Previous mates Corey Conners and Brooke Henderson normally must maintain tabs on one another from afar, however this week they’ll get to see each other up shut.
Conners and Henderson will crew up as soon as once more on the Grant Thornton Invitational, a singular occasion the place a few of the finest golfers from the PGA and LPGA Excursions compete as pairs. The event is shortly turning into an annual reunion for the 2 graduates of Golf Canada’s junior program.
“Since turning skilled, our careers have gone separate methods, and we haven’t been in a position to cross paths an excessive amount of,” stated Conners, who completed the lads’s season thirty ninth on the FedEx Cup standings. “I’m all the time cheering her on from afar, and all the time have my eye on the LPGA Tour leaderboard when she’s enjoying.”
Henderson, likewise, has been holding tabs on Conners’s exploits.
“It’s simply been actually enjoyable to observe his profession and cheer him on,” stated Henderson, who completed thirteenth within the ladies’s tour’s rankings. “I feel this occasion has reconnected us, in a means, and it’s been actually particular and nice to have the ability to know his household and simply to observe this recreation and be his associate right here is admittedly cool.”
Each have been on Staff Canada again in 2013 once they gained the Copa de las Americas together with Albin Choi and Augusta James.
Conners and Henderson additionally represented Canada on the final two Olympics however attributable to COVID-19 restrictions they didn’t get to work together on the Tokyo Video games in 2021. The boys’s and girls’s tournaments have been on totally different weeks on the Paris Video games this previous summer season.
The 2 Canadians completed second on the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational final yr with a mixed rating of 25 underneath, a shot behind New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Australia’s Jason Day.
“It’s been nice to have the ability to share some experiences just like the Olympics and this occasion final yr and spending extra time collectively has been superior,” stated Conners, who’s from Listowel, Ont. “She’s this superb individual, superb golfer, and a enjoyable associate at this occasion.”
The stacked leaderboard will see 16 pairs tee off on Friday at Tiburon Golf Membership in Naples, Fla. American Tony Finau withdrew from the occasion on Wednesday afternoon. He was changed as top-ranked Nelly Korda’s associate by Daniel Berger.
“I really feel like we make an ideal crew, and I’m excited for Friday to tee it up and hopefully make some birdies and be impressed by (Conners’s) nice pictures,” stated Henderson, who’s from Smiths Falls, Ont.
PGA TOUR — Six Canadians are vying for a PGA Tour card on the PGA Tour Q-Faculty this week. Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., Edmonton’s Wil Bateman, Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., Toronto’s Sebastian Szirmak, in addition to Matthew Anderson and Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont., will all be within the discipline at Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Nation Membership in Ponte Vedra Seaside, Fla., this week.
LPGA TOUR — Hamilton’s Alena Sharp and Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., each earned full standing on the LPGA Tour for 2025 after strong showings on the remaining qualifying stage of the Q-Sequence on Monday. Sharp tied for twenty first at 7 underneath and Leblanc tied for twenty fourth at 6 underneath. The highest 25 finishers within the event earned their standing.
GOLFZON TOUR — A crew of 5 golfers from the Better Toronto Space can be competing within the GOLFZON Tour, a golf simulator league that options 12 groups from North America and the UK. Staff Toronto will play its GOLFZON Tour quarterfinal match at a Golfplay location in Waterloo, Ont., on the digital Previous Course at St. Andrews towards Staff Orlando on Dec. 19.
