The Canadian pair of Corey Conners and Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson had an incredible Sunday finish to nearly win the Grant Thornton Invitational.
In the end, they finished second, just one shot back of Jason Day of Australia and Lydia Ko of New Zealand.
Brooke and Corey shot an impressive 9-under 63 in Sunday’s finale, which included an eagle on the first hole plus a hole-out eagle from Corey on the par-4 9th. They ended up at 25 under for the three-round event, while Ko and Day finished at 26 under.
The Canadians were four shots back of the lead heading into the final round but got off to a fast start. They kept the pedal down through the back nine – making a birdie on No. 10 and four straight from Nos. 12-15. Alas, they couldn’t convert a birdie on the par-5 17th, which turned out to be the difference.
The final-round format was a unique one for everyone in the field after playing a scramble (first round) and alternate shot (second round). How it worked on Sunday was that each player would hit a tee shot and then the teammates would switch until the hole was completed (e.g. Brooke would hit a tee shot and Corey would hit his approach shot from where her tee ball landed) and the lowest score would count as the team score.
“It was really unique, best ball, us switching off the tee. You never really lost focus off the tee because you wanted to make sure you hit a good one for your partner,” Brooke said. “We made quite a run today, which was really exciting.”
“A little disappointing to finish where we did, but at the same time it was a great week overall.”
The two Canadians were quick to heap praise on each other. While they said they always followed each other’s’ successes (and crossed paths at the Olympic games a few years ago) this was the first time they had played golf together in a decade.
“Corey hits it really nice, especially today when he was getting on those runs and hitting the ball really close to the hole and giving himself some really nice birdie looks and giving myself some birdie looks,” Brooke said.
“I was able to play with a lot of freedom knowing I had Brooke to back me up. Yeah, it was so much fun. Just so impressed with her game. Hits the ball great, as well. Just really, really consistent, and a great competitor, and we had a lot of fun out there,” Corey added.
Corey is from about two-and-a-half hours from Toronto, while Brooke is from about an hour away from Ottawa. As you can imagine, there was some hockey talk between the two – especially after the Maple Leafs defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-3 on Thursday.
Although they may have disagreed with their hockey teams, they definitely agreed that Canadian golf was in a great place.
“Brooke is a trailblazer for a lot of young girls in Canada, and there’s so many guys out on the PGA Tour motivating young kids, and golf is really popular in Canada, and it’s just a real honor and fun to be a part of the Canadian professional golfers,” Corey said.
“I think if we can continue to inspire the young girls and boys all around the world and in Canada, too, that’s pretty cool,” Brooke added.
Nick Taylor was also in the field this week, playing alongside China’s Ruoning Yin. They finished eighth. That pair played alongside Brooke and Corey in both the first round and the final round.
Taylor, who won the RBC Canadian Open, called 2023 a “career year.”
“I don’t know if it’s life-changing, but it’s definitely put me hopefully on a trajectory of bigger and better things,” Taylor said. “Lots to play for this coming year. I look back on the year and it’s been a lot of good stuff.”
The LPGA Tour picks up again in mid-January, where Brooke will defend her title at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
The PGA Tour is back in action the first week of January with The Sentry. Conners and Taylor are both in that field, along with Adam Svensson and Adam Hadwin.