Canadians both six shots back of surprise leader in men’s golf at Tokyo Olympics

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This article was published 29/07/2021 (1504 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes have spent much of their golfing lives following the same path, so it makes sense they would shoot matching scores in their Olympic debuts.

Conners, of Listowel, Ont., and Hughes, of Dundas, Ont., started the Olympic golf competition with matching 2-under 69s Thursday. They trailed surprising first-round leader Sepp Straka, of Austria, by six shots.

Straka, ranked 161st in the world, shot an 8-under 63. He played just one practice round but credited a recent short-game change as the key to his sizzling start.

“I hadn’t played great on the PGA Tour the last few weeks,” Straka said, “but my putting was really the reason, and I just switched up my routine on my putting and it’s worked out.”

Both Canadians had some bright spots in the opening round despite it being delayed by more than two hours due to dangerous weather near Kasumigaseki Country Club. Conners birdied two of his final six holes, including the par-4 18th, while Hughes made back-to-back birdies on holes 5 and 6 and again on 12 and 13.

The weather delay combined with uncomfortable humidity quashed Hughes’ back-nine momentum and he finished with five straight pars.

“I was playing quite nicely just before the delay and it’s always tough when it’s this hot to sit around for as long as we did and then get back going again … I just didn’t quite feel the same,” Hughes said. “But, overall, it’s a decent start, not ideal, but doesn’t put me out of it.”

Hughes is playing his first event since tying for sixth at the Open Championship, the best result by a Canadian-born golfer in that event’s history, and said he is confident with his game plan for the second round.

“If I can kind of turn a 69 into a 66 or 65 (Friday), then I’m kind of right back in it,” he said.

Conners, buoyed by the support of the staff of his home club in Listowel — they trimmed a set of the Olympic rings into the fairway of one of the holes at the course — said it was his usually solid iron play that let him down in the opening round. He missed three fairways with a hybrid off the tee, and was “a little bit off” with his approaches.

“I felt like I drove the ball really well, just didn’t give myself the opportunities for birdie that I would have liked with the irons,” he said.

Conners is grouped with Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama , the2021 Masters cahmpion, for the first two rounds. Although there aren’t fans on site at the event, there were dozens of onlookers checking on Matsuyama. Still, Conners said he wasn’t nervous about the marquee pairing. He has played with Matsuyama before — who he called “really, really nice” — and said he was thrilled with the grouping.

Matsuyama finished at 2-under along with the Canadians and betting favourites Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy, amongst others.

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Conners was amped up by having his bame getting called on the first tee, with first-time Olympian butterflies swirling.

“It was cool getting announced on the first tee and (I’m) really proud and honoured to represent Canada. Heart was beating a little faster than normal,” he said. “It’s definitely a bit strange with no fans but you still feel the prestige of the event and how special it is.”

The Canadian players have their wives as “personal coaches” this week, a way to skirt some of the Olympics’ strict COVID-19 restrictions. The Hughes and Conners, their caddies and coach Derek Ingram enjoyed a dinner the night prior to the opening round in a private room in their hotel where they donned the jean jackets given to all the Canadian athletes.

“We decided to throw on the denim jackets, just, I don’t know, just to have some fun with it,” Conners said. “We’re not going to be able to stick around for the closing ceremonies and get to wear them there, so we figured we would try them out and see how they felt. It was pretty cool.”

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