Corey Conners was as steady as he could have been Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Fifteen straight pars through a tricky finale and he was right there in the mix for his third PGA Tour title.
Alas, while Conners showed his moxie — flashing ball-striking prowess and much-improved putting — he was undone in the end by a miraculous late chip-in from eventual winner Russell Henley.
The Canadian ended up solo third, two shots back of Henley’s winning total. It was his best-ever finish at a Signature Event, one of the PGA Tour’s new series of events featuring only the top-ranked players. And this week, thanks to the Arnold Palmer Invitational being part of The Open Qualifying Series, he stamped his ticket to this summer’s Open at Royal Portrush.
Royal Portrush was the home of Conners’ Open Championship debut all the way back in 2019.
“It's fantastic. I think it was the only major that I wasn't qualified for yet, and it feels awesome to get my spot there,” Conners said. “There was a little question mark on my summer travel plans because of that, but I'm excited to get back to Royal Portrush; really liked playing there in 2019.”
Conners, who was in the penultimate pairing at Bay Hill for the second day in a row, ripped off nine straight pars through his opening nine holes. There was no shortage of chances to start climbing, however, as he missed an 11-footer for birdie on the par-5, 4th and a 10-footer for birdie on the par-5, 6th. He almost lost a stroke to the field with his putter on Sunday but had, overall, one of his steadier putting performances in recent memory.
“I was looking to get a little more out of the round, maybe. Just couldn't quite get the putts to the hole today,” Conners admitted. “(The greens) didn't quite have the same fire, I don't think they had yesterday. And I was rolling it great, just came up a little bit short on a number of my birdie tries.”
Conners’ lone birdie came on No. 16 when he rolled in a 10-footer. He needed one more on 18 to put a little pressure on Henley, playing in the group behind him, but he hit an ill-timed driver to the left-side rough, and his approach ended up in the greenside bunker, 38 yards away. Conners hit a nifty pitch from there, though, and rolled in a slippery 12-foot par saver to close out his day and his week.
It was Conners' best finish on the PGA Tour since a sixth place at last year’s RBC Canadian Open.
“I think my ball striking was really strong, I think I putted quite well. Most of the days I was hitting my lines. And, yeah, got a lot of freedom with my iron play, hit a lot of great shots this week, and I think that will be important to continue next week,” Conners said.
The Signature Events — and majors — weren’t all that kind to the Canadian contingent last year, with Conners notching the only top-10 at a major by the main sixsome of Canadian PGA Tour members.
This year is off to a much better start at the big events, though, with Nick Taylor (who won the Sony Open in Hawaii, the second event of the season) notching a top-10 at the Genesis Invitational, and Taylor Pendrith a top-10 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Now the Canadian group heads to TPC Sawgrass and The Players Championship — the Tour’s biggest event — with Conners holding plenty of momentum and confidence after his excellent week at Bay Hill.
“I did a lot of things really well,” Conners said. “This week I hit the ball really well and, yeah, it's another demanding golf course next week, a course I really like, so, yeah, lots of good stuff, good feelings heading into The Players.”
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