1 week Ago By Adam Stanley
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Corey Conners has long said he remembers exactly where he was when Mike Weir won the Masters in 2003. Weir, meanwhile, has long said how much he’s hopeful another Canadian will eventually join him in the Champions Locker Room at storied Augusta National.
Through two rounds here in 2025, Conners has given himself a chance to do exactly that. The Canadian, after a 2-under 70 on Friday that could have been even better, sits at 6 under. He’s just two shots back of the lead held by Englishman Justin Rose.
We’re off to the races here in Augusta, and Conners is within whispering distance – forget shouting – of the top of the podium, crediting a solid game plan and following through on it. “It was pretty good today,” Conners said. “It just felt like I struck the ball a little bit better than I did yesterday.
Just made things a little bit easier. Wasn't scrambling quite as much. Would have liked to maybe be a little more aggressive on some putts, but overall happy with the round.
” Conners opened with a birdie on the par-5 second before adding another one on No. 8. He made the turn and, despite being in the middle of the fairway on the 10th hole, ended up in a tough spot in the second cut on the left side of the green as there was a bit of mud on his ball.
The Canadian made bogey there before knocking his approach on the tricky par-4 11th to just six inches (much to the shock-and-awe of fellow Canadian Taylor Pendrith, who was standing on the 12th tee). Conners gave it back with a bogey on No. 12, before adding another birdie on No.
13. He held on with pars for his final five holes – despite having a few birdie chances. Still, the solid second-day effort has left him tied for third.
The average 36-hole position of the last 20 Masters champions? 3.6. And 37 of the last 38 Masters winners have been in the top 10 through two rounds.
“Obviously knew approximately where I stood (on the leaderboard). But there's a lot of golf left to be played. Was just trying to get the ball in the hole as quick as I could,” Conners said with a smile.
Conners has played plenty of good golf this year. He already has four top-10s on the season – matching his total from 2024 – and three in a row through the Florida swing. Those recent results have forced his fellow Canadians to pay even closer attention than usual to his game.
“I've seen a lot for the last few months that I'm not surprised at all by Corey. I think a lot of these holes fit his eye. He's been playing phenomenal,” Nick Taylor told Sportsnet.
“He's just in a great head space. He's seeing the shots, hitting them, and for me, the sharpest part about his game is probably around the greens and on the greens that I've ever seen. “He's always driven it on a string and been a great ball striker, but whatever he's found around the greens and on them, he's been working hard, and it's fun to watch.
” Conners has had success here at the Masters in the past, and, considering this is his eighth spin around here (seven as a pro), there’s been a lot of learned nuggets. The golf course doesn’t often giveth, but you better believe it taketh away. “I’ve learned a lot in my prior finishes here just .
.. kind of seeing what it takes,” Conners, who has three Masters top-10s in his career, said.
“I’ll just have lots of trust in my game and sort of remember the good things that I’ve done out here and trust the game plan.” Conners is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, played on the Presidents Cup, and has made the season-ending Tour Championship four of the last six seasons. He’s also No.
21 in the Official World Golf Ranking. In sum, he’s one of the best in the world. But to be the best this week, he’ll have to beat some of the very best.
Rose, the leader, is a major champ. Then there’s Bryson DeChambeau, a two-time major winner (including last year’s U.S.
Open) who finished in the top six in three of the four majors last year, sitting in second. And then, of course, there’s his playing partner for Saturday in the penultimate group – Rory McIlroy. McIlroy recovered after two double bogeys on Thursday to fire a tidy 66 on Friday, the best round of the day.
McIlroy is hunting for the career grand slam, again, this week. World No. 1 and defending champ Scottie Scheffler is just a shot back of Conners.
It's a lot. But, Conners said, he’s embracing it all – including the chance to win this whole thing. “I’m excited to be in the mix, regardless of who’s up there,” Conners said.
“Got lots of trust in my game, so we’ll just go out and play golf.” Taylor's major drought is over Nick Taylor is the winningest of this Canadian generation on the PGA Tour, but his major-championship record has left a lot to be desired. This week, though, he finally broke through to find the weekend at a major – his first in eight attempts, spanning two full seasons.
Taylor shot a 1-under 71 Friday. He’s even par through 36 holes and made the cut with room to spare. Taylor has been a winner on the PGA Tour in 2023, 2024, and already in 2025 – having won the Sony Open in Hawaii, the second event of the season, to earn a spot in the Masters.
The Canadian got off to a solid start Friday, going 2 under through his first seven holes after hitting his approach to just two feet on the par-4 seventh. He white-knuckled it a little through the back nine before making an unfortunate bogey on the final hole of the day. You can’t try to contend on the weekend unless you make the weekend, Taylor said with a smile, so he had one big box checked through 36 holes.
“Today coming in I wasn't trying to protect necessarily, but it's just tricky out there ...
You don't want to have your foot on the gas, but you've also got to be mindful of where the things end, pick your targets, commit to it,” Taylor said. “To have that one bogey there is pretty good.” This year marked Taylor’s third time at Augusta National, but really just his second time in a true Masters – since the 2020 tournament was played in the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said he’s learned a ton over his last few spins around this course, like how to miss in the right spots and stay sharp around the greens. “You're not going to be perfect here; nobody can be. It's trying to scramble as well as possible.
I think I kept my wits about that and did a good job of scrambling well,” Taylor said. “That's huge around here.” The cut came at 2 over.
Mike Weir, the 2003 Green Jacket winner, shot a 1-over 73 to end up at 4 over and missed the cut. Fellow Canadian Taylor Pendrith, in his Masters debut, shot 75 to finish at 8 over..
