PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – Corey Conners continues to make a name for himself.

The 26-year-old Listowel, Ont., native put up a scorching nine-birdie effort en route to an opening-round 64, one stroke off the lead held by American Brice Garnett. In his 66th career round on the PGA TOUR, Thursday’s round marked his career-low, bettering his previous-best 66 (-4), which he posted in the second round of the 2018 Sony Open in Hawaii.

Conners, a Team Canada program graduate, is in chase of the outright lead for a second time in three weeks—he held the first, second and third-round leads at the Valspar Championship  after coming into that week as third alternate.

In his rookie season on the PGA TOUR, Conners has made 10 cuts in 11 events. He’ll tee off at 12:50 p.m. in Friday’s second round.

We see you, @coreconn! ??

He's knocking at the door again with an opening 8-under 64 to grab 2nd place early on at the @CoralesChamp ?? pic.twitter.com/0lphySWrsU

— RBC Canadian Open (@RBCCanadianOpen) March 22, 2018

Garnett was 10 shots better than his opening round at Punta Cana last year, when it was a Web.com Tour event. He shot 73-67 and missed the cut.

“I think last year I just kind of approached the golf course wrong,” Garnett said of the generous fairways on the resort course. “To me, this is a second shot golf course. Everybody’s in play off the tee and it comes down to a putting competition.”

Jonathan Byrd was in a large group at 66, while former Puerto Rico Open winner George McNeill was among those at 67.

AUSTIN, Texas – Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed enjoy few things more than trying to beat each other, and that’s when they are partners. The stakes are even higher in the Dell Technologies Match Play.

Win or go home.

Spieth and Reed did their part Thursday by winning their matches for a second straight day to set up a showdown on the skirts of Hill Country in Texas. They play Friday to determine who wins the group and advances to the weekend of this World Golf Championship.

Reed fired the first shot when asked what made Spieth a good opponent in match play.

“I don’t know. My back still hurts from the last Ryder Cup,” he said with a laugh, alluding to the way he carried Spieth in their partnership at Hazeltine to a 2-1-1 record in team play during a rare American victory.

Spieth dodged trouble early against Li Haotong, who missed putts inside 8 feet on two of the opening three holes, won the second hole when Spieth hit into the hazard and thought he won the fourth hole until Spieth matched his birdie by chipping in from short of the green.

Spieth never trailed and pulled away with a savvy play on the par-4 13th over the water and into the wind. He hit driver well to the right toward the gallery, which gave him a clear look at the green without having to hit over any of the lake. His pitch-and-run settled a foot away for birdie and a 2-up lead, and Spieth closed him out, 4 and 2.

Right behind was Reed in his match against Charl Schwartzel, and the South African was 2 up at the turn until Reed won the next two holes to set up a tight finish. Schwartzel stayed 1 down when he missed a 5-foot par putt on the 17th. Needing a birdie on the 18th to halve, Schwartzel could only watch as Reed hit a wedge that nearly went in and stopped a few inches away.

Reed and Spieth are 7-2-2 as partners in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. They are 1-1 in PGA Tour playoffs, with Reed hitting through the greens to short birdie range when he won the Wyndham Championship in 2013, and Spieth returning the favour in 2015 at Innisbrook by winning a playoff with a 30-foot putt.

They don’t have much of a relationship except in team competitions, and even then it’s unusual.

“Because we’re so competitive with each other within our own pairing at the Ryder Cup, we want to outdo each other. That’s what makes us successful,” Spieth said. “Tiger says it’s a phenomenon. It’s not something that he’s used to seeing in those team events. Normally you’re working together. But we want to beat each other every time. In alternate shot, if we don’t win a hole, I want it to be his fault and he wants it to be my fault.

“We’ve almost played every single match we’ve been involved in together against each other,” he said. “We just happen to be wearing the same colours.”

Reed and Spieth have advanced out of group play just once, both in 2016 at Austin Country Club, and both lost fourth-round matches.

“He’s not going to give you holes,” Reed said. “You have to go and play some good golf. And that’s what it’s going to down to. Because I plan on not giving him any holes.”

That isn’t the only match between undefeated players this week.

Alex Noren of Sweden had another easy time, beating Thomas Pieters in 14 holes, and won for the sixth time in his last seven matches. He faces Tony Finau, who dispatched of Kevin Na to win his second straight match.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson will effectively play a practice round Friday. A year after the world’s No. 1 player couldn’t be beaten, Johnson couldn’t beat anybody. He lost to Bernd Wiesberger on Wednesday, and fell behind early in a 4-and-3 loss to Adam Hadwin on Thursday.

Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson still have life.

McIlroy had an easy time beating Jhonattan Vegas, while Brian Harman knocked out Peter Uihlein in the other match in their group. Harman will win the group if he beats McIlroy on Friday; McIlroy has to win to have any chance of making it to the weekend.

“At least I’ve given myself a chance to progress,” he said.

Mickelson, who lost to Charles Howell III in the opening round, rallied from 4 down after eight holes and won the last three holes to beat Satoshi Kodaira. Mickelson still needs Howell, who won against on Thursday, to lose a match.

AUSTIN, Texas – Rory McIlroy put together another flawless back nine, running off five straight birdies.

This time, it wasn’t enough.

Former U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein built a 5-up lead against McIlroy and held off his late charge with enough key shots of his own in a 2-and-1 victory, one of several surprises Wednesday in the opening session of the Dell Technologies Match Play.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson hit two shots out-of-bounds on the same hole, another tee shot in the hazard and couldn’t make the putts that he couldn’t afford to miss on the back nine. He wound up losing on the 17th hole to Bernd Wiesberger.

Adam Hadwin was 1 down on the 17th green and could only watch as Kisner stood over a 10-foot putt for the win. Kisner missed, then missed the 4-foot par putt to lose the hole, and they each made par on the 18th for the halve.

Justin Thomas also got a scare, mainly because his opponent had to putt with a sand wedge over the last 12 holes.

McIlroy was coming off a victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational just three days ago, when he birdied five of his last six holes to win by three shots.

“I felt it was going to go two different ways,” Uihlein said. “When a guy comes off a win, next week out they’re either a little flat or still as hot as can be and they’re just going to blitz it.”

McIlroy was a little of both. He had a bogey, a double bogey and no birdies as Uihlein raced out to a 5-up lead through 10 holes. McIlroy began his run of five straight birdies on No. 12, and it might have been enough had Uihlein not matched him with a birdie at the 12th and another one on the 13th, when he laid up into the wind on the short par 4 over water and stuffed a wedge into 5 feet.

“I made him earn it at least,” McIlroy said. “I just came away a little fat. I didn’t really necessarily play badly. He didn’t make a bogey all day, so it was hard to sort of claw my way back.”

McIlroy, along with Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Tommy Fleetwood, now have to do some serious clawing to win their groups. All of them lost the opening match in their four-man groups and will need some help to advance to the weekend.

In the two years this round-robin format has been used, only four players have lost on Wednesday and won their group.

One of them was Johnson two years ago.

The world’s No. 1 player lost his first lead by driving into the hazard, another 1-up lead with he drove out-of-bounds twice on the par-5 sixth hole, and he was in serious trouble when his tee shot on the par-3 11th hit off the rocks guarding the green and into the lake, falling 2 down.

“I thought it was the easiest game I could have,” Wiesberger said. “I’m the underdog playing the defending championship. Just go out there and see what happens.”

Plenty happened on the first day as the 18-hole matches lived up to their fickle reputation.

Thomas, who had his wisdom teeth pulled two weeks ago and now is recovering from strep throat, built a 3-up lead that looked even larger when Luke List, whom Thomas beat in a playoff to win the Honda Classic, swung his putter into the hedges after losing the hole at No. 7.

Except those weren’t hedges.

“Turned out to be a wall,” List said.

It bent the grip of his putter enough that he could no longer use the damaged club in the round. List putted with the leading edge of his sand wedge, and he fought back to take Thomas to the 18th hole.

“When he started putted with the wedge, I knew that it would hopefully make it easier on me,” Thomas said. “But it didn’t.”

Jordan Spieth won his opening match over Charl Schwartzel by winning three straight holes to build a 3-up lead through 14 and holding on for a 2-and-1 victory. Spieth again missed a few short putts early in the round when he could have seized control.

The match ended with a peculiar twist. Schwartzel missed his birdie putt on No. 17, meaning Spieth had two putts from 5 feet to win the match. Schwartzel made him hit both putts, the second one from just over 2 feet.

“I missed some shorties to start the round. I don’t hold that against Charl,” Spieth said. “I didn’t enjoy hitting that second putt, and that’s the point.”

Charles Howell III birdied the 12th and 13th holes to go 3 up on Mickelson, who made only one birdie in 16 holes. Mickelson lost his opening match for the first time since John Cook beat him in 2002 at La Costa.

