑get it in play off the tee, get it on the greens and was able to do that. Made a couple nice putts when I needed to and overall just a special day.”
Conners is known as one of the best strikers of the golf ball on the PGA Tour, and that was the case at Valero, where he was statistically at the top in strokes gained approach to the green, and strokes gained tee to green. Conners came into Sunday in second place, trailing Patrick Rodgers by a shot. But the Canadian, from Listowel, Ont., kept the pressure on from the very start, making three pars on the front nine, while Rodgers struggled, making four bogeys in six holes and dropping back.
Conners, who represented Canada at the Presidents Cup last fall, and was ranked 40th in the World Golf Rankings heading into Valero, continued to play well on the back nine, making five pars before a birdie at the 15th.
“I had a bit of a lead making the turn, but knew just keep my foot down, and try and be aggressive,” Conners said. “I certainly remembered a lot of the shots that I hit in 2019 on the back nine today as I was playing the round. There was a lot of good ones and I had a lot of good feelings then, tried to channel that today.”
On 18, with Stevens looking at a potential birdie to tie, Conners pounded one of his best drives of the week, a missile that went 361 yards and found the middle of the fairway. But he didn’t make it easy on himself, even after Stevens missed his birdie putt. Conners pulled his approach into a bunker and played a careful sand shot that left him with a 28-foot downhill birdie attempt. He ran the ball by slightly less than three feet and made the comebacker to seal the victory.
Conners heads to the Masters as one of the favourites, having recorded three Top 10 finishes at Augusta in the last three Masters, including a tie for 6th last year.
“I think regardless of the outcome today, I was going to go into next week with a lot of confidence,” Conners said. “Getting the win here today definitely boosts that confidence a little bit. [Augusta] is a place that I love to play and I’m really looking forward to next week. It’s going to be great. Obviously [I’ve] got lots of confidence in the game.”
What’s In The Bag
Ping G430 LST Driver, 9 degrees
PING G425 LST 3-wood 15 degrees
PING G430 Hybrid 20 degrees
PING iBlade Irons
Wedges: PING Glide 4.0 (50 and 56 degrees), and Vokey SM8 (60 degrees)
Putter: PING PLD Anser 2 prototype