Conners earns spot for Canadian Olympic golf

PINEHURST, N.C. — Corey Conners discovered the green and the inexperienced on the ultimate gap of the U.S. Open, a closing par at Pinehurst No. 2 that landed him within the Olympics for Canada for the second time.

The Official World Golf Rating revealed after the U.S. Open was used to find out the 60 gamers for the boys’s competitors Aug. 1-4 at Le Golf Nationwide.

Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 participant on the earth, will probably be making his Olympic debut alongside defending gold medalist Xander Schauffele, former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark and two-time main champion Collin Morikawa.

Every nation is allowed two gamers, with a most of 4 if all are inside the prime 15.

Conners will be part of Nick Taylor for Canada, however it got here right down to the ultimate gap.

Adam Hadwin completed third on the Memorial the week earlier than the U.S. Open to maneuver forward of Conners for the second spot within the Olympic rating, however then missed the lower at Pinehurst No. 2. Conners wanted to complete alone in eleventh to go Hadwin.

Conners stated he didn’t need to know what he wanted.

“I assume all of it labored out not understanding,” Conners stated on a convention name Monday afternoon. “I felt like it might have been added strain and one other distraction. I had no concept all Sunday what place I used to be in. I simply thought a par would get me a superb end.”

He stated his caddie instructed him after he tapped for par that his three-way tie for ninth was going to be sufficient and Conners stated he was relieved.

Jon Rahm makes his debut for Spain. He was the U.S. Open champion when the Olympics have been performed in Japan in 2021, however needed to withdraw with a optimistic COVID-19 check. He will probably be amongst 29 gamers, assuming all of them are licensed, making their first Olympic look.

Bryson DeChambeau additionally needed to withdraw from the Tokyo Video games due to a optimistic check. Now he’s with LIV Golf, which does not get world rating factors. DeChambeau tied for sixth within the Masters, was runner-up on the PGA Championship and received his second U.S. Open title at Pinehurst on Sunday. That moved him to No. 10 on the earth, adequate solely to be the second alternate for the Paris Video games.

The 60-man subject has six gamers from LIV Golf – Rahm and David Puig of Spain, Carlos Ortiz and Abraham Ancer of Mexico, Adrian Meronk of Poland and Joaquín Niemann of Chile.

C.T. Pan of Taiwan, who received a seven-man playoff for the bronze medal in Tokyo, is amongst 4 gamers to qualify for each Olympics since golf returned to this system in 2016.

Joost Luiten and Darius Van Driel of the Netherlands are listed on the ultimate record. The Nationwide Olympic Committee for the Netherlands didn’t ship Dutch gamers to Tokyo final time, requiring golfers to be among the many prime 100 on the earth or the highest 36 within the Olympic rating as a result of it wished athletes with a sensible probability of profitable.

Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia wound up profitable the silver medal at No. 204 on the earth, whereas Pan was No. 208 when he beat the likes of Rory McIlroy and Morikawa for the bronze.

Luiten, a six-time winner on the European tour on the time, was No. 177 on the earth. Dutch Olympic officers had barely relaxed some requirements and met with the Netherlands Golf Federation final week.

Luiten competed in Rio de Janeiro and tied for twenty seventh.

Every nation’s Nationwide Olympic Committee has till June 27 to substantiate its gamers. The Paris Video games presently has gamers from 32 international locations or territories.