When play gets underway in the 90th Masters on Thursday, two Canadians will hope to do what the third Canadian in the field, Mike Weir, accomplished in 2003: win the tournament.
Corey Conners and Nick Taylor are both exceptionally talented and are legitimate contenders for this year’s Green Jacket, but how they arrive at their final scores couldn’t be more different.
Conners has played in seven Masters as a professional and only missed one cut. He’s finished inside the top 10 four times with his best performance being a tie for sixth. Last year, he played in the penultimate group on Sunday, slipping to a final-round 75.
Taylor has been in just three Masters. His best finish is a tie for 28th in 2020, the year the event was moved to November due to COVID when the course was nothing like it is in April. In his last 12 major starts, he’s missed the cut 10 times. So far this year, his best finish on the PGA Tour is a tie for 13th. The results, he admits, have been just OK.
“There’s been a lot of solid weeks,” said Taylor when asked about the state of his game. “No great weeks. I feel like it’s trending in the right direction. I definitely made some strides last week as the tournament went on. So, I feel like it’s in a pretty good spot, kind of waiting for it to get to the next level for the season.”
So far this season, Taylor’s main trouble has been a driver that refuses to go far or straight on a consistent basis. He’s 142nd in Total Driving, the measurement of distance and accuracy off the tee.
Conners has had a somewhat similar season results-wise. He’s had seven starts with just a single missed cut but no top-10 finishes. His accuracy off the tee and into the greens, the hallmark of his game, has been good and has been improving each week. But his putter, the part of his game that has always lacked, is without consistency. He is 140th in Strokes Gained: Putting.
“I’ve had some hot putting rounds and then some poor putting rounds,” Conners stated. “Some hot days around the greens, and some poor days around the greens. So, things are trending. You know, I feel like my focus is established, and I know what I need to do, but I do feel pretty good about things.”
The 34-year-old from Listowel, Ont., is well aware of what needs to happen for him to even be in the hunt late on Sunday let alone win the tournament. He has spent long hours working on his short game and arrives at Augusta with some optimism.
In his past seven starts at the year’s first major, he has been inside the top 20 in putting just once, a tie for 20th in 2022 when he finished tied for sixth. Conversely, he’s been inside the top 20 in hitting fairways in five of his last seven starts.
“I felt like my ball striking has really been on a number of years here,” he said, “and that’s carried me into some good finishes. But I’m going to have to hole some putts, going to have to have some key saves. If I get out of position, I really have to do everything well to put myself in position and to get into the hunt on Sunday.”
Taylor has never been great in the majors, a puzzle for such a talented player. He’s made the cut in just two of his last 12 starts in the four big tournaments. He’s admitted that in the past, he has tried too hard and not played to his strengths, ending up with him getting the weekend off.
There is, as he pointed out, a fine line between playing the final two rounds and just missing out. For him, it has often been one or two shots that have resulted in the difference between two rounds and four.
“I’m feeling more and more comfortable,” he said of his record. “I don’t feel like I’m showing up missing cuts by 10 shots. A lot of them are frustrating weeks where it’s right there. You see you guys all the time, and I’ve done it, you make the cut number and finish top 10 or have a chance to win, versus you missed by one and you’re not playing golf the rest of the week. So, it’s close. I’m getting more comfortable.”
The one intangible that Taylor has shown in his career is an extra gear when he gets in the hunt. It’s what led him to beating Phil Mickelson when he won the Pebble Beach Pro-am, what allowed him to win a playoff at the Sony Open and, most dramatically, what helped him drain the 72-foot putt that won him the RBC Canadian Open.
He loves the pressure and a challenge. Get him into the competition on the back nine on Sunday and look out.
That would be something Conners could have used in the past when he has had opportunities in the final round. Last year, he fired a 75 on Sunday. A round of 68 would have given him a Green Jacket. But no matter the score, there is still something special about just being at Augusta National in April.
“This event is so special,” Conners said. “I like to try and treat it as normal of an event as possible. But, you know, certainly easier said than done. This is obviously a big one, and it’s just unique. It’s what I dreamt of as a kid, to be able to play in the Masters and it’s just so cool to be out here.”
