Corey Conners of Listowel, Ontario is in the lead after the first round of the 2021 PGA Championship from the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island in South Carolina. Conners shot a first round score of five-under-par, and has a two stroke lead after 18 holes.
Conners, who is seeking his second PGA Tour victory, had six birdies and one bogey on Thursday. He birdied the second, fifth, seventh, 11th, 15th, and 16th holes, and bogeyed the ninth hole.
No Canadian male golfer has led a major since former Masters champion Mike Weir of Sarnia, Ontario led after the first round of the 2009 United States Open. At Bethpage Black in New York, Weir shot an opening round of six-under-par 64, and had a two-stroke lead over Sweden’s Peter Hanson. However, Weir ended up tied for 10th place with fellow Canadian Stephen Ames of Calgary, Alberta, and was six shots back of the eventual champion, Lucas Glover of the United States.
A Canadian has never won the PGA Championship before. However two Canadian women have won the Women’s PGA Championship. Sandra Post of Oakville, Ontario was victorious when the tournament was known as the LPGA Championship in 1968, while Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ontario was victorious in 2016.
