After the first hole Thursday at the Masters, Corey Conners had the lead, and the jokes came quickly. The Canadian was in the first group, and since he had made par, while the other two members of the opening trio made bogey, of course he was leading.
But no one was laughing after the native of Listowel, Ont., curled in an eight-foot eagle on the par-5 15th, giving him the solo lead late in his opening round.
Conners, who held the early clubhouse lead after a 2-under-par 70 (10 shots better than his Thursday round in 2015, when he played the Masters as an amateur), was the last guy in the field this week but the tournament’s first leader.
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Twenty-three Canadians have played the Masters in the event’s history, and despite a Mike Weir victory 16 years ago, it’s rare to see the red-and-white near the top of the leaderboard.
And even though Conners wasn’t in the Valero Texas Open 11 days ago, let alone the Masters, he very much looked like he belonged.
“We didn’t really talk about ‘the Masters’ or anything like that,” Conners’ caddie Kyle Peters told Sportsnet by phone from Augusta of the first round. “We treated it like a normal day, a normal tournament.”
Peters said the one thing that was different Thursday was Conners having a front-row look at Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player’s ceremonial tee shots. Peters stood on a cooler on the practice green.
But while Peters’ is trying to keep things as similar as last week, at least in terms of his appetite (he ate a hot dog Wednesday in Texas and continued to eat one each day through Sunday, since Conners was playing so well. And so far this week, he’s kept up the hot dog order the last few days. Yes, even at Augusta National), there is, of course, a lot that’s different.
“The challenge is that this is not normal,” Canadian PGA Tour winner Richard Zokol told Sportsnet of Conners’ opening-round result.
Zokol, who played the Masters in 1993 but missed the cut, said Conners’ run up the leaderboard early was “abnormal, but wonderful to watch.”
He describes it as such because, although this is the 50th anniversary of George Knudson’s runner-up Masters result in 1969, the average best finish of the other Canadians who have played the Masters is 30th.
And 14 of the 23 golfers to tee it up at Augusta National at least once? Their best finish is a missed cut.
But the Masters, for Canadians, is a sure sign that spring is around the corner. There is always extra hype. Mix in a Canadian on the leaderboard – and one who is fresh off his first PGA Tour win – and the hype machine is in overdrive.
Now, said Zokol, it’s up to Conners to reign it in.
“When you qualify for the Masters with a victory you have maybe a year, or at least some time, to think about obtaining these childhood dreams of one day playing the Masters (as a professional) but he didn’t have time for that,” said Zokol. “If he’s able to compound this state of mind and state of presence and performance, he’s going to be building wonderful traction.
“And if he keeps doing this, there’s no reason he couldn’t handle this right through the weekend.”
It’s early, yes, and Thursday morning at the Masters is equal parts an indication of Sunday night (each of the last eight Masters winners were in the top-10 after round one) and a mere blip on the tournament’s radar (only five golfers in the tournament’s history have lead wire-to-wire), but on a day while some of the best players in the world struggled, Conners was as solid as ever.
Justin Rose was 4-over through his first nine holes. Ditto Jordan Spieth. Rory McIlroy shot a 1-over-par 73. Same with the defending champion Patrick Reed.
But there’s Conners, under par and on the first page of the leaderboard, having relied on his world-class iron game to set him up to score.
Augusta National is known mostly as a second-shot golf course, and this year on the PGA Tour Conners is third in greens in regulation and was the early leader in the strokes gained: approach-the-green stat (a measurement of the performance of approach shots) at the Masters. Field leaders of strokes gained: approach-the-green at the Masters the previous four years have finished 1st, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
Now both the numbers and the momentum are on Conners’ side, even though Canadian history isn’t.
“He’s confident and knows the golf course well,” said Peters, “so I’m sure he feels pretty good.”
“He’s on a wave and he should just let it ride,” added Zokol. “Because it’s working.”
So a Canadian is near the top of the leaderboard at the Masters, which is an oddity, at least as recent history indicates.
But the way recent Corey Conners history indicates? It’s no joke.
