Conners, Taylor ready to swing for Olympic gold

In his preparation for the Olympics, Corey Conners spent some time touring around Le Golf National, the host club for the competition. Except he didn’t come to Paris to do that; instead, he played the course in his basement in Listowel, Ont.

On Wednesday, in a pre-tournament press conference, Conners admitted he prepared for a chance at a gold medal by playing the course on a simulator.

“I've got a little golf studio in my basement back home in Canada,” he said. “I was able to take a few trips around Le Golf National virtually and kind of got a feel for it. You can't really appreciate the terrain and some of the ups and downs the course has as much when you're looking at a screen.”

The last few days, Conners and teammate Nick Taylor have been playing the course in person as the two try to earn medals for Canada at the Olympics. They’ll start the four-round, stroke-play competition on Thursday, joining 58 other players from around the world.

The two golfers, their caddies Danny Sahl and David Markle, and families have been in Paris for just under a week and have been enjoying the overall experience. They’ve taken in other Olympic events and seen some of the museums and other attractions of the city. Conners and Taylor were also part of the Opening Ceremonies where they mixed and mingled with other Canadian athletes.

“The Opening Ceremonies was a really cool experience,” stated Taylor. “Got to be around the other athletes. Just asking where they are from, what their training schedules are like. You know, Felix Auger Aliassime, I’ve obviously followed him for a long time in tennis but some of the volleyball guys and we met some equestrian ladies. It was fun to meet a bunch of different people.”

But the focus has now turned to their competition. Canada won a gold medal in golf back in 1904 when George S. Lyon won the title. Not long after that, the sport was dropped from the Olympics, only returning in Rio in 2016.

Conners competed in the 2020 Olympics, which was played in 2021 in Tokyo, finishing in 13th spot. Taylor is making his Olympic debut and getting a spot on the team was one of his goals for this season, one that affected his play leading up to the qualification deadline. As he was sliding down the Olympic points list, fellow Canadians Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Svensson and Taylor Pendrith were moving up.

“I think coming [down the stretch], it was one of those where I was peeking over my shoulder too much and just thinking about,” he admitted. “I almost wanted it just to be over. Obviously, I wanted to be here as much as I could but I wanted to forget about what was going on because so many guys were playing great.”

He eventually finished first among Canadians while Conners passed Adam Hadwin for the second spot at the U.S. Open, the last event before the qualifying ended.

Taylor’s game has not been sharp since he won the WM Phoenix Open in February for his fourth PGA Tour title. He’s hoping that he can use the Games to re-ignite his play and possibly get in the hunt for a medal. If he does, he said he can reach back to his RBC Canadian Open victory, where he sunk a now-famous 72-foot eagle putt to end a 69-year drought for Canadians winning their national championship.

“That obviously was an incredible moment for myself and gave me a lot of confidence going forward for playing big events,” said Taylor. “It's no different here. Hopefully getting that place where I have a chance to get a medal, a gold medal, coming down the stretch, and I can definitely draw on that for experiences under pressure, and it can only do me good for going forward.”

Winning won’t be easy. The field is comprised of some of the world’s top players such as defending champion and two-time major winner Xander Schauffele. He’s joined on the American team by Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark. Other top-ranked players include Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry (Ireland), Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick (Great Britain), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) and Viktor Hovland (Norway).

The field is deeper than either of the past two Olympics as players give more importance to the competition. Still, the question of whether it would be better to win a gold medal or a Green Jacket seems to favour the majors.

“I would say most would say they take a major over a gold medal, but I think it's pretty close behind that,” said Taylor. “There might be differing opinions there but anyone I've talked to or experienced it had such a great time, and that's why I think this year, I didn't see anybody that passed on the opportunity versus the last couple years.”

Some, however, were passed over. Bryson DeChambeau, who won the U.S. Open in July, didn’t make the American side, largely due to the fact he plays on LIV Golf. Those events don’t award world ranking points and so despite playing well in three of four majors this year, he wasn’t able to finish among the top American golfers. There are seven players from LIV Golf who are in the field, including Jon Rahm, representing Spain.

Any changes in qualifying procedures will have to wait until LIV and the PGA Tour sort things out. For now, it’s all focus and performance with the hopes of winning an Olympic medal.

“It would be incredibly special and spending time with some of the other athletes and athletes who have won medals in Canada for the past, it's something really special,” said Conners. “Being here at the Olympic Games is an incredible honour and being able to win a medal for your country would mean the world and be quite amazing.”