Canada’s Conners confident heading to the weekend

TSN Senior Reporter

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A different day, different conditions and a different wind at the Open Championship on Friday but it was the same score for Corey Conners. How he arrived at that second-consecutive 71, however, was unlike the opening round.

The Canadian tried to learn from his play on the Old Course on Thursday and avoid any careless mistakes. That wasn’t always easy as the firm course continued to keep players in check, often turning good swings into poor results.

“There was certainly some thoughts of the positions I was in yesterday,” admitted Conners. “So tried to be really free with the swings that I made and just tried to keep it steady. The wind was [a] completely different direction. So the holes did play very different. But it was great to get (a birdie) on 16, and able to get a four on 17. So a little better than yesterday.”

Conners got off to a slow start, three-putting the opening hole for a bogey. While he followed that with a birdie on the second, more bogeys came on the fourth, when he missed the green and was unable to get up and down, and on the fifth, when his drive found a bunker and he three-putted once on the green.

A birdie on the seventh allowed him to make the turn in 37 and he played the back in a stellar two under. The highlights included draining a 13-foot putt for a birdie on the 16th where he’d made a bogey the day before, and avoiding the Road Hole bunker and making par on the 17th.

“Just kind of made a few sloppy errors,” Conners said of his front side. “Hit a poor tee shot on the fifth hole, missed a short putt on the first hole. That wasn't my best stuff, but I was able to battle hard after that and steady the ship a little bit.”

The Listowel, Ont., product heads into