Corey Conners is ready to make a big splash on the world stage

JUPITER, Fla. — It’s Saturday afternoon at the Masters, and the ground is shaking.

Corey Conners, who is in the second-to-last group of the third round, just witnessed Rory McIlroy chip in for an eagle on the second hole. The Canadian gives McIlroy a smile and a thumbs up, as McIlroy is en route to going 5-under for his first five holes.

Of course, McIlroy would go on to win the Green Jacket the next day and Conners would finish tie for eighth — his fourth top-10 finish at the Masters in the last six years. 

“It was just nuts,” Conners told Sportsnet from his backyard in Florida. 

The water of Conners’ pool is dead calm in the morning sun. He pours an espresso from a sleek machine into a Tim Hortons mug, its lower profile fitting perfectly under the spout. In 2021, Conners recorded a hole-in-one at the Masters and the coffee shop in Listowel, Ont. — his hometown — named a donut after him and sent a huge care package of goodies. 

Conners is dressed in a grey cashmere hoodie sporting the International Team crest, a gift from the Presidents Cup, and black exercise shorts. His wife, Malory, and two kids, Reis and Tate, are inside. It’s a very normal scene and you don’t think, at first blush, this is Canada’s best male golfer. 

But you dig into the year-that-was, and the expectations for the future, and it’s clear — just being Canada’s top-ranked golfer isn’t where he wants to stop. 

The time is now for Conners to make a big splash on a big stage. 

“I’ve obviously worked hard and I don’t feel like I’ve changed very much over the years. I just love where I came from and have received a lot of support from my hometown,” Conners said of how a man from a town of about 9,500 became, at one point this year, one of the top-20 golfers on the planet. “It is pretty cool and I’m proud of the work and how things have gone, (but) you want to try to be a top-10 player in the world and winning more and getting into contention more often.” 

Conners has been one of the game’s (not just one of Canada’s) most consistent golfers over the last half-decade. He has just two wins to his credit — both coming at the Valero Texas Open — but he’s been a steady presence at the PGA Tour’s most impressive events.

Conners recorded seven top-10 finishes this season and six were at either a major or a signature event. He was the first Canadian male since Mike Weir 20 years ago to record two major championships top-10s in the same season and was trending toward another at the U.S. Open until a wrist injury forced him to withdraw before the final round. Conners says his wrist is “100 per cent” now, but it took a longer time than he would have liked to have got to this point, calling it a “finicky” injury. 

“It definitely makes me feel better now. It was very annoying and there was some uncertainty there. But I’m very relieved (to be 100 percent),” Conners said. 

This week, he’s playing in the Tiger Woods-hosted Hero World Challenge. It’s a field of just 20, and Conners — who has played in the event before — earned his way in, given his place in the official world golf ranking. It was no small feat. 

While Nick Taylor has won the most (five) out of the Canadian crew that has called the PGA Tour home over the last few years, Conners has had the most consistent success at majors — especially at Augusta National. He’s quick to admit that he’s ready to take the next step, especially with how much experience he’s packed away. Take The Open Championship this past summer, for example. Conners played the last few holes in 1-under just to make the cut, including hitting a 4-iron to a foot on a late par 3 at Royal Portrush. 

“It’s hard not to enjoy yourself at major championships,” Conners said. “I’d love to turn those top-10s into better chances to win but I think just a comfort level. The golf courses are all demanding. The Open I back-doored into that top 10 but there was some resiliency in my game. I didn’t give up.” 

In order to take a major across the finish line, there’s a “little more to it” than just making a few more putts, Conners said with a small laugh. For him specifically, there was always a day or two where things didn’t click. Unfortunately for this year’s Masters, it came in the final round, when he shot a 3-over 75. 

Ironically enough, Conners actually had one of his poorest statistical efforts with his ball-striking in 2025, but he had the best putting year of his career. He zoomed all the way up to 67th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: putting for this season from 128th — where he finished in the stat in both 2024 and 2023. 

“There are so many good players and competition is so strong (on the PGA Tour), you just need to do everything well to win,” Conners explained. “The weeks I started off well I didn’t finish, and the weeks I finished well I didn’t start off very well — it’s meshing those two things.”

It’s not just Conners who is, of course, eager to win a big one amongst the group of Taylor Pendrith, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor — winners, all, on the PGA Tour already, and who will make up the Canadian contingent on the circuit next year along with Sudarshan Yellamaraju (who earned his card via the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025).

Adam Svensson, Adam Hadwin and Ben Silverman will need to try to climb their way back via Q-School. The group has continued to grow their experience and maturity, Conners said, and he feels it’s a matter of time before someone wins a major or a signature event. With that door broken down the other guys, he believes, will jump right through. 

This upcoming year also is another Presidents Cup year, and Conners is champing at the bit to make his third straight team alongside his countrymen and attempt to extract a measure of revenge after their loss on home soil in Montreal in 2024. Pendrith has played the last two with Conners, while Hughes made his first team last year. 

“The last two (Presidents Cup teams), I’ve been part of, there are a lot of similar guys, and we’ve got closer and made better relationships. That will strengthen the team play on the course as well,” said Conners.  

Conners has been a professional for a decade now and, as a person, he has not changed much. His definition of success, however, has changed — being a father and a husband will do that. Golf is his primary focus but being a dad is just the best, he said. He and his wife have also gotten a little louder about their foundation — the Corey and Malory Conners Family Fund — which helps donate monies to a variety of causes in Listowel and the surrounding areas for sports and education. 

“We’re trying to open doors to everyone,” Conners said. 

The south Florida sun is shining a little brighter now as the coffee and conversation finishes. Conners said he and McIlroy are friendly, talking often at the private club they are both members of in Jupiter, although McIlroy’s globe-trotting schedule has prevented them from actually teeing it up together. Maybe in the new year. That moment Saturday at the Masters, Conners said, was a highlight of his 2025 campaign. He’s a huge fan, at the end of the day, and enjoyed watching it unfold — especially since Conners got a few back on the scorecard come Saturday night.  

“The energy and the electricity,” Conners explained, “was unbelievable.” 

It could be fitting, then, if McIlroy gets to put a Green Jacket on Conners next April. Weir has waited long enough for a locker mate. This golden generation, the success of which Canadian golf fans have never seen before, is due for a big one. 

“Looking back at it all, it’s been pretty cool,” Conners said, “but I do feel like I’ve got a much higher ceiling for the next few years to try to reach.”