Corey Conners had put himself in a great spot after 36 holes at TPC Sawgrass, but after Saturday, he’s found himself remaining in the very same spot – with some ground to make up.
Conners shot an even-par 72 in the third round of The Players Championship – a round he called “scrappy” in a brief interview with Sportsnet.ca after his day – and remained tied for fourth on the leaderboard, the same position he was in after Friday, alongside five other golfers.
Ludvig Aberg leads at 13 under, with star-in-waiting Michael Thorbjornsen in second at 10 under and Cameron Young in third at 9 under.
Although Conners, who is five shots back, leads the entire field in strokes gained: approach the green for the week, he wasn’t as sharp Saturday as he had been the previous two days, hindering his ability to make any sort of charge. A microcosm of that was on the par-5 2nd, where Conners was just 150 yards out in the middle of the fairway but hit his approach to 30 feet.
The third hole was his ultimate undoing, even though it came so early in the day, as he hit a screaming bunker shot to 36 feet and three putted for a double bogey.
“It was playing really tricky out there. I hit a lot of quality shots, but they just weren’t ending up where I wanted them. It was a tough day. The wind, the course was firming up, and it was playing difficult,” Conners said.
The Canadian made birdies on Nos. 4 and 7 before giving one back on the par-3 8th and another on the par-4 10th, which played as the second-hardest hole of the day. He added birdies on No. 12 and No. 17 to get back to level par for the day.
It was nice to finish strong, Conners said, and he will be in one of the final pairings of the day alongside past Players Championship winner Justin Thomas for Sunday.
Conners admitted Saturday the 2026 campaign hasn’t gone his way, results-wise, but he’s eager to put a good one on the board this week and hopefully capitalize on some more momentum heading into an important springtime stretch on the calendar.
“I love this place. Love this event. I have been working hard on my game and just haven’t had the results I’ve wanted this season thus far. But it just takes one good week to change that,” Conners said. “I’m hoping for a really good day tomorrow and it’ll be a great week.”
The other Canadians to find the weekend fared slightly better Saturday, with Taylor Pendrith also shooting an even-par 72, Nick Taylor shooting 2-under 70 for the second day in a row, and PGA Tour rookie Sudarshan Yellamaraju firing a tidy 6-under 66 – the second-lowest round of the day.
Yellamaraju has had a bit of a ‘welcome-to-the-show’ few days after his unique backstory was covered by popular golf content group The Fried Egg earlier in the week.
The 24-year-old is essentially completely self-taught – having learned the game alongside his father while watching YouTube – and even now, he doesn’t do much outside of golf except for cooking and, well, watching YouTube.
Regardless of how he got to the PGA Tour, however, he’s been having a solid rookie campaign so far. Saturday was as good as it gets – he was leading the field when he wrapped in both strokes gained: approach to green and strokes gained: putting.
“Everything was pretty good. I feel like this course it's like everything has to be good. I drove it well, hit irons well to spots. Even when I missed the greens I hit a lot of good shots, I got up-and-down. Made a few putts when I needed to. Everything was just solid,” Yellamaraju said. “That's kind of the golf course really, just everything needs to be really good to be able to score.”
Yellamaraju, who grew up in Mississauga after immigrating to Canada from India as a youngster, earned his PGA Tour card for this season after finishing in the top 20 in the Korn Ferry Tour points list last year — winning the second event of the season on the developmental circuit. He’s had a steady start to his 2026 with two top-20 finishes to his credit and has played well enough to earn his way into The Players via his in-season standing in the FedExCup.
Yellamaraju got off to a dream-like start Saturday, making four birdies in a row on Nos. 3-6 at TPC Sawgrass, highlighted by a 34-footer for birdie on the par-4 6th. He added easy two-putt birdies on both the par fives on the back nine, Nos. 11 and 16, to get into the house.
Yellamaraju, who moved to Ponte Vedra in December, said the key to his Saturday effort was patience.
“I just actually just played the good golf that I know I can play,” Yellamaraju said. “I didn't change anything. My mindset didn't change. I just executed shots a little better.”
Don’t expect Yellamaraju to fire up a big celebration Saturday afternoon after his round, however. Golf is both his life and his obsession – minus cooking and soccer podcasts (plus supporting his team, Manchester United) – but he’s made it to the top of the golfing mountain and a round like Saturday’s should allow the 24-year-old to believe in being able to continue to perform at a high level.
“I knew my good game had not come yet. I knew I had to stay patient,” Yellamaraju said. “Today kind of finally it came and hopefully that will carry over to tomorrow.”
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