Conners struggles mightily as Canadians fall out of contention on Day 3 at Open Championship

Corey Conners, who entered moving day at The Open Championship ranked in the top-10, suffered through a brutal stretch midway through his third round of play and finished the day far out of contention.

Mackenzie Hughes joined Conners as the only Canadians to make the cut at Royal Troon, but he also struggled in the rainy conditions in Scotland.

Conners shot a 71 on the first day of the tournament, and improved upon that with a 70 on Friday to enter play Saturday at 1-under.

A bogey on the par-4 first hole was an early bump, but Conners bounced back with four consecutive pars and a birdie on the par-5 sixth hole to provide some momentum.

However, the day unraveled quickly from that point: The Listowel, Ont., native triple bogeyed the seventh hole, and followed that with a bogey on eight and nine and, finally, a double bogey on 10 to complete a disastrous stretch.

Bogeys on 12 and 13 left Conners' score for the round at 9-over, which tied South Africa's Darren Fichardt for the worst round on the day. In all, Conners dropped from tied for seventh after Friday to tied for 62nd after a day in which he bogeyed seven holes compared to just one birdie.

Hughes, 33, also struggled in the rainy conditions. The Hamilton native collected six bogeys on the day against just two birdies, on the ninth and 12th holes, both par 4s. 

He experienced a lull in the middle portion of his day similar to Conners: starting with a bogey on the par-5 sixth, Hughes would hit four more on eight, 10, 11 and 13. 

Hughes completes his round at 5-over for the tournament after a 4-over 75 on Saturday.

"It was just really, really hard, with the rain. The wind, on the back [nine], was into our face ... It pretty much [made] playing impossible," Hughes said afterwards of the rainy conditions on the course.

"I don't even know how to describe it ... 75 feels like a decent score, it's not terrible, but I certainly would have liked to have been better."

It was an eventful day at the top of the leaderboards in the rain, as Ireland's Shane Lowry, who entered the day with a two-shot lead at 7-under, struggled to maintain his momentum and fell to a tie in eighth with Scottie Scheffler at 2-under. 

England's Daniel Brown and Justin Rose, along with the United States' Billy Horschel all held the lead at various points, and will enter the final round tomorrow looking to capture the last major of the year.

You can watch the final round of The Open Championship from Royal Troon in Scotland LIVE on TSN1, TSN.ca and the TSN App, with coverage starting at 7am ET / 4am PT. Bonus coverage is also available with a subscription to TSN+.