SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Two Canadians have secured spots in this week’s PGA Tour stop through qualifying.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., and Blair Hamilton of Burlington, Ont., survived a four-man playoff for the final three spots in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Hamilton, Hearn and Americans Max Homa and Nick Hardy all shot seven-under 65 in the Monday qualifier before returning to the course Tuesday morning for the playoff. Hardy was eliminated on the first hole of the playoff.

Hearn and Hamilton join Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., in the tournament, which starts Thursday.

While Hearn has partial status on the PGA Tour, the 25-year-old Hamilton never has been a member of golf’s top circuit. He split time last year between Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica.

Hearn and Hamilton have qualified for the @WMPhoenixOpen ????

They join fellow Canadians Mackenzie Hughes, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin in the field ??

— Golf Canada (@GolfCanada) January 29, 2019

SAN DIEGO – Justin Rose missed a short birdie putt that felt like another bogey. His three-shot lead was down to one through six holes of the Farmers Insurance Open, and the biggest battle was trying not to panic.

That’s when he scratched a line on his scorecard after six holes, wanting to start his round from that moment forward.

And he gave himself a pep talk.

“You’re No. 1 for a reason. Just start playing like it, please,” he said.

And he did.

Rose followed with a perfect wedge to a right pin that led to birdie, the first of five birdies the rest of the way for a 3-under 69 and a two-shot victory Sunday over Adam Scott at Torrey Pines. It was his 10th straight year with a victory worldwide, including his gold medal from the 2016 Olympics, and his 10th career PGA Tour victory gave him the most of any player from England, breaking a tie with Nick Faldo.

Rose finished at 21-under 267, the lowest 72-hole score at this event in 20 years, and the warm, windless weather had a role in that.

“Twenty-one under around Torrey Pines is great golf,” Rose said. “But you had to do it. It felt like I had to work hard for his.”

Scott left him little choice. After not making a birdie until the ninth hole – and missing a 20-inch par putt on No. 5 – Scott closed with four straight birdies and kept the outcome in doubt until Rose hit wedge to 3 feet on the 18th hole for his last birdie.

“I just didn’t have the game on the front nine, and it’s a shame because Justin was a little shaky early with some bogeys,” Scott said. “By the time I got it sorted out, it was a bit too late.”

Rose became the first player to post all four rounds in the 60s since Peter Jacobsen in 1995, back when the North and South courses were 700 yards shorter. Weather aside, this was an exquisite performance, especially with his three penalty shots on Saturday, and opening the final round with three bogeys in five holes.

Hideki Matsuyama closed with a 67 and tied for third with Talor Gooch, who shot 68. Gooch, who finished fourth last week in the Desert Classic to get into this event, earned a spot in next week’s Phoenix Open. He is playing this year on conditional status.

Jon Rahm was never a factor after pulling within one shot with that birdie on No. 6, which turned out to be the only one he made all round. He shot 72 and tied for fifth with Rory McIlroy (69) and defending champion Jason Day (67).

Tiger Woods had to settle for his own version of winning. Starting the final round 13 shots behind, Woods wanted to get into double figures. He birdied his last two holes for a 31 on the front nine to shoot 67 and finish at 10-under 278. He tied for 20th in his 2019 debut.

“Got to have these little goals when I’m not in contention to win a tournament,” Woods said. “Still something positive to end the week on.”

Mackenzie Hughes (70) of Dundas, Ont., was the top Canadian, finishing in a tie for 29th. Adam Svensson (75) of Surrey, B.C., dropped down the leaderboard Sunday, closing in a tie for 35th. While Nick Taylor (72) of Abbotsford, B.C., and Ben Silverman (75) of Thornhill, Ont., ended up in ties for 43rd and 62nd, respectively.

The timing was ideal for Rose, who takes pride in winning every year. The last time he won in January was in South Africa in 2002, the first of his 22 victories worldwide. But it goes beyond that.