Mickelson, McIlroy and Johnson can’t afford another loss, and even that might not be enough to reach the knockout stage on the weekend.

Six of the matches were halved, and three of them felt like victories.

Zach Johnson was 4 down after 14 holes against Matt Kuchar when the two-time major champion birdied the final four holes for a draw.

Keegan Bradley was 2 up with three to play against 2017 finalist Jon Rahm when he bogeyed two of the last three holes in a match that ended in a tie.

Pat Perez rallied from 3 down with seven holes remaining to halve with Si Woo Kim.

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – David Hearn is going to make his debut at Augusta National in two weeks.

Unfortunately for the 38-year-old, it won’t be on the course. Instead it was announced by TSN that Hearn would be joining the broadcast booth for this year, providing unique insights that only a longtime PGA Tour player could provide.

He said Wednesday before teeing it up at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship that this opportunity was an exciting one, but it’s sparked a bit of a fire in Hearn as well.

“It’s probably a bit more motivating to be asked to do something like that, versus anything else. To keep working on my game and to try to get (to the Masters) without having to get there with media,” said Hearn with a smile.

Hearn is playing this week in the Dominican Republic, an opposite-field event to the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship (Mike Weir and Corey Conners are the other two Canadians in the field), his eighth event of the 2017-18 PGA Tour season.

The native of Brantford, Ont. finished 128th on the FedEx Cup standings a year ago, just missing out on early full status for this season. He said at the end of last year he wasn’t going to mind taking a little time at home with his growing family (he and his wife had their third child in early 2017) but now that the season has begun to chug along and he hasn’t had the results he’s wanted – missing his last three cuts in a row – he’s getting anxious to get back into a more regular routine of tournaments.

“I think I’m ready to go,” he said with a laugh Wednesday.

He admitted he didn’t play well on the west coast in the events that he did get into, but he’s motivated to get going through this key part of the season.

“I’m rested and ready,” he said. “Hopefully I can put together a good week this week and roll it into another good one.”

Hearn played every PGA Tour season since 2011 before falling out of the top 125 on the FedEx Cup last year. His best year was 2015 when he finished 55th. That was the year he finished third at the RBC Canadian Open, playing in the final group on Sunday at Glen Abbey Golf Club.

He said this year has made him realize, despite his veteran status, that every event is an important one.

“Maybe in past years when I have had access to every event all year long… you take it for granted a little bit,” he said. “But, given this year, my schedule is going to be a little more limited so each event I get in, I have to be prepared and ready to go.”

The Corales Golf Course is set to measure 7,600 yards this week, and more than 4,000 of those yards will come on the back nine – with two par fives tipping out longer than 620 yards.

He said length is definitely a factor this week, but the unpredictable tropical winds will also play into the scoring.

“A lot will depend on how the wind blows and how tricky they want to make those pin placements,” said Hearn. “There is enough length on this golf course that it’s going to be hard to make a lot of birdies hitting long irons into the greens.”

Hearn will be paired with 2012 RBC Canadian Open winner Scott Piercy and two-time major champion John Daly for the first two rounds of the tournament.

And although a win won’t get Hearn into this year’s Masters as a player, he’s hoping a solid finish will spur him on to get into the tournament itself in 2019.

In advance of the modernization initiative to the Rules of Golf which will take effect in 2019, Golf Canada, in conjunction with the R&A and the United States Golf Association (USGA), recently announced a new Local Rule effective January 1, 2018. The new Local Rule will eliminate the additional two-stroke penalty for failing to include a penalty on the score card when the player was unaware of the penalty.

In addition to this Local Rule, new protocols have been put in place to review video when applying the Rules of Golf at broadcasted events. For Golf Canada specifically, this will only impact our two professional opens and not have any impact on our amateur competitions.

For some time, it has been a point of contention with many enthusiasts of the game that viewer call-ins should not be permitted in our sport. Advances in technology and the use of high definition television and slow motion replay have added a level of complexity that has caused undesirable outcomes to many competitions in recent years.

Golf’s governing bodies felt this needed to be closely looked at and a group of experts from the PGA Tour, LPGA, PGA European Tour, Ladies European Tour and The PGA of America, as well as the governing bodies, was tasked with discussing the role video footage when applying the Rules.

As a result of these discussions over the last year, the protocol moving forward will be to assign one or more officials to monitor the video broadcast of a competition to help identify and resolve Rules issues as they arise. Committees will also discontinue any steps to facilitate or consider viewer call-ins as part of the Rules decision process.

