ORLANDO, Fla. — Golfer Corey Conners is an outlier, whether he’s emerging from a tiny town in Ontario to reach the PGA Tour or rising to the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes at Bay Hill Club and Lodge.
The 29-year-old Canadian entered the Arnold Palmer Invitational ranked 60th in the world. Yet even players behind him in the rankings, namely No. 62 Jordan Spieth and No. 65 Rickie Fowler, were the ones generating pre-tournament buzz and fanfare.
Conners, meanwhile, quietly went out Thursday and carded a 6-under par to tie superstar Rory McIlroy for the first-round lead, and then backed it up with a 69 to end Friday in sole possession of the lead at 9-under 135 total.
“I haven’t really been in this position a lot,” Conners said. “But I have a lot of confidence in my game and feeling really relaxed the last few days. So try and keep that going.”
The API has drawn more appetizing fields in the past, but two days this week at Bay Hill have delivered a smorgasbord of star power and storylines entering the weekend.
Conners sits a shot clear of 2011 API winner Martin Laird, who ended a seven-year winless drought last year in Las Vegas, and Lanto Griffin, the 2019 Houston Open winner named after ancient Chinese spiritual master Lord Lanto.
Sitting at 7-under are two of the game’s premier talents, McIlroy and 23-year-old rising star Viktor Hovland of Norway. Bryson DeChambeau is in sixth place alone at 6-under, followed by headliners like Spieth, Justin Rose and Paul Casey, along with 22-year-old South Korean star Sungjae Im, all at 5-under par.
The top 10 after 36 holes at Bay Hill features five players ranked in the top 20 (McIlroy, DeChambeau, Hovland, Casey, Im), two former world No. 1s (McIlroy, Rose) and players who have combined to win nine major titles (McIlroy, Spieth, DeChambeau, Rose).
With bad weather in the Saturday forecast and cool temperatures expected Sunday, McIlroy predicted the late Palmer’s course could deliver a major championship test this weekend.
“The way the course is playing and with the weather coming in, if you get it to double digits under par this weekend, you’re going to have a really good chance,” McIlroy said. “You just need to be really solid, limit your mistakes.”
McIlroy, seeking his first win since November 2019, was pleased to break par Friday and end the day with a 1-under 71 round featuring four birdies and three bogeys. McIlroy salvaged pars with an up-and-down from a greenside bunker on hole No. 5 and with putts around 10 feet on hole Nos. 7 and 9.
“It could have been the round that I could have shot 74 or 75,” he said.
A day after he coasted to a 67, DeChambeau scratched out a 71 himself as he missed eight of 18 greens and failed on three of his eight up-and-down attempts, leading to three bogeys on the front nine. The reigning U.S. Open champion tightened up his game on the back nine to card two birdies and seven pars, despite tricky conditions.
“The wind was kind of moving all around today,” he said. “So it was difficult to manage.”
Laird, Griffin and Rose managed the swirling afternoon winds much better.
Laird’s 67 was bested only by Jazz Janewattananond, a 25-year-old from Thailand who shot 65, and tied by defending API champion Tyrrell Hatton. Hatton improved by 10 shots after a Thursday 77 to end Friday at even-par for the week and inside the 2-over par cutline.
Griffin and Rose each carded 68.
“Obviously good feelings about this place after winning here, but this course, I like it, it’s a hard golf course,” Laird said. “I feel like it’s a course you really got to pick your spots to be aggressive. Hopefully I can keep making good decisions the next two rounds and see what happens.”
Laird entered the week having missed his past three cuts.
Rose, a 10-time winner on Tour, has been battling his game for even longer. He is seeking his first win in more than two years and first top-10 finish on Tour since he finished ninth at the 2020 PGA Championship, a result that followed a stretch of three straight missed cuts.
Rose, a longtime Orlando resident who now lives in the Bahamas, would be a popular winner locally. The 40-year-old Englishman received plenty of attention Friday, grouped with Spieth and DeChambeau and with McIlroy in the group ahead.
“It felt amazing, I got to say,” Rose said. “It kind of focused my mind a little bit and I really, really, really, really enjoyed it.”
Rose has had his chances at Bay Hill — highlighted by three top-five finishes in the API — and hopes to be in the mix at the end.
The weather forecast brings into question when the API actually will wrap up. An 80% chance of rain is expected Saturday and could lead to delays and possibly prevent some players from finishing their rounds.
Conners’ sole PGA Tour win is the 2019 Valero Texas Open and he knows well the challenge ahead to earn another one.
“Trying to focus on the same stuff, try and keep it simple, try and stick to my game plan,” he said. “If there’s weather, if it rains, I’ll deal with it as it comes. We’ll just see what happens and be ready for anything.”
