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TSN Senior Reporter

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Corey Conners was disappointed in his round on Sunday. And what person in his position wouldn’t be? He’s dreamed all his life of being in the final group on Sunday with a chance to win.

But it didn’t work out. Instead of lifting a trophy, he was walking off with a tie for 16th finish after struggling to a final-round 77.

So sure, he has every right to be down on his day. And yet the Listowel, Ont., product has enough perspective to also realize just what he accomplished over the week.

“Little disappointed with the outcome today,” admitted the 26-year-old who started the week at the third alternate, “but, yeah, tried to battle hard out there and just wasn't meant to be. Really happy I got into the field, first of all, and overall a successful week.”

After three stellar rounds where he looked cool and composed, Conners struggled from the start on Sunday. After hitting his opening tee shot into the right rough, his second squirted well right of the green and ended up in a group of trees, flirting with a water hazard. It was the first poor swing by Conners all week and coming on the first hole, it raised eyebrows that perhaps the cool and calm he showed on the outside might be hiding some nerves on the inside.

“Just trying to get the ball up in the air to get some help from the wind,” Conners explained of the shot, “and kind of missed it a little bit and started diving to the right, caught some trees and ended up in a dicey see spot. Gave myself a chance to save par but wasn't able to do it.”

The round never seemed to get on track and Conners wasn’t able to recover from the bogeys as he had earlier in the week. Even when he did hit some good shots – and there were plenty of them despite the score – he couldn’t capitalize with the putter.

“Didn't get the putts to fall,” he said. “I felt like I hit some pretty good shots. Was definitely more nervous out there today as I was expecting. But, yeah, came up short on a number of putts, couldn't get the speed down. Few of those would have fallen might have relaxed me a little bit more but, yeah, kind of battled all day and couple mistakes.”

It’s not overly surprising that Conners struggled in the position he found himself. After all, Tiger Woods, who for the second day was playing in the group ahead of the Canadian, has more PGA Tour wins than Conners has tour rounds.

But there is no substitute for experience. There is only one way to find out how a player will handle being in the last group and that’s to be there. Conners has now done that and the next time he finds himself with a chance to win, he can draw on this day.

“Gained experience each and everyday and played with the lead really second, third [rounds] and today,” he said. “That wasn't the outcome I wanted today but definitely get some things down later tonight and be able to use this experience in the future.”

On the bright side, it marked the 10th time in 11 starts that Conners has made the cut, he picked up a big cheque and moved up 20 spots on the FedEx Cup standings.

Most important, he may have learned that his game is good enough to win on the PGA Tour. It could take a few days for that to sink in but the Kent State grad will head to his next start with more experience than he had at the start of this week.