All of the organizations represented on the working group will introduce the Local Rule for 2018, and this score card penalty will be permanently removed when the modernized Rules of Golf take effect on January 1, 2019.

As golf’s governing body, Golf Canada will be implementing this new Local Rule as part of their Standard Local Rules and Conditions of Competition for competitions in 2018.

If a committee wishes to introduce this Local Rule to modify the score card penalty, the following wording for the exception to Rule 6-6d is modified as follows:

“Exception: if a competitor returns a score for any hole lower than actually taken due to failure to include one or more penalty strokes that, before returning his score card, he did not know he had incurred, he is not disqualified. In such circumstances, the competitor incurs the penalty prescribed by the applicable rule, but there is no additional penalty for a breach of rule 6-6d. This exception does not apply when the applicable penalty is disqualification from the competition.”

Click here for more information on the Rules of Golf, or to send a rules question to our ‘Ask an Expert’ tool.

This article was originally published in the 2018 March edition of the Alberta Golfer magazine. 

WAIMALU, Hawaii — It wasn’t meant to be for Team Canada’s Christopher Vandette, who relinquished the 54-hole lead to settle for a share of 2nd at the 2018 Hawaii State Amateur.

The 17-year-old Beaconsfield, Que., native built a lead as large as four strokes, holding the outright lead through the first three rounds before slipping in Sunday’s final with a 2-over-par 74. Vandette’s struggles were no match for the surging local Tyler Ota, who recorded a tournament-low 67 to leapfrog into first place for the two-stroke victory at 11 under par.

Despite the disappointing result, the reigning Quebec Men’s Amateur champion held his head high at the Pearl Country Club, showing the composure of a seasoned veteran.

“It’s not the finish Chris was hoping for, but there are a lot of positives to take away from this event and he’ll be come back stronger for it,” said Team Canada Development Squad coach, Robert Ratcliffe. “I’m proud of Chris’ performance both on and off the course… it was a great week all around for our team here.”

Development Squad teammates Peyton Callens (Langton, Ont.), Johnny Travale (Stoney Creek, Ont.), Nolan Thoroughgood (Victoria, B.C.) and Thomas Critch (Austin, Texas) were also in action in Hawaii—they finished 7th, 11th, T14 and T22, respectively.

Click here for full scoring.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Tiger Woods put on a Sunday charge at Bay Hill that looked all too familiar.

One swing changed everything at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Coming off three birdies and two pars saves that brought him to within one shot of the lead, Woods hammered a tee shot so far left on the par-5 16th hole that it went over the fence, into a backyard and out-of-bounds.

A birdie or better turned into a bogey, and ultimately it didn’t matter when Rory McIlroy closed with five birdies in his last six holes to win. Woods made bogey from the bunker on the next hole and had to make a 12-foot par putt on the final hole for a 3-under 69 to finish eight shots behind.

The margin didn’t reflect the anticipation that Woods might win in his remarkable return from a fourth back surgery.

It was the second straight Sunday that Woods got within one shot of the lead on the back nine. His next stop is the Masters, which Woods has missed three times in the last four years and will be among the favourites at Augusta National for the first time in five years.

Woods was bothered more by the mental mistake than the swing on the 16th hole.

“I was caught. I didn’t decide what I was going to do,” Woods said. “That’s on me for not committing.”

A vintage Sunday charge.@TigerWoods is 3 under thru four holes on the back nine. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/0aePOvXVrC

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 18, 2018

The 16th hole was playing shorter than usual at 496 yards with firm fairways. Woods didn’t hit the fairway the previous three rounds and still made birdie. He said his options were a driver that he could shape between the left rough and the bunkers on the right, or pound a driver over the bunkers, or simply hit a 3-wood down the fairway and have no more than an 8-iron into the green.

He opted for driver, and then couldn’t decide whether to shape the shot or blast it.

He blasted it, all right.

Woods watched it sail to the left and hung his head when he received the signal that it was out-of-bounds. He drilled the next tee shot 358 yards down the middle, hit wedge to 25 feet and missed the par putt.

“It’s not that hard of a hole,” Woods said. “I wasn’t committed to either one of the three shots I was supposed to hit.

Woods won all eight of his titles at the Arnold Palmer Invitational playing in the final group. He was five shots behind going into the final round, though he had nine players – including three major champions – in front of him.

He began creeping up on the leaders with birdies on the par 5s on the front. He was four shots behind going to the back nine when he began his run with five one-putts in five holes, three of them for birdie. When he made it from 15 feet on the fringe, he was one shot behind and the enormous crowd could be heard everywhere on the course.

