Major aspirations at Torrey Pines

Canada’s Corey Connors on a roll

It’s a great time to be a Canadian golf fan. Brooke Henderson is in the midst of a historic career on the LPGA Tour, Mike Weir has finally found what he’s been searching for on the Champions Tour and the current crop of Canucks on the PGA Tour have a combined five wins and are showing up on leaderboards nearly every week.

Over the past year, though, Corey Conners has created some separation between himself and his fellow countrymen on the PGA Tour. Conners, 29, enters this week’s U.S. Open ranked a career-best 36th in the world, the highest ranking for a Canadian man since Graham Delaet in 2014.

Conners is making his seventh consecutive major championship start and has back-to-back top 10 finishes at the Masters. The Listowel, Ont. native is joined in the field at Torrey Pines by Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes, and Taylor Pendrith.

Pendrith was best man at Conners’ wedding, and lives with Corey and wife Malory in their Palm Beach Gardens home when he’s not on the road playing on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he has already secured his spot on the PGA Tour for next season. The Canadian foursome plans to play a practice round together before the action starts for real on Thursday.

Conners made the cross-country flight from Florida to California on Sunday morning. We caught up with Canada’s top-ranked golfer at the end of a week of major preparation to talk about the upcoming U.S. Open:

Q What words pop into your head when you think U.S. Open?

Corey Conners: A battle. Very difficult. Fortunately, the setting for this one is beautiful. Torrey Pines is one of the most picturesque golf courses, right on the water. So that will be pretty special, but it will be a battle. It’s very challenging and I’ve got to make the most of it. I think the U.S. Open is a little more rugged than the other majors and definitely more challenging.

Q What’s unique about the mindset necessary for a U.S. Open?

A You know that it’s going to be a grind, mentally and physically. As far as the golf, I just think you have to be really patient and try to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. Just don’t compound mistakes when you get into trouble, and know that pars are at a premium. It’s going to be difficult conditions, it’s going to be long, and I’ve heard that the rough is looking really ... healthy.

Q You took last week off. How did your preparation go?

A I was a little worn out on the weekend at Memorial after playing three in a row, but this week has been good. Took a few days off and have been working on the game since. I’ve been trying to sharpen up the wedge game particularly. I think that will be important. On tough golf courses you need to have the wedges dialed in to hopefully save some pars when you get into trouble. But everything feels good. It’s been nice to be home and relax and get some good work in at a casual pace.

Q The scores at Torrey Pines are usually high at the Farmers Insurance Open, and that’s with one round at the easier North course. Does the USGA have to do much to get the South course ready for a U.S. Open?

A The difficulty will be ramped up a little bit. Typically it’s not that warm, so the greens are a little bit softer and more receptive, and you can shoot a good number on either course. Playing the Farmers you are always looking to get a good number on the North course, and give yourself some extra shots to play with going to the more difficult South course. Yeah, I think they will probably pinch in the fairways a little bit and the rough will be more penalizing, and overall the course will be a bit firmer, so I think it will be tougher to get some of those longer approach shots close to the hole. In the past when you would have a 5-, 6-, 7-iron into the green, it’s going to be really receptive so you can go for the pin, I don’t think that will be the case for the U.S. Open. It will be important to be slightly more conservative with those longer clubs into the greens to try to make sure you get a putt at birdie.

Q Your improved putting has been well-documented. Is that going to help at a U.S. Open more than any other major?

A I’ve definitely put in a lot of work. I’ve focused on that this week as well during my preparation and feel really good. I feel confident over the ball on the greens and that’s definitely of huge importance at a U.S. Open. Particularly, being able to make those par-saving putts and getting it up and down to keep the momentum going, or add to the momentum. I’m a good ball-striker but I’ve kind of found that you can’t ball strike it good enough at a U.S. Open to not putt well. You can’t really hit it great and putt poorly and still contend. I like the greens, they are known to be a little bit bumpy at times, but for me one of the things I focus on is taking the outcome out of it and just try to putt a good roll on the ball. If I can do that I think I’ll definitely make my fair share of putts.

Q Your strokes-gained-putting has been positive this year for the first time in your career. As a math major, if that stat continues, is it just a matter of time before you find yourself back in the winner’s circle?

A Yeah, I think so. I’ve definitely found a lot more consistency in my results with that, and it’s helped me get in the mix more but there’s still room for improvement. I haven’t had any of the hot putting weeks that you need to get yourself to the top. I’ve had it in certain rounds but it’s definitely trending in the right direction. The more rounds I have with that consistency, the great rounds are going to start to show up.

Q Do you have a favourite major, and where does the U.S. Open rank?

A My favourite is Augusta. It’s the history of it and it’s such a special place to be able to go, so the Masters is No. 1, but the U.S. Open would be second. Again, all of the majors have a ton of history and prestige to them, but I think the U.S. Open is just separated a little bit for me, mostly because it’s played on some of the best and most challenging golf courses in the world, and in the most challenging conditions. It’s the toughest test for your game and because of that it would be my runner-up behind the Masters.

Q What are your thoughts on the apparent Brooksbryson feud?

I just kind of stay out of that stuff. I avoid any type of controversy, I’m a pretty mellow person. Part of it is kind of playing up to the media a little bit. I don’t really know what to say about it, it’s funny to watch them go back and forth I guess, but it’s definitely not my style.

Q You’re having your best season on the PGA Tour. How much of a premium do you put on winning, and would you at all consider it a disappointment if you don’t get career win No. 2 this season? A I’ve given myself a lot of chances and I’ve taken a lot of confidence from that, so I expect to continue that trend of giving myself chances, and I know I can win. I don’t want to try to force it, but I definitely expect to get a win before the season is done. I feel like my game has been really consistent and solid and it has been my best year so far, and I think if I just keep doing what I’m doing a win will fall into place.