Conners looks to build on top-five finish, climb world rankings

It’s not often Corey Conners is excited with a PGA Tour result where he finished 11 shots back of the eventual winner.

But at The Sentry, the Tour’s season-opening event, no one was going to beat Hideki Matsuyama — who set an all-time, 72-hole PGA Tour scoring record at 35-under 257 — and Conners’ tie for fifth still marked his best result since his win at the Valero Texas Open in 2023.

Conners, from Listowel, Ontario, ranked first in putting in Maui, a big improvement in an area he's worked hard to improve.

Despite the scoreline, Conners couldn’t have been more thrilled with his 2025 opener

“It was nowhere near winning with how Hideki ended up playing — and I saw that up close on Saturday — but I’m still happy with the week. I got off to a solid start, I got myself within striking distance. Hideki ultimately was unreachable but definitely some positives,” Conners said by phone from Honolulu, the site of this week’s event, the Sony Open in Hawaii.

If there has been one part of Conners’ methodical approach that’s come under scrutiny over the last half-decade, it’s been his effort on the greens.

He ranked 128th on the PGA Tour in putting strokes gained in each of the last two seasons. He moved into the top 50 in the second half of 2024. Last week? He was the best putter on the course.

Conners was happy to watch putts fall early and often. And even the putts he missed had good chances to drop.

“It’s something I’ve been focusing on in my game the last number of years, really, but definitely the last six months. It’s an area that’s very important for scoring,” Conners said. “I started the week with a lot of freedom and picked up a few thoughts, nothing too technical, over the off-season on the green. A few keys that I leaned on and it paid off.”

Conners entered 2025 as Canada’s top-ranked male golfer and jumped seven spots in the Official World Golf Ranking with his top-five finish at Sunday. He’s now No. 33 in the world.

As one of the world's top-ranked golfers, Conners earned spots on both the Canadian Olympic team and the 2024 Presidents Cup team, which was played at Royal Montreal Golf Club with fellow Canadian Mike Weir as captain of the International side.

With both events now in the rear-view mirror, Conners says it's time to focus on finding even more success at the biggest tournaments on the PGA Tour.

In 2025, eight Signature Events boast purses of US$20 million or more, in addition to the four major championships. Conners was the only Canadian to achieve a top-10 finish at a major championship in 2024 and believes his next goal is to consistently contend at these top-tier events."

“Against the top players in the world you see a lot of the same names up there at the top of the leaderboard and I want to throw my name into the mix as much as I can,” Conners said.

Conners missed out on the Tour Championship season finale last year for the first time in three seasons and is eager to return to the elite 30-person field in August.

“I had a bit of a slow start last year. Played well in the summer but wanted to get off to a good start and carry that momentum through,” Conners said. “I’ve had a bunch of successful years but there’s room for improvement. There’s another level I can get to and that’s definitely the goal.”

Conners looks to continue his fine start to the year this week at the Sony Open, where there are six other Canadians in the field.

Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, of Abbotsford, B.C., and Taylor Pendrith, of Richmond Hill, Ont., make the Hawaiian island hop from Maui to Honolulu while Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., Adam Svensson of Surrey. B.C., and Ben Silverman, of Thornhill, Ont. make their 2025 PGA Tour debuts.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2025.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version left Adam Svensson out of the list of Canadian golfers making their 2025 debuts at the Sony Open.