According to Adam Stanley of Golf Canada, there is a record five Canadians competing in the 2023 World Golf Matchplay Championships in Austin, Texas, which starts on Wednesday. They are Corey Conners of Listowel, Ontario, Adam Svensson of Surrey, British Columbia, Mackenzie Hughes of Hamilton, Ontario, Adam Hadwin of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and Nick Taylor of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
All five Canadians qualified by being in the top 64 eligible players in the Official World Golf Rankings. Currently Conners is ranked 41st, Svensson is 54th, Hughes is 60th, and Hadwin is 63rd. Taylor, who is 67th in the world, qualified for the event because there were nine players in front of him in the Official World Golf Rankings who were ineligible because they have joined the LIV Tour.
Taylor, who is seeded 55th, is in Group Four with Americans Patrick Cantlay and Brian Harman, and South Korea’s Kyoung-hoon Lee. Svensson is seeded 44th, and is in Group Nine with American Collin Morikawa (the 2020 PGA Championship winner and 2021 British Open champion), Australian Jason Day (2015 PGA Championship winner), and France’s Victor Perez. Hughes, who is seeded 50th, is in Group 12 alongside Americans Jordan Spieth (2015 Masters champion, 2015 United States Open champion and 2017 British Open champion) and Taylor Montgomery alongside Ireland’s Shane Lowry (2019 British Open champion). Hadwin, who is seeded 53rd, is in Group 13 alongside Australian Adam Scott (2013 Masters champion), American Sam Burns, and Ireland’s Seamus Power. Conners, who is seeded 36th, is in Group 15 alongside Americans Cameron Young and Davis Thompson, and Austria’s Sepp Straka. The winners of the 16 groups advance to the round of 16.
