Canadian Corey Conners storms into FedEx Cup playoff contention with career-best round

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This article was published 21/08/2021 (1823 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadian Corey Conners shot the lowest score of his career on the PGA Tour, a 9-under 62 in Saturday’s third round of the FedEx Cup playoff opener.

“Definitely found things easy,” said Conners, whose previous best was a 63 in Fort Worth, Texas in 2018.

Conners is competing in the Northern Trust at Liberty National in Jersey City, N.J., where the top 125 from the season standings qualified. With Saturday’s round, he moved well inside the number to move on to next week’s BMW Championship, where only the top 70 will compete.

Conners, who told the Star his best-ever round was a 60 at Dye Preserve in Jupiter, Fla., got off to a blistering start Saturday. He was 7-under after his first nine holes, which included an eagle on the par-4 ninth — dunking a 9-iron from 152 yards for the deuce. After bogeys on two of the first five holes after making the turn, he notched four birdies coming home.

The 29-year-old from Listowel, Ont. (who also shot 62 in the early 2010s at his home club) has been a model of consistency this season. He has finished inside the top 20 in 15 of 26 tournaments over the last 12 months — including the Tokyo Olympics — and is Canada’s highest-ranked male golfer at No. 36.

The final round of the Northern Trust was moved to Monday with Hurricane Henri threatening to hit the area Sunday. Course workers took down loose structures, such as poles for mounting cameras, in advance of the storm.

Australian Cameron Smith shot the low round of the day — 60, after missing a 12-foot birdie attempt on 18 — and was tied with Jon Rahm atop the leaderboard at 16-under 197.

Conners, who had a share of the lead at one point in the third round, finished the day in a tie for ninth, four strokes off the pace. The Canadian was among four golfers who shot 62 or better on a day when the average score was 68.3.

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With files from The Associated Press

Adam Stanley is an Ottawa-based contributor to the Star’s Sports section and the host of golf podcast Next Round’s On Me. Follow him on Twitter: @adam_stanley