Although not considered one of the top pre-2025 Masters Tournament favorites, Corey Conners managed to turn heads on Day 1 of the first major of the year with a strong opening round at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, GA.

At the conclusion of the first round, Conners found himself tied with Ludvig Åberg and defending tournament champion Scottie Scheffler for second place with each carding 4-under — three strokes behind leader Justin Rose.

With his strong start to this year's edition of The Masters, Conners became just the first Canadian in nearly seven decades to make it to the top three after the opening round of the event.

“First Canadian to sit in the Top-3 at The Masters through Round 1 since Stan Leonard in 1959,” shared Sportsnet Stats in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Conners surged amid a solid closeout in the first round. He got hot late, recording three birdies in the final four holes. Overall, the 33-year-old pro had five birdies against a bogey on Thursday. Rose, meanwhile, had eight birdies before a bogey on the No. 18 hole.

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“I scored the ball really well,” Conners following the first round in which he also found the green 14 times (h/t Doug Stutsman of the Augusta Chronicle). “I wasn’t thrilled with some of my iron play, mis-hit a few shots, but I was able to scramble and get the ball in the hole.”

The two-time PGA Tour winner has yet to win a major but he's had several solid performances in such events. At The Masters, Conners' best finish to date was a T-6 in 2022. He has three top 10s overall in the event, including a T-10 in 2020 and a T-8 in 2021. He missed the cut in 2023 but had a T-38 in 2024.  In his first seven Masters starts, Conners has gone 5-for-7.

As for his resume in the 2025 PGA Tour season, Conners entered The Masters with four top 10s but zero wins. However, he made the cut in eight of his first nine starts, including a third-place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and a T-5 at The Sentry.