Corey Conners, the serial semifinalist, is back again where he seems most comfortable, at the penultimate stage of the U.S. Amateur.
And he doesn’t sound as if he is ready for his little golfing getaway at the Atlanta Athletic Club to end Saturday. Note his pointed use of the plural here: “Obviously it feels great to be back in the same position as last year. I’m really excited and happy with my play and pumped up for the next couple days,” he said.
At last year’s U.S. Am, as a Kent State sophomore, Conners made it to the semis, where he plateaued against 18-year-old British sensation Matthew Fitzpatrick. Game over.
“It was awesome,” he said of the memory. “I ran into a tough opponent, the eventual champion, but it was a great experience.
“I definitely learned a lot and that’s helped me throughout the match play this year.”
On Saturday he’ll face another tough out. Virginia’s Denny McCarthy has been playing in this event seemingly since he was an embryo — just 21, this is his sixth U.S. Amateur — although he never advanced past the first round of match play until this year. Fitzpatrick was the world’s No. 2-ranked amateur when he defeated Conners last year. McCarthy is no slouch — he currently resides at the No. 36 spot.
Conners took care of Oklahoma State’s Zach Olsen 2 and 1 in Friday’s quarterfinal. As if routinely the case, the putter was the difference maker. When Conners rolled in a big breaking 35-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole, he went 2 up on Olsen, giving him a bubble of comfort that never burst.
Seems that with each step Conners has taken, Bobby Jones’ second golfing home in Atlanta turned more and more into a Canadian club.
Conners plays his college golf at Kent State, but here is sporting maple leaves all over his clothes and his bag. “The national program in Canada offers a lot of support to the Canadian players,” the Ontario native said.
A close little group of countrymen in the gallery has provided the moral support. On the course, he picked up some help from fellow Canadian and Kent State teammate Taylor Pendrith. Conners carried his own bag through two days of stroke play and the first day of match play. But once Pendrith was knocked out of competition Wednesday, rather than go home, he stayed to serve as Conners’ caddie.
“We are all great friends, all really comfortable in each other’s company,” Conners said of his Canadian cadre. “Having them around helps me relax. And off the course, we have fun together and hang out, and it’s been really helpful.”
They all will try to pull Conners to the finish this time, where he might join Gary Cowan (1966, ’71) as the second Canadian to come south and snatch a U.S. Amateur.
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