Woods still had plenty of work left, and he knew it.

“Even though I got up there, I knew I had to keep making birdies. Those guys had so many holes behind me,” Woods said. “I got to 16 and figured I’ve got to play the last three in 3 under to have a chance. Even that wouldn’t be good enough the way Rory is playing back there.”

Moments after Woods’ tee shot when out-of-bounds, McIlroy made birdie putts of 15 feet on No. 13 and 20 feet on No. 14, and if that wasn’t enough, he chipped in from 40 feet on the 15th to start pulling away.

One thing was clear during the Florida swing. That red shirt on Sunday is back in vogue.

Woods finished 12th at the Honda Classic, was a runner-up in his first time playing the Valspar Championship and tied for fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

“If you would have asked me at the beginning of the year that I would have had a chance to win two golf tournaments, I would have taken that in a heartbeat,” he said.

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Canadian Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont., put up her third consecutive strong round to finish in solo 3rd after a 3-under 69 in Sunday’s final round of Florida’s Natural Charity Classic.

Marchand, 25, fell just short in her bid for a second career Symetra Tour title, finishing three strokes back in the fog-delayed season opener at the Country Club of Winter Haven. The Team Canada Young Pro Squad member posted a string of three straight birdies to momentarily hold the lead at 7 under par. It didn’t last long though, as Marchand slipped with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 6 and 7.

.@Britt_Marchand with the easy birdie on No. 5, the last of three straight to give her the outright lead at 7-under par. #FLNatCC #Road2LPGA

Scores ▶️ https://t.co/8Gw7caiuLO pic.twitter.com/wsIaXK2lTB

— Symetra Tour (@ROAD2LPGA) March 18, 2018

She gave way to champion Lauren Kim, who closed the 54-hole event at 10 under par (69-74-63). The only thing that kept her from a real low number, Marchand said, was her putter.

“Backed her up with a couple bogeys, couple three putts. Just a little aggressive on the putting,” said Marchand. “I still felt like I knew I was hitting it well. I tried to erase those and had a little shaky middle. Gave myself a few more opportunities on the back. Another three-putt on No. 16, which is killer. I made three three-putts and shot three-under. There’s potential for sure.”

Performing as well as she did in the first tournament of the year, Marchand has plenty to build on.

“You can’t do anything about Lauren,” Marchand said with a smile on her face. “That’s just amazing. I’m happy with how I came out. I shot better today than I did the last two days. I just wanted to be able to play a solid round and let the chips fall where they did.”

Fellow Canadian Samantha Richdale fell out of contention after a 1-over-par 73. The 2016 champion and Kelowna, B.C., resident finished at 2 under in a tie for 11th.

Elizabeth Tong of Thornhill, Ont., finished T54 at 8 over par (72-75-77).

Click here for full scoring.

MESA, Ariz. – Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee nabbed her third NCAA top-10 finish of the season on Sunday, placing 2nd in the Clover Cup at the Longbow Golf Club.

Lee, a Team Canada National Amateur Squad member, carded rounds of 72-69-71 to close the 54-hole event at 4 under par, one stroke behind the champion Julienne Soo of Oklahoma.

Lee’s efforts paced Ohio State Buckeyes to a 4th place result, 11 strokes behind champion Oklahoma Sooners.

The Ohio State junior will lead the Buckeyes into their next match at this week’s Clemson Invitational on Friday at The Reserve at Lake Keowee in Sunset, S.C.

Click here for full scoring.

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Brittany Marchand was a model of consistency on Saturday, carding her second straight 70 (-2) to hold a share of 3rd place at Florida’s Natural Charity Classic.

Marchand, 25, tallied three birdies at the Country Club of Winter Haven against one bogey on the par-3 6th to sit at 4 under in the 54-hole event, one stroke off the lead. The Orangeville, Ont., native will look to collect her second career Symetra title on Sunday—she’ll tee it up at 1:10 p.m.

Not far off is fellow countrywoman Samantha Richdale, who trails Marchand by one stroke at 3 under par (70-71). The Kelowna, B.C., product is chasing her second trophy at Florida’s Natural Charity Classic—she took home the 2016 title with a thrilling come-from-behind victory.

In total, 60 individuals made the cut of 5-over par and six countries are represented in the top-10. Final round play begins at 8:30 a.m. with players going off No. 1 tee in twosomes.

Click here for full scoring.