Rose dedicated the victory to his caddie, Mark Fulcher, who had a heart procedure last week and was watching from home. Rose used Gareth Lord, who previously caddied for Henrik Stenson and knows Rose well from Ryder Cup partnerships.

“Probably harder than the heart surgery itself, watching this weekend,” Rose said. “This one’s for him.”

It also was his first victory since signing new equipment deal with Japanese-based Honma, leading Rose to switch out everything but the golf ball.

Even though Rose never lost the lead, and led by at least two the entire back nine, there were a few key moments.

He got up-and-down from delicate spots to save par on the 13th and 14th hole, and made an 8-foot par putt on No. 15 with Scott in tight for birdie, keeping the lead at three shots. On the par-3 16th, Rose holed a 30-foot birdie putt, right before Scott followed him in for birdie from 20 feet. And then Scott closed the gap to two shots with an approach inside a foot on the 17th, giving him a chance on the 18th.

The Australian missed his tee shot on the par-5 18th into a bunker and had to lay up, and Rose effectively ended it with his wedge to 3 feet. Scott also made birdie, a great finish that barely allowed him to make up any ground. His 269 was the same score Woods had in 2008 when he won at Torrey Pines by eight shots. Only four other scores have been lower since this event moved to Torrey in 1968, all of them before it was beefed up ahead of the U.S. Open.

“He’s the No. 1 player in the world, and he’s showing why,” Scott said.

SAN DIEGO – Justin Rose tracked the flight of his 3-wood until he saw it splash into the pond guarding the 18th green at Torrey Pines. He walked a few steps and pulled his cap down over his eyes, the look of a man who had just made a crucial mistake at the wrong time.

Not really.

This was only Saturday.

Rose wasn’t happy that he finished up the third round with a bogey at the Farmers Insurance Open, but it didn’t take away from a game so strong that having his lead cut in half over the closing five holes was no cause for alarm.

Even with three penalty shots on the day, Rose still managed a 3-under 69 and a three-shot lead, the same margin with which he began the day.

He’s playing that well.

Adam Scott had the low round of the week on the South course with a 65, which pulled him within three shots and it still felt like a consolation.

“As good as I’m playing, I feel like I’m a long way behind,” Scott said.

Rose had six birdies and an eagle that more than atoned for his mistakes. Even with two double bogeys and the bogey on the par-5 18th, he still matched the 54-hole tournament record at 18-under 198, last set by Tiger Woods in 2008.

As for that bold attempt to go for the green?

He had an 8-iron from the first cut of rough to play it safe until he saw Ryan Palmer comfortably reach the green. Rose went to the 3-wood, knowing it could come out heavy, and that’s what it did.

“There was a long way to go,” Rose said. “So I wasn’t really playing with the lead in mind at that point. If I was running 30th in the tournament, that was a shot I would probably hit. But yeah, it didn’t work out.”

Jon Rahm had a 68 and was four shots behind, followed by 22-year-old Doug Ghim, the former No. 1 amateur playing this week on a sponsor’s exemption. Ghim shot a 67.

Woods had the biggest gallery and didn’t make much noise. Woods birdied three of his last five holes to salvage a 71, leaving him 13 shots behind and in search of moral victories in his 2019 debut.

He was at 5-under 211.

“I think if I can get to double digits (under par), it would be just a nice way to end the week,” Woods said. “I’ve got to play a little better than I have.”

Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., was the low Canadian, firing a 3-under 69 to enter a tie for 11th at 10 under. Mackenzie Hughes (70) of Dundas, Ont., was in the same group as Woods and finished the round tied for 36th at 6 under. Nick Taylor (72) of Abbotsford, B.C., and Ben Silverman (72) of Thornhill, Ont., were in a group tied for 48th at 5 under.

Scott was the only player to give Rose a serious run, and it didn’t feel like much.

Starting the day seven shots behind, Scott opened with an 8-foot birdie and then holed out from 103 yards for eagle on the next hole. He added four birdies in a five-hole stretch at the turn and delivered the low round of the tournament on the South course.

