Conners fires 75 to place T12 as highest Canadian in the field at PGA Championship
Published
After enduring the wind and the rain of Saturday's third round from the PGA Championship, Canada's Corey Conners fell out of contention in the final round on Sunday at Oak Hill, shooting a fourth-round 75 and placing tied for 12th.
The Listowel, Ont., native started his final round with back-to-back pars, keeping him near the top of the leaderboard. A pair of bogeys bookended a birdie on holes 3 through 5 as the 31-year-old sat at 1 over on the day.
Conners was par-heavy the rest of the way through the front nine, though a bogey on hole 7 dropped him to 2 over.
Though he began the back 9 with a pair of pars, back-to-back bogeys saw the Wanamaker Trophy begin to flee him. Conners responded by sinking a lengthy birdie put on the 320-yard par-4 13th to get back on track.
After scoring another pair of pars, a pair of bogeys followed shortly thereafter as he finished 5-over-par on the day.
"It was a challenging day," Conners told TSN's Bob Weeks following his round.
"I was prepared for it to be tough out there again, was a beautiful day to play some golf. So I tried to battle hard; was just a little bit off. Misjudged the wind a few times early on in the round and really fought hard to save some pars at the end of the front nine which felt good. Just wasn't able to get myself the looks I wanted on the back nine. Just kept hacking it out of the rough and that it's not easy out here."
Conners finished as the highest-placed Canadian in the field at even par for the tournament, while fellow Ontarian Taylor Pendrith, who hails from Richmond Hill, finished tied for 29th at 5 over.
Moose Jaw, Sask.,'s Adam Hadwin and Surrey, B.C.,'s Adam Svensson finished tied for 40th at 6-over.
"This is probably the best I played all week," Hadwin said. "Probably the best I've hit it - I would have liked to have made a couple more [shots]. I had a chance to post a number today... I just couldn't get things going this week."
Pendrith echoed the same.
"I hit it really nice today," he said. "It was one of those days where I made a mistake on 9, that cost me two shots....I had a lot of chances coming in. I feel like I played the last four holes really well. (I) had a good look on every hole. (It) just didn't go in."
The Manitoba-born Nick Taylor and Hamilton, Ont.,'s Mackenzie Hughes missed the cut after shooting 7 over and 8 over, respectively.