Conners caps strong weekend with second-consecutive top 10 finish

Corey Conners fought through difficult weather conditions over the weekend to come out with a top-10 finish in consecutive weeks.

He finished a 1-under 71 on Sunday after a lengthy weather delay that left him 9-under for the tournament, which placed him tied for sixth.

Conners, a native of Listowel, Ont., wasn't strong on the front nine, as he holed a bogey on the par-4 fourth and failed to birdie any of the opening nine holes.

He finished 11 holes before play was suspended for almost four hours, and had a strong finish to his day - with birdies on 11, 13 and 16 surrounding a bogey on the par-4 14th. 

Conners was unable to put a serious challenge on the eventual winner, as Rory McIlroy shot up the leaderboard throughout the day on the strength of a 4-under round while J.J. Spaun kept his consistent weekend going - the two will play a three-hole playoff on Monday to decide the winner.

At the Arnold Palmer Invitational a week ago, Conners fired a 9-under to finish third.

Conners fired a scintillating 6-under 66 on Saturday to vault up into the top 10 on the leaderboard.

The 33-year-old poured in seven birdies, four on the front and three on the back, while carding just one bogey coming on the par-3 eighth.

He snuck just below the 1-under cutline on Friday, and is now in contention heading into the final round for the second straight week.

Taylor Pendrith, hailing from Richmond Hill, Ont., was the only other Canadian to make the cut, but shot a 1-over 73 on Saturday to fall out of contention on moving day.

He finished his final round after the lengthy weather delay with a 3-over for the day, leaving him at 1-under on the tournament.

Pendrith carded a costly double-bogey on the par-4 fifth after sending his tee shot out of bounds to the right off the fairway.

The 33-year-old would earn his second birdie of the day on the par-5 ninth hole, but failed to carry the momentum on to the back with two more dropped shots coming on the 12th and 17th.

The $25 million purse this week is the largest for any non-cumulative event on the PGA Tour season with $4.5 million going to the winner. Forty-eight of the top 50-ranked players on Tour are included in the tournament’s 144-player field.

Track the scores of the Canadians below, with the full leaderboard available here.

Leader: Rory McIlroy, J.J. Spaun (-12)