And he still wondered if it was enough.

“It’s almost all up to him tomorrow,” Scott about Rose, his neighbour in the Bahamas. “So that’s no pressure on me. But this is not a course I can go out and just fire at pins. It’s too easy to make big errors. I’ll just have to chip away and see if he can do the same.”

Rose made plenty of errors, though he atoned for them with plenty of exquisite shots.

After starting with two birdies through three holes, Rose pulled his shot from a fairway bunker on the fourth hole into the hazard well left of the green, and he missed a 10-foot putt to make double bogey. He answered with two birdies and an eagle on the par 5s, reaching all of them in two, and appeared to be sailing along until he pulled his shot out of a bunker on No. 14 into the hazard for a second double bogey, and then found the water on the final hole.

Scott said he would not be thinking about winning overnight, not with Rose the player he is chasing.

Rose is No. 1 in the world, with five victories in the last 14 months and a game that is not showing many weaknesses.

“He’s just playing too good,” Scott said. “He’s the No. 1 player in the world, he’s played well for over two years. He’s feeling it. He wants to take advantage of all of his good golf and that’s why he’s running away with this thing.”

Scott said the one positive about his position is only one player is front of him.

Rose has a 3-6 record when he has the lead going into the final round on the PGA Tour, and he knows now to take anything for granted, even the way he’s playing on a strong South course. Rose and Scott are longtime friends, while Rahm won at Torrey Pines two years ago and has an explosive game, opening this event with a 62.

“I expect Jon and Adam to come out and play well tomorrow, as well as the chasing pack,” Rose said. “But one of those guys is capable of something in the mid-60s. Obviously, if I go out and shoot 68, then that’s a great round of golf.But a 68 on the South course isn’t anyone’s to lose. You have to go out and get it. I think it’s going to take a good round of golf tomorrow to get this done.”

Adam Hadwin’s tie for second at the Desert Classic this past weekend gave him his third top-10 result of the young 2018-19 season, helped him break US$1 million in earnings on the campaign and moved him up to 13th in the FedEx Cup standings.

But as far as the Canadian golfer is concerned, it’s just not enough.

“Honestly, it’s not something I’m even paying attention to,” said Hadwin on Monday. “It’s way too early in the season to even worry about (the FedEx Cup standings). If I’m 13th going into August, then I’ll say this is an incredible accomplishment and that sort of thing.

“I just have to keep working hard. Yes, it’s a nice position to be in, but I’m after bigger things. I’ll just stay focused on playing good golf and whether or not it lines up, we’ll see.”

Hadwin, from Abbotsford, B.C., led for most of the final round, playing in a trio with Adam Long and all-time great Phil Mickelson on Sunday in La Quinta, Calif. Although Hadwin shot a 5-under 67 on the day, Long roared through the back nine to win the tournament with a birdie putt on the 18th hole. By any stretch, it was a successful week for the Canadian, who shot a 65, 66 and 65 to put himself in contention on the final day of play.

View this post on Instagram

✅ Top 3 on #PGATOUR ✅ Top 10 on #LPGA ✅ Top 15 on @pgatourchampions ✅ Top 20 on @webdotcomtour – It was another great week for ?? #golf ?

A post shared by Golf Canada (@thegolfcanada) on Jan 21, 2019 at 12:56pm PST

Still, Hadwin came into 2019 looking to add to his one career PGA Tour win, which came on March 12, 2017 at the Valspar Championship.

“I came out this year pretty hungry to get better,” said Hadwin. “This is a Presidents Cup year and I knew I was going to have to do some good things again to get myself back on the team. I’m not currently qualified for any of the majors or the (World Golf Championships) like I was the previous years.

“I want to earn my spot back into those and play the schedule that I played last year. It’s nice to play well, certainly, and it’s encouraging, but that Presidents Cup and the majors is what’s motivating me right now.”

