Conners chasing Olympic spot heading into final round at U.S. Open

16/06/2024

PINEHURST, N.C. — For the third straight day, Corey Conners birdied his final hole at the U.S. Open. On Saturday, it was especially important to close with a circle on the scorecard.

“It turned maybe a mediocre round into a decent one and certainly makes me feel better — I was happy to see that roll in,” Conners said. “It’s always nice to birdie any of the holes out here, but it was nice to be able to birdie the last.”

Conners will head into Sunday at Pinehurst No. 2 tied for ninth and even par. While he’ll be seven shots back of the lead, he’s aiming to record his first top 10 at a major championship since the 2022 Masters.

He will also, however, be chasing down a spot on Canada’s Olympic team.

Some unofficial calculations show that a solo 12th from Conners, or better, would give him enough world ranking points to leapfrog Adam Hadwin for the second spot in Paris. Plenty is to be determined Sunday with various leaderboard scenarios, but if he remains tied for ninth into tomorrow then the spot will be his.

Conners said he felt “quite good” about his game Saturday. He missed a short putt for par on No. 2 but drove the green on the short par-4 3rd and converted the eagle.

He made back-to-back birdies on Nos. 9 and 10 and was briefly inside the top five before going 4 over through his next five holes. That final-hole birdie was a bit of a day-saver.

“I had a number of tee shots that were just a yard or a foot off the fairway. I found the fairways a little bouncier today and had some run just off the fairway which made it tough and didn’t get the best luck out there on some of the lies. I felt like I did everything as good or better than the last few days. Just got myself in some tricky spots,” Conners said. “Definitely birding the last hole, I breathed a sigh of relief that the day was over.

“It’s very challenging out there. You have to be really focused all throughout the day; it definitely takes quite a bit of energy.”

Fellow Canadian Taylor Pendrith shot his second straight round of 70, although Saturday’s even-par effort was much less eventful than Friday when he triple-bogeyed his final hole.

Pendrith got off to a fabulous start, going 2 under for his first nine holes. Like Conners, his momentum was toppled from Nos. 11-14, as he went 3 over for those four holes. Pendrith hit his tee shot on the par-3 15th to just 16 inches and he converted a late-day birdie. He is tied for 12th heading into Sunday’s finale.

“You’re one bad shot away, literally on every hole, from making a double (bogey),” Pendrith said. “Mentally you have to grind your way on every single shot, even on the greens. Today especially there were some putts where I was just trying to lag it down to five feet and now blow it off the green. It takes a lot out of you.”

Pendrith, whose best finish at a major championship was a tie for 23rd at his very first major, said as much as he would love to play aggressively on Sunday and “go at every pin,” Pinehurst is just not the golf course for that.

“You shoot a couple under (par) tomorrow and it would be a phenomenal round, I think. Just going to try to do the same stuff we’ve been doing,” Pendrith said.

Conners, meanwhile, said he’s going to just try to get off to a good start on Sunday. There are a few things on the line, including a top finish at a major he’s otherwise struggled with (this was the first time in his career he’s made the cut at the U.S. Open), but he’s got a solid game plan, too.

Bryson DeChambeau leads by three over a trio of golfers at 7 under.

“I’ve got a lot of people to chase down, but we’ll see if we can have a bogey-free 4 or 5-under — I’ll certainly take that right now,” Conners said with a smile. “I feel like I’m going to be comfortable out there. I know what I have to do, just going to try to do it.”

Adam Svensson was the other Canadian to make the cut. He shot a 4-over 74 Saturday and sits at 7 over for the championship.

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