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By all accounts, the opening round of the PGA Thursday on the Ocean Course at Kiawah promised to be a “stressful round,” for the field of the top golfers from the around the world in the second major of the 2021 season.
That is unless your name is Corey Conners.
Conners, who hails from Canada, went out and fired what was in a relative way, a stress-free, 5-under 67 to take a two-shot lead at the end of day one.
Six golfers – Sam Horsfield, Cam Davis, Keegan Bradley, Viktor Hovland, Brooks Koepka, and Aaron Wise – sit at 3-under, tied for second.
Phil Mickelson and defending PGA Champion Collin Morikawa are at 2-under. Some other notable scores are – Bryson DeChambeau (E), Jordan Spieth (1-over), Rory McIlroy (3-over), and Justin Thomas (3-over).
The early projected cut-line is 2-over.
But day one was all about Conners and his casual 67, although he was reluctant to say it was a stress-free round.
“I’d say it’s impossible to be stress-free around this golf course. You can’t fall asleep out there on any holes. It’s very challenging,” said Conners. “I made it as least stressful as possible on myself. I hit a lot of really good shots and holed some nice putts early in the round, and that really helped boost the confidence. You know, played with a lot of freedom.”
It was also a good first round for Koepka who hasn’t been the same since a knee procedure earlier this year. He has been a machine in the majors but was a bit hobbled in the Masters which was one month after the procedure.
Thursday, he showed he plans on being their Sunday. When asked if this was as good as he has felt since coming back from the surgery, Koepka was quick to respond.
“You just said it. It’s a major. I’m going to show up,” said Koepka. “I’m ready to play. I’ve been itching to do this since Augusta. I mean, I feel so much better now. I don’t need to be a hundred percent to be able to play good.”
DeChambeau has turned into the “most interesting golfer in the world,” not just for how hard he goes after his shots, but for his analysis of the game and his rounds.
Thursday he was on point talking about the mental aspect of the game and the Ocean course.
“Mentally, you have to show a lot of resolve out there. Mental fortitude to just push on when things aren’t going well. Luck isn’t going your way, and you aren’t getting the best breaks,” explained DeChambeau. “You have to be able to step up and say, you know what, it doesn’t matter. I’m just going to execute the best shot I could right here.”
Mickelson turned the clock back for at least the first round. After a horrible start that saw him 3-over through six, Lefty righted the ship and came home solid.
“I’m very pleased to be under par, especially after a rough start, I was 3-over through six,” said Mickelson. “I bogeyed 4, 5 and 6 and was able to kind of steady the round and play the downwind as we turned downwind in a few under partaking advantage of the par 5s, 7 and 11, and sneaking a birdie in on 10 and then the last five holes which are really tough I played them in 2-under.”
By Dennis Miller