Hadwin had five birdies on the front nine on the 7,113-yard Stadium Course at La Quinta Resort & Club and added a sixth birdie on No. 11. But a bogey on the 13th hole and putts that were inches short on 14 and 15 allowed Long and Mickelson to reel him in as Hadwin made par the last five holes.

Despite having a solid round of golf, Hadwin admitted that his nerves may have gotten the best of him. He shot a 13-under 59 in the third round of the 2017 edition of the Desert Classic, when he also finished second, and that was on his mind as he closed in on the 18th hole Sunday.

“The previous finishes that I’ve had in that event, that might have added a little bit more pressure too because I’ve been so close the previous years, that I had a good chance at closing it out this year,” said Hadwin, who also tied for third at the event in 2018. “Just didn’t get it done. You learn from that.

“Every time I’m in that situation, I get more and more comfortable in it. Sometimes I pull the shots off and sometimes I don’t. Just gotta keep working hard and it’s got to pay off eventually.”

Hadwin will miss the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Club in San Diego to rest for a week before playing in the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Arizona that starts on Jan. 31. He’s also scheduled to play in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Pebble Beach, Calif., starting Feb. 7 and the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., which begins Feb. 14.

Thank you for all of the support. Had a ton of fun battling it out with @PhilMickelson and @aLongShot on Sunday. Looking forward to the rest of the west coast swing!

— adam hadwin (@ahadwingolf) January 22, 2019

TORONTO – Brooke Henderson’s two LPGA Tour victories in 2018, including her historic win on home soil at the CP Women’s Open, earned her two additional honours to add to her rapidly-expanding resumé.

The Golf Journalists Association of Canada (GJAC) has announced Henderson, Adam Hadwin, Garrett Rank and Jaclyn Lee as its 2018 Players of the Year as voted by GJAC members across the country. Henderson’s victory at the national open, the first by a Canadian in 45 years, was also voted Canadian Golf Story of the Year by an overwhelming margin.

“GJAC is thrilled to honour these outstanding players and highlight their remarkable accomplishments in the game in 2018,” said David McPherson, GJAC President. “Canadian players continue to produce incredible results at every level of the game and write stories with their achievements that captivate fans from across the country and beyond.”

Henderson’s triumph at Wascana Country Club in Regina, Sask., which was punctuated by a 72^nd hole birdie to give her a four-stroke win over American Angel Yin, was the second win of a two-victory season (her other title came four months earlier at the Lotte Championship) that propelled her to a runner-up finish in the Race to the CME Globe. The 21-year old’s seven LPGA wins put her one title behind Mike Weir, George Knudson and Sandra Post for most all-time by a Canadian professional.

Adam Hadwin was named Male Professional of the Year after continuing his ascendancy as one of the world’s premier players, notching 10 top-25 results for the 2017-18 PGA TOUR season and finishing 36^thin the FedExCup Standings. He and fellow Abbotsford, British Columbia product Nick Taylor also lifted Canada to a T4 finish at the World Cup of Golf, the nation’s best finish at the event since 1985.

Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee earned honours as Female Amateur of the Year after a standout season that culminated with a sixth-place finish at the LPGA’s Q-Series, earning her a tour card for her first professional season in 2019. The former Golf Canada National Amateur Team and Ohio State standout had a strong final season as an amateur, reaching the semifinals of the Ladies British Open Amateur Championship and the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

Finally, Elmira, Ontario’s Garrett Rank earned Male Amateur of the Year honours after a remarkable run that included qualifying for the U.S. Open – earning the NHL Referee widespread attention and media coverage – and victories at the Ontario Mid-Amateur and Ontario Amateur, along with top-three results at the Canadian Amateur and Canadian Mid-Amateur.

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Adam Long bounced around golf’s backwoods for years, winning only a lone Hooters Tour event. Now, he’s headed to the Masters as a PGA Tour winner.

Long won the Desert Classic on Sunday at PGA West, beating Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson and Canadian Adam Hadwin by a stroke with a 14-foot birdie putt on the final hole after a 6-iron approach from an awkward stance.

