Canadian golf has a rich history. At the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, George Lyon of Richmond, Ontario beat 72 Americans to win Olympic gold. George Knudson of Winnipeg, Manitoba won eight times on the PGA Tour from 1961 to 1972. Gary Cowan of Kitchener, Ontario won the United States Amateur twice in 1966 and 1971. And who could forget Mike Weir’s breathtaking performance at the Masters in 2003.
On Thursday, Corey Conners of Listowel, Ontario put him in the driver’s seat to be added to the list of the greatest Canadian golfers ever. All he has to do now is hold on to his lead at the 2021 PGA Championship. Easier said than done when you consider how difficult the winds were to read during the opening round at the Ocean Course in South Carolina.
Conners shot a score of five-under-par 67. He birdied the second, fifth, seventh, 11th, 15th, and 16th holes, and bogeyed the ninth hole.
Even though there is no one who is one stroke back of Conners, there are six golfers back at three-under-par. There you will find 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley of Woodstock, Vermont, four-time major champion Brooks Koepka of West Palm Beach, Florida (2017 and 2018 U.S. Open and 2018 and 2019 PGA Championship winner), Norwegian phenom Viktor Hovland, Australian Cameron Davis of Sydney, England’s Sam Horsfield, and South African born American Aaron Wise.
Then you will find eight more golfers tied for eighth at two under-par. There you will find the 50-year-old American superstar Phil Mickelson (five-time major champion including the 2005 PGA Championship), defending PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa of the United States, 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland of the United States, fellow Americans Kevin Streelman and Cameron Tringale, Scotland’s Martin Laird, South Africa’s Branden Grace, and South Korea’s Sung-jae Im.
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