The benefit of building a dream house in the town you grew up in is that, given the extra space, multi-time PGA Tour winner Corey Conners managed to build a state-of-the-art golf studio in his basement that overlooks his modern backyard.
That studio is complete with a simulator, which just so happens to feature this week’s Olympic golf venue, Le Golf National. Conners took a few virtual laps around the course before flying across the pond in hopes that his on-screen practice will translate into on-course hardware.
“Definitely nice in person and good to be here but I think it was a little bit helpful. Gave me an idea of what to expect,” Conners said with a smile on Wednesday from France — the day before he tees it up as an Olympian for the second time. “Picked up a few strategy pointers.”
Conners, who finished 13th in Tokyo, and Nick Taylor are Canada’s male golf representatives. Taylor was a virtual lock through the balance of 2024 while Conners leapt Adam Hadwin after a tie for ninth at the U.S. Open, nipping his countryman by the slimmest of margins.
Conners said the key to ignore the noise about the Olympics was to just “play golf,” as simple as that sounds.
“When I was talking to Corey after the U.S. Open, he did a great job of just playing golf. He was essentially oblivious to what was going on,” Taylor said. “It’s something that we obviously wanted to be here. We want to be in the Presidents Cup. But, again, if you block it out as well as you can and focus on the job at hand, that’s the best-case scenario, but it’s easier said than done.”
Conners is now ranked No. 38 in the world and is Canada’s highest-ranked male golfer. Taylor is No. 44. Conners has had a slick summertime on the PGA Tour, with three top-10 finishes in his last six tournaments. He hasn’t finished outside the top 30 since April.
Heading into the Olympic golf competition, Conners is also as dialled in as any of the game’s best. In his last 20 rounds, Conners is fifth on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: tee to green behind just Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa. Impressive company.
With this being Conners’ second Olympics, he said there has been some added comfort for him so far this week.
“As professional golfers on the PGA Tour, we are playing in big events week-in and week-out, like just coming off the Open Championship a couple weeks ago. […] But as far as the preparation, prepare as best I can pretty much each week of the year that we are teeing it up. And it’s certainly no different here,” Conners said. “I’m really excited. And the game feels good and it’s great to be back for my second Olympics.”
Both Taylor and Conners have plenty of family with them (for Conners, it’s a treat to be able to do that as his previous Olympic experience was at the COVID-restricted Games in Japan, and his wife, Malory, is nearly six months pregnant with their second child) and they managed to be part of the opening ceremony, as well as take in a few other Olympic sports, such as diving and gymnastics. The golf course is about an hour away from Paris and the athlete village, so they’ve spent the last six days or so taking in the Olympic experience before getting down to business.
For the golfers, the Olympics has been an interesting addition to the calendar.
Taylor said a major-championship victory would still be the thing that almost everyone would choose over a gold medal — but with a new generation of golfers growing up knowing that the Olympics are indeed something to shoot for, winning a medal is not getting deprioritized any time soon.
“I never tried so hard to finish in third place in my life,” said Rory McIlroy, for example, after he finished just short of a bronze in Tokyo after losing out in a seven-man playoff.
In order for the Canadians to find the podium, they will have to navigate one of the most top-heavy fields of the year — which, based on the qualifying structure, makes complete sense. The American side is the only one that features four golfers (if you are ranking in the top 15 in the world, you can have up to four representatives, while all other countries have two) but amongst that group includes the defending gold medalist — and two-time major winner this year — Schauffele, along with world No. 1 and six-time PGA Tour winner in 2024, Scheffler.
McIlroy and Shane Lowry — who won the team event on the PGA Tour earlier this year, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans — make up Team Ireland, while other notables include Swedish superstar Ludvig Aberg, reigning FedExCup champ Viktor Hovland of Norway and Spain’s Jon Rahm, who comes into the week after his first-career LIV Golf title.
C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei, the defending bronze medalist, is back in the field looking for more hardware.
Le Golf National played host to the 2018 Ryder Cup, which was won by Team Europe. Five members of that winning Ryder Cup are set to tee it up in the Olympics, along with three winners of the Open de France at the same venue, with Alex Noren of Sweden and Tommy Fleetwood of Great Britain previous Open de France winners and part of the winning Ryder Cup squad.
The key to success this week at Le Golf National is going to be tee-to-green accuracy with water featured prominently on 10 holes.
That should play right into the hands of the Conners and his world-class ball striking. His virtual preparation has turned into a real-life attempt at a massive accomplishment.
“Spending time with some of the other athletes and athletes who have won medals for Canada in the past — it’s something really special,” Conners said. “Didn’t dream of winning a medal as a kid, but it’s almost like a dream come true to be able to win a medal at the Olympics.”
In 1904, Canadian George S. Lyon was the last to win an Olympic gold medal before golf took a near century hiatus. Could one of Taylor or Conners return to the podium?
“Being able to call yourself an Olympian, to be here, to have a chance to win a medal is really special,” Taylor said. “Now, we’ll try to break that streak of over 120 years.”
Taylor tees off in the first round Thursday at 5:44 a.m. ET with Lowry and Byeong Hun An (South Korea), and Conners is off at 3:33 a.m. ET with Min Woo Lee (Australia) and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa).
HOW IT WORKS: The Olympic golf competition is a 72-hole stroke play competition with one gold, one silver and one bronze medal awarded. … Gold medallists receive exemptions into all major championships during the 2025 season, exemption into the Players Championship in 2025, exemption into the Sentry (assuming the gold medallist is a part of the PGA Tour) and Official World Golf Ranking Points. … If two athletes are tied for the lead after 72 holes, a hole-by-hole playoff will be conducted to determine the gold and silver medals, or if three or more golfers are tied for the first position, a playoff will be conducted to determine the gold, silver and bronze medals. If two or more golfers are tied for the second position, a playoff will be conducted to determine the silver and bronze medals. If two or more golfers are tied for the third position, a playoff will be conducted for the bronze medal. … The women’s golf competition goes from Aug. 7-10, also at Le Golf National. Canada’s representatives are Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp. … Olympic golf is broadcast on Golf Channel beginning at 3 a.m. ET on each competition day. It concludes at noon Thursday-Saturday, and 12:30 p.m. ET for Sunday’s final round.