“In some ways it’s been a little bit of a roller-coaster, but it’s been a steady improvement throughout my career,” Long said. “I’ve played in pretty much most tours around the world that there are and just kind of steadily progressed.

“It kind of can seem like it came out of nowhere, but my game’s been trending in the right direction for really the last two years now.”

Long closed with a 7-under 65 on the Stadium Course, holing the winning putt after Mickelson’s 40-foot birdie try curled left at the end.

“I got a pretty good read off Phil’s putt,” Long said. “It was one of those putts that you just stand over you just know you’re going to make. And you can’t control that, but when you have that feeling it’s a good one. I’m in pretty disbelief right now. I don’t really know what happened.”

Mickelson, the leader after each of the first three rounds, shot 69.

“I had a terrible putting day – one of the worst I can recall in a while,” Mickelson said. “Started right on the first hole with a little 4-footer uphill and three-putting that green. And I missed a bunch of short ones on the front and some birdie opportunities, but it felt awful with the putter. I hit a lot of good shots today, but just couldn’t get the ball to go in the hole.”

Long set up with the winning putt with the 6-iron approach from 175 yards with the ball below his feet in dormant grass on a mound to the right of the fairway.

The 31-year-old former Duke player earned his PGA Tour card with a 13th-place finish last year on the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list. In five previous PGA Tour starts, he had made only one cut – a tie for 63rd in October in the Safeway Open.

Hadwin, from Abbotsford, B.C., finished with a 67, losing a three-stroke lead on the back nine.

“It’s golf,” Hadwin said. “I made a bunch of putts all week and then honestly I was kind of battling it a little bit swing-wise, didn’t quite have it like I did the first three days. … It just kind of flat-lined on me there in the last few.”

The Canadian had his fourth straight top-six finish in the event. He was second in 2017 after a third-round 59 at La Quinta Country Club and tied for third last year.

Strong effort from #TeamRBC‘s @ahadwingolf down the stretch @Desert_Classic with a T2 finish! We have a feeling 2019 is going to be a good one ??⛳️ pic.twitter.com/Mg5Y25VQdZ

— RBC Canadian Open (@RBCCanadianOpen) January 21, 2019

Long finished at 26-under 262 and earned $1,062,000. He chipped in twice on the back nine to remain in contention.

“Those chip-ins were huge and some putts on the front nine as well to just kind of hang in there,” Long said,

He opened with a 63 on PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course, shot 71 on Friday at the Stadium layout and had another 63 on Saturday at La Quinta to get into the final group with Mickelson and Hadwin.

“It was a huge thrill to play with Phil,” Long said. “I looked up to him my whole life and big fan of his and he couldn’t have been greater to me out there and he was awesome to play with, a lot of fun.”

The 48-year-old Mickelson was making his first tour start since the Safeway and first competitive appearance since beating Tiger Woods in Las Vegas in November in a made-for-TV event.

Adam Hadwin (Getty Images)

Mickelson entered the day two strokes ahead of Hadwin and three ahead of Long. The tournament winner in 2002 and 2004, Lefty matched his career-low score with an opening 60 at La Quinta.

“It’s a weird game how sometimes if you haven’t played for a while it just can click and come right back,” Mickelson said. “But usually you need a little bit of a foundation there coming down the stretch. When you get to feel the pressure you need to have that foundation of practice and seeing the shots that you want to hit, seeing the ball go in on the greens and so forth and I didn’t really have that today.”

Talor Gooch was fourth at 24 under after a 64, Dominic Bozzelli followed at 22 under after a 66, and Jon Rahm, the 2018 winner, shot 67 to get to 21 under.

Top-ranked Justin Rose closed with a 70 to tie for 34th at 14 under. He’s the first No. 1 player to play the tournament since the world ranking began in 1986.

