Speaker 1: The guys from Ping. They've kind of showed me how
Speaker 1: much the equipment matters. I just love that I can
Speaker 1: hit any shot. I kind of want.
Speaker 2: We're gonna be able to tell some fun stories about
Speaker 2: what goes on here to help golfers play better golf.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to the Ping Proving Grounds Podcast. I'm Shane
Speaker 3: Bak and that is Marty Jerts, and we are in
Speaker 3: the Ping truck. The tour truck. Cory Connors is here
Speaker 3: by the way, Marty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, see him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you're having a fantastic year, very consistent, and
Speaker 2: we're excited to deep dive into a few tomics.
Speaker 3: Before we get into your golf game. I was told
Speaker 3: before we got going that you have an amazing golf room.
Speaker 3: Can we expand a little bit on this golf room?
Speaker 3: Because I didn't nobody, I didn't get any details. I
Speaker 3: don't know if there's like a simulator in there, Like,
Speaker 3: what are we talking about?
Speaker 4: Yeah, my wife and I both from a small town
Speaker 4: list Well, Ontario, Canada, So we built a house there.
Speaker 4: You know, we've been living at this summer and was
Speaker 4: able to design the house from scratch and of course
Speaker 4: tried to fit in ample space to put a nice
Speaker 4: golf room. So yeah, I've got a simulator Foresight GC
Speaker 4: Hawk and pretty cool, you know, fun to play games.
Speaker 4: You know, can practice, you know, familiar with the foresight,
Speaker 4: you know data and you know it's good to check
Speaker 4: in on things or good to be able to check
Speaker 4: in on things while at home. I've also got a
Speaker 4: put view putting green so projects lines and can set
Speaker 4: up drills and it's it's a really cool tool that
Speaker 4: you know, I've I've loved just messing around with and
Speaker 4: it's as much fun as it is work. But I
Speaker 4: think you can, you know, learn a lot from it
Speaker 4: or take a lot from it in just some short
Speaker 4: practice sessions. So it's it's been pretty fun to have
Speaker 4: the ability to keep the game sharp. The weather's great
Speaker 4: in Canada throughout the summer. But I've found myself, you know,
Speaker 4: getting dirty in the golf room and my almost two
Speaker 4: year old daughter Reese every morning she's saying, dad balls,
Speaker 4: Dad ball, She's right in there. Yeah, she's likes teeing
Speaker 4: up the balls and she's got a little putter knocking
Speaker 4: them around the putting green, and it's it's pretty fun
Speaker 4: to share that with her too. But it's it's a
Speaker 4: cool space and something that you know, I'm happy I
Speaker 4: fit into the design and it's turned out great.
Speaker 3: I need your parntal advice on this because my four
Speaker 3: year old son just zero interest in golf. He did
Speaker 3: ask yesterday for his putter. We got him one of
Speaker 3: the pink putters and he asked, so the red one
Speaker 3: because my daughter got the yellow one. He says, is
Speaker 3: this the red one?
Speaker 2: Dad?
Speaker 3: But no interest? How did this happen?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think just organically. I think, yeah, she really
Speaker 4: hasn't you know, she's still really really young, but you know,
Speaker 4: just she's she's Daddy's girl, so she wants to be
Speaker 4: with dad when whenever we're home, and if dad's putting
Speaker 4: her chipping her hidden ball, she's she's right in there,
Speaker 4: doesn't want to miss miss out.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's it's cool.
Speaker 4: I mean, I you know, I would love her to
Speaker 4: play golf, definitely. I think it's an amazing game obviously,
Speaker 4: But yeah, it just happened organically and she seems into it,
Speaker 4: so we'll see where that goes.
Speaker 1: Corey.
Speaker 2: I think, I mean one of the fun things about
Speaker 2: watching you and the rest of the Canadian contingent this
Speaker 2: year is just how strong it feels like Canadian golf is.
Speaker 2: You know, Nick Taylor went in you know that event
Speaker 2: and the way that he did was unbelievable. Uh, tell
Speaker 2: us a little bit just about like the culture of
Speaker 2: growing up playing golf in Canada and what other sports
Speaker 2: did you play and in things of that nature.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been really fun to be a Canadian on
Speaker 4: the PGA Tour right now. That Canadian golf is you know,
Speaker 4: significantly on the rise, and it's just great to be
Speaker 4: a part of it. We're all motivating each other, we're
Speaker 4: all really close friends and all supporting each other. So yeah,
Speaker 4: watching Nick when the RBC Canadian Open was unbelievable. Been
Speaker 4: so long since Canadian had won our national championship and
Speaker 4: you know MATC Hughes had to win this season, Adam
Speaker 4: Spencer had to win, Adam had been had.
Speaker 1: A great year.
Speaker 4: You know, a bunch of other Canadians out here and
Speaker 4: more coming. So it's exciting, you know to be a
Speaker 4: part of that. But growing up in Canada, I think
Speaker 4: Canadians are crazy about all sports and golf's no different.
Speaker 4: So many people play golf. It's a really popular sport. Unfortunately,
Speaker 4: where I grew up. The golf seasons on about six months.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 4: You know, you can't enjoy it all year round, but
Speaker 4: for those six months, the people are definitely wearing it out.
Speaker 4: And yeah, just love getting outside and growing up. You know,
Speaker 4: I'd play golf six months. I'd get a year's worth
Speaker 4: of golf in those six months. Definitely. I lived at
Speaker 4: the golf course, worked there, and you know, basically all
Speaker 4: my childhood, remember, just just beating up the local Listable
Speaker 4: golf club. Played pretty much every sport in high school.
Speaker 4: I was an avid hockey player as well, starting I
Speaker 4: was like four years old until uh the end of
Speaker 4: high school, so that it was another big passion of
Speaker 4: mine and a big hockey fan. Follow the Toronto Maple Leafs,
Speaker 4: which is pretty pretty standard for people from Ontario, Canada.
Speaker 4: But throughout high school played badminton, volleyball, really liked those sports.
Speaker 4: Played on the basketball team for a few years, played
Speaker 4: some baseball as a kid.
Speaker 1: Just yeah, love love sports, loved you.
Speaker 4: Know, competing and hanging out with friends and growing up
Speaker 4: in a small town. You know a lot of the
Speaker 4: people I played sports with were you know, the same
Speaker 4: in every sport. So we had a lot of fun
Speaker 4: together and we were all really close friends, so that
Speaker 4: was cool.
Speaker 2: When did golf emerge is like, Okay, I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 2: gonna specialize in golf. I mean, you played everything you know,
Speaker 2: and I'm also curious about, uh, just the transfer of
Speaker 2: skills from hockey to golf. It seems like so many
Speaker 2: hockey players turn in or just naturally good golfers.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think there was a moment when I was fourteen
Speaker 4: years old where I could have stepped up my level
Speaker 4: of hockey and sort of decreased the amount of golf,
Speaker 4: but I, you know, kind of chose golf, saw you know,
Speaker 4: possible future with that, and so kind of took a
Speaker 4: step back with the hockey and you know, just went
Speaker 4: back to my local town to play for a local
Speaker 4: team instead of traveling as much as I could have possibly,
Speaker 4: And yeah, just put a little more focus onto my
Speaker 4: golf game.
Speaker 2: Then.
Speaker 4: Definitely, as far as the hockey and golf translation, I think,
Speaker 4: you know, the motion of shooting a hockey pock, the
Speaker 4: slap shot, there's a lot of mechanics that are pretty
Speaker 4: similar to the golf swing. The way your body moves,
Speaker 4: and yeah, it's it's funny. A lot of a lot
Speaker 4: of hockey players are pretty good golfers and can hit
Speaker 4: it a long way.
Speaker 3: So they all hit those hard hooks too, Yeah, a
Speaker 3: booming hook.
Speaker 4: It's the Yeah, the the hand motions a little bit
Speaker 4: different because you're kind of flipping your your hands are
Speaker 4: separated at a hockey stick, and you're kind of flipping
Speaker 4: your hands over a little bit on some shots using
Speaker 4: your your right hand a little more than you would
Speaker 4: want to, uh ideally on a golf swing. But yeah,
Speaker 4: a lot of the hockey players I've played with really
Speaker 4: powerful guys, and they smoke it.
Speaker 3: Corey, can you give us like your handicap? What you
Speaker 3: were good and bad at at basketball and also hockey? Like,
Speaker 3: were you like a two handicap in hockey?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 4: How good were I was basketball? I wasn't particularly great.
Speaker 4: I think I just used my athleticism to to hide
Speaker 4: my weaknesses. Wasn't a particularly great shooter.
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 4: I was a you know, a guard. It would kind
Speaker 4: of bring the ball up, but not a not a shooter.
Speaker 4: I yeah, more of a playmaker. It was kind of
Speaker 4: similar in hockey as well. I, you know, would be
Speaker 4: just as satisfied getting a nice assist as scoring a goal.
Speaker 4: So but yeah, basketball, I'm probably a ten handicap, not nothing, nothing.
Speaker 1: Special, but could could get by.
Speaker 4: But hockey, definitely, I would say I was a scratch
Speaker 4: and you know, could have definitely couldn't have played in
Speaker 4: the NHL, but you know, could have moved along in
Speaker 4: hockey and and been you know, at some higher levels.
Speaker 3: But we've talked about the boom of Canadian golf. I'm
Speaker 3: assuming Mike Queer was a big part of this kind
Speaker 3: of growing up when you have a short season six
Speaker 3: months of golf being available, and then obviously you've got
Speaker 3: to focus on other things or you've got to go
Speaker 3: inside in practice. How do you convince your parents, how
Speaker 3: do you convince coaches and your friends this is the
Speaker 3: sport I'm going to focus on because I mean it
Speