The low amateur at the 2015 Masters will be teeing it up at the Bayview Place Island Savings Open presented by the Times Colonist tournament on June 4-7 at Uplands Golf Club.
Canadian Corey Conners, of Listowel, Ont., secured one of two Golf Canada exemptions into the PGA Tour Canada event, while Surrey’s Adam Svensson has grabbed the other. The two will be in the field for the second stop on the tour, after next week’s PC Financial Open at Point Grey in Vancouver.
“We’re really excited about it, both those kids are super players,” said Bayview Place Island Savings Open tournament director Murray Thomas. “It should help bring a lot of people, that’s what we’re hoping for.
“We were hoping to make the announcement before he played the Masters that he may play, but I couldn’t get it confirmed. It’s unreal. Not that many people have played in the Masters.”
Conners rebounded from a disastrous opening round of 80 at Augusta National with a superb 3-under par 69 to take top amateur honours at the prestigious major championship by a single stroke. He did miss the cut and was not presented the Silver Cup, which is usually handed out to the low amateur.
His list of accomplishments is long, including runner-up finishes at the 2014 U.S. Amateur and 2013 Canadian Amateur, which was played in Victoria at Royal Colwood and Gorge Vale. The Kent State University product also was top man at the 2014 Mid-American Conference Golf Championship. Conners, 23, was also a quarter-finalist at the 2015 Australian Amateur.
His 69 at the Masters was Conners’s final round as an amateur as he turned pro. He has since played in a pair of PGA Tour events, missing the cut at both the RBC Heritage Classic at Hilton Head and the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.
“Getting Conners is awesome,” said Keith Dagg, the founding director of the Vancouver Island Open Golf Society. “It’s a big win for us, leaping from amateur to professional and already having a couple of starts on the PGA Tour. To be out playing on the PGA Tour and coming to Victoria, that’s pretty exciting.”
Conners qualified for the Masters when he finished runner-up to South Korea’s Gunn Yang at the 2014 U.S. Amateur, losing the final 2&1 in match play.
Svensson, 21, is a former Canadian junior champion from 2012 and he represented Canada on the world stage at the 2014 World Amateur Team Championship in Japan where he finished seventh individually, lifting Canada to a runner-up finish.
Twice a B.C. Junior champion, Svensson has also won three times on the 2015 SwingThought Tour. In 2010 Svensson won both the B.C. Junior and B.C. Men’s Amateur.
Both Conners and Svensson are members of Golf Canada’s Young Pro Squad.