Canadians Roger Sloan (Merritt, B.C.) and Adam Svensson (Surrey, B.C.) finished inside the top 20 at T12 and T18, respectively. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., rounded out the Canadians in action with a share of 40th.

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Phil Mickelson made three long birdie putts on the back nine Saturday to take a two-stroke lead on Canadian Adam Hadwin into the final round of the Desert Classic.

Making his first start of the year, the 48-year-old Mickelson shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 on the Stadium Course at PGA West to get to 22-under 194.

“I don’t know what to say,” Mickelson said. “I played OK and my goal or game plan of playing the Stadium Course is to actually hit drivers and to try to bomb it down there as close to the greens as you can. … It seemed to play out OK and I gave myself a lot of good chances. I missed a few short putts … but I also made a couple of long ones that were nice little bonuses.”

He topped the leaderboard for the third straight day after matching his career-low score with an opening 60 at La Quinta Country Club and shooting a 68 on Friday on PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course.

“It’s so fun,” Mickelson said. “I just love being in contention, having a chance to win, being in the final group, feeling the nerves, feeling that excitement, the opportunity. It’s just, it’s really fun.”

The tournament winner in 2002 and 2004, Lefty rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt on the par-3 13th and added a 12-footer on the par-4 14th. After missing a 10-foot try on the par-5 16th to spoil an up-and-down bid from the deep greenside bunker, he ran in a 25-footer on the island green, par-3 17th called Alcatraz.

Hadwin, of Abbotsford, B.C., was second after a 65 on the Nicklaus layout. The Canadian has three straight top-six finishes in the event. He was second in 2017 after a third-round 59 at La Quinta and tied for third last year.

“Living in Phoenix these past few years, this is the golf that I play every day,” Hadwin said. “The greens are exactly what we play back in Scottsdale. So I would assume that might add to some of the comfort. It’s really hard to pinpoint. For whatever reason as soon as I get down here in the desert I start playing some good golf.”

Mickelson is making his first tour start since early October and first competitive appearance since beating Tiger Woods in Las Vegas in November in a made-for-TV event. The Hall of Famer won the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship last year for his 43rd PGA Tour title and first since the 2013 British Open.

After opening with five straight pars, he chipped in for birdie on the par-3 sixth and birdied the next two.

“Every once in a while you just need that little putt, chip, something to fall and give you a little momentum,” Mickelson said.

“I followed that with two more birdies, so that was kind of the shot that ignited that little run and got the round going.”

He’ll be back on the Stadium Course for the final round.

“It’s a course you don’t have to be perfect on, you have to hit a lot of good shots in certain spots, but if you miss it, miss it properly, you can still play this course,” Mickelson said. “I feel like I don’t have to be perfect, I can come out, play aggressive, which is how I like to play, try to crush drivers and get it down as close as I can to the greens and see if I can make some more birdies.”

Adam Long was third at 19 under after a 63 at La Quinta, and Steve Marino had a 67 on the Nicklaus layout to get to 18 under.

Defending champion Jon Rahm was tied for seventh at 16 under after a 68 at the Stadium.

Top-ranked Justin Rose was tied for 29th at 12 under after his third straight 68, this time on the Stadium Course. He’s the first No. 1 player to play the tournament since the world ranking began in 1986.

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Phil Mickelson birdied four of his last five holes Friday in the Desert Classic to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend in his first event of the year.

A day after matching his career-low score with 12-under 60 at La Quinta Country Club, the 48-year-old Mickelson had a 68 on PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course to reach 16 under. The tournament winner in 2002 and 2004, Lefty will play the final two rounds on PGA West’s Stadium Course.

Curtis Luck was second after a 66 on the Nicklaus layout. The 22-year-old Australian rebounded from a bogey on the par-3 eighth with a closing birdie on the par-4 ninth.

Canadian Adam Hadwin, a Team RBC member, and Steve Marino were 13 under. Hadwin had a 66 at La Quinta, the course where he shot 59 two years ago. Marino had a hole-in-one in a 65, also at La Quinta.

Mickelson birdied the par-4 fifth and sixth holes, the par-5 seventh and closed with another on No. 9. On his opening nine, he birdied the par-5 11th and par-3 12th, then gave back the strokes with a double bogey after hitting into the water on the par-4 18th.

Corey Conners was working on his putting last Friday when fellow Canadian Mackenzie Hughes offered some advice.

Hughes pointed out that if Conners tucked in his right elbow a little bit, it would improve his setup.

Conners listened to his longtime friend and went on to shoot a 64 in the third and fourth rounds of the Sony Open in Hawaii to finish at 17-under 263 and tie for third after having to qualify for the PGA Tour event at the start of the week. The high finish has helped Conners climb the FedEx Cup standings and given him momentum heading into this week’s Desert Classic in La Quinta, Calif.

“It gave me some confidence and I told him on Friday afternoon ‘thanks to you, you’re going to see my name rocketing up the leaderboard this weekend.’ I was able to putt a little bit better and do just that,” said the 27-year-old Conners on Wednesday. “He sent me a text after the round on Sunday saying nice work and I thanked him for giving me the tips. I owe him one.”

Conners, from Listowel, Ont., earned a partial PGA Tour card last season by finishing 130th in the FedEx Cup standings with 353 points. The top 125 players on that list get a full card, with American Harris English earning the final spot with just 50 points more than Conners.

But Conners’s third-place finish on Sunday, coupled with a second-place finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship and a tie for 23rd at the RSM Classic, has him sitting 19th early in this season’s FedEx Cup standings with 331 points. In other words, he’s already closing in on his point total from last season and is a virtual lock to earn a full PGA Tour card for 2020.

“I was in a position last year where I was trying to fight for my card all through the summer and toward the end of the year,” said Conners. “It takes a lot of pressure off. Something that I don’t have to worry about as much going forward, I can just focus on having good weeks instead of feeling the pressure to have a certain finish.”

Given his quick rise up this season’s FedEx Cup standings, Conners will likely be asked to play in more invitational tournaments, helping him earn even more points toward next year’s card.

“It was a bit unknown what events I would get into at the beginning of the year, but having this good start there will be some of the invitational tournaments that I’ll be able to get into, which is awesome, and there will be a couple of new events I’ll get to add, which is really exciting,” said Conners. “It’s really helpful to have a good start like I’ve had to set up the rest of the year.”

Conners was joined by seven other Canadians as the Desert Classic teed off on Thursday. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., joined Conners on the LaQuinta course. Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, both from Abbotsford, B.C., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., were on the Stadium Course.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Swipe for Canadian results on Tour this week! ↔️ @coreyconners leads the way with a T3 performance @sonyopenhawaii ?????

A post shared by Golf Canada (@thegolfcanada) on Jan 14, 2019 at 12:57pm PST

It’s the third time this season eight Canadians are in a PGA event, marking the highest number for a non-domestic tournament since the organization began keeping track in 1970.

Despite the name of the Desert Classic, there has been a lot of rainfall in the days leading up to the event.

“Hopefully they get some sun the next few days,” said Conners. “The golf courses here in the desert are awesome, so lush. The grass is perfect. They’re beautiful courses.

“The greens are rolling really nice so I’m real excited to get going. I like the golf courses a lot. It’s hard not to enjoy when yourself when you get to play in such beautiful places.”

HONOLULU – Corey Conners notched his second top-5 PGA Tour result this season — but it didn’t come easy.

The Listowel, Ont., native got into the field via Monday Qualifying, going on to finish in a tie for third at 17 under par. Conners made his most significant move on the weekend, firing matching scores of 64 to rocket up the leaderboard.

With the finish, the 27-year-old Team Canada alumnus sits 19th in the FedEx Cup rankings and moves into the top-200 (No. 181) on the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career. Conners finished five strokes back of champion Matt Kuchar.

