Canadian Corey Conners is the ace of aces on the PGA Tour

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This article was published 14/04/2022 (1635 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C.—A hole-in-one is one of golf’s rarest feats. But Corey Conners has made it a bit of a habit the last couple of years.

The Listowel, Ont., native aced the par-3 seventh hole at Harbour Town Golf Links during the first round of the RBC Heritage on Thursday. It was Conners’ fourth hole-in-one on the PGA Tour since the start of the 2019-20 season, the most of anyone in that span.

Conners missed seeing the ball go in, as did his wife Malory and mom Janet, who were in line for food. They all had to rely on the crowd’s reaction.

Conners said he hit an “aggressive” 7-iron into a left-to-right wind, saw it land, but stopped watching after that. The ball rolled over a leaf as it neared the hole but kept going, hit the pin, and dropped in.

“A bunch of people put their hands up around the green,” Conners said, “so I figured it went in.”

The four aces over the last two-plus seasons are one more than Martin Laird’s total. Fifteen golfers have made two over that stretch.

Conners is third on the PGA Tour in greens in regulation and, with his solid iron play, he said he’s bound to get lucky “time and time again.”

“It’s been pretty awesome to have made four. Hopefully they keep coming, but I’m probably done for a while now,” Conners said, with a smile.

The ace wasn’t a singular highlight for Conners on Thursday. He shot a 5-under 67 in the opening round of the Heritage and is tied for third with six others, including fellow Canadian Adam Svensson.

Svensson birdied final hole of the day thanks to a nifty chip from some long rough near the green.

“I’ve been really trying to work the golf ball left and right, I feel like I haven’t been doing that as much as I used to. I hit a lot of cuts and draws so I was able to get to more pins today,” Svensson said. “You always want to play well the first round, just to get things going.”

Tour rookie Cameron Young was the leader after an 8-under 63, the lowest first-round score of his PGA Tour career. Joaquin Niemann was second after a 6-under 65.

Conners, who tied for fourth last season on the tight and demanding Pete Dey layout, started on the back nine and birdied Nos. 12 and 13. He made a double bogey on the par-3 14th after knocking his tee shot in the water, but more than made up for that short-hole error with his ace later in the round. He finished with six birdies and the eagle.

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After tying for sixth at last week’s Masters, his second top-10 result in three weeks, Conners moved to No. 31 in the world golf ranking, a career high.

“I think, across the board, I just feel a bit more comfortable,” he said. “I’ve had good results in many different events. I’m beginning to trust my game a lot more and take confidence from the things I do really well. I just trust myself out there.”

Conners was grouped with fellow Canadian Mackenzie Hughes on Thursday, and they celebrated Conners’ ace with a high five. Neither golfer could remember how many times they’ve played together on the PGA Tour, but this wasn’t a first. They were grouped together with countryman Adam Hadwin at the U.S. Open in 2020 and played as a team at the Zurich Classic.

Conners, Svensson, Hughes, Hadwin, Nick Taylor, Roger Sloan and Michael Gligic make up the Canadian contingent this week.

Adam Stanley is an Ottawa-based contributor to the Star’s Sports section. Follow him on Twitter: @adam_stanley