He shot 74 on Labor Day and failed to advance out of the second round of the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time in 10 years. He was never in serious contention all year. The captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup were announced the next day. Kuchar wasn’t even considered, left off a U.S. team for the first time since 2009.

Four months later, the view is so much different.

The rainbow that stretched across the Oahu sky on Sunday looked magical when Kuchar turned to raise his arms after one last birdie for a 4-under 66, which gave him a four-shot victory in the Sony Open.

Kuchar, a member of Team RBC, had gone 115 starts on tour without winning. Now he has won two of his last three.

“Crazy to comprehend,” he said.

This was much harder than reading the fine print that he won by four shots over Andrew Putnam with the third-lowest score in Sony Open history.

Kuchar’s two-shot lead going into the final round was gone in four holes, and when he missed the green on No. 5 with a wedge, he was trailing for the first time all weekend. At the par-5 ninth, Kuchar and Putnam were in the same bunker short of the green. Putnam went first and blasted out to a few inches. Kuchar left his 10 feet below the hole and was in jeopardy of falling two behind.

He made the putt, one of several key moments the rest of the way. And right after Putnam’s lone mistake, a 9-iron into a deep bunker left of the 14th green that led to his only bogey in a round of 68, Kuchar answered with back-to-back birdies and was headed to another victory.

Matt Kuchar (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

“Thrilled to have won two events this early in the year,” said Kuchar, the first multiple winner on the PGA Tour this season. “It absolutely sets up the year to be in great position for the FedEx Cup. There’s a lot of year left, and a lot of great things that are out there to be done.”

It was only the second time in his career that he had multiple victories. The other was in 2013, when he won the Match Play Championship in February and the Memorial in early June, with three majors still to be played.

Extra special to Kuchar was going up the 18th fairway with a comfortable margin. Winning was never this easy in his previous eight victories.

Then again, part of him likes it that way, whether he’s trying to recover from a bad start on Sunday or even a bad year.

“I love playing golf. I love how hard it is,” he said. “Golf is addictive that way, in that if you’re not playing well you can’t wait to figure it out and make it better. If you’re playing well, shoot, it’s great. It’s awesome. You want it to never end. It’s a cycle of whether it’s good or bad that you have this quest to continue to play, to improve, to fix, whatever it is.”

He goes to No. 22 in the world ranking and No. 2 in the FedEx Cup. He already has earned over $2.5 million in January, $800,000 more than all of last season.

Kuchar turned 40 last summer, which might have added to the anxiety of going so long without a win.

He never saw it that way. This run began with a visit to his swing coach, Chris O’Connell, right before he began this season. He didn’t score well in Las Vegas and stayed the course. He won in Mexico at the Mayakoba Classic the following week, and then he won again.

“I’m not sure I’m into making a statement, but it is interesting to see how young the tour has gotten,” he said. “But thankfully, golf requires so many different things to be going right. It’s not just power game, a putting game. There are so many facets to the game that it allows people to play for a long time and play competitively and play great for a long time.”

Putnam’s consolation was cracking the top 50 in the world for the first time at No. 45. He won the Barracuda Championship last summer, a month after he played better than anyone except for Dustin Johnson at the FedEx St. Jude Classic.

“I’m feeling a little let down right now,” Putnam said after closing with a 68. “I’m sure when I think about it … a lot of good things have happened. Just needed to make some better swings. Kuch was making birdies and played great coming down the stretch. I just couldn’t keep up with him.”

Kuchar had the gold trophy, the winner’s lei around his neck. He was in no hurry to leave, and plans to stay in Hawaii for another two weeks with his wife and two sons. Even better? He already has earned a spot at Kapalua next year, the tournament reserved only for winners.

“Trust me, getting in the field at Kapalua is a real treat,” Kuchar said.

Roger Sloan (Merritt, B.C.) finished T33 ahead of first-round leader Adam Svensson (Surrey, B.C.) at T43 and Adam Hadwin (Abbotsford, B.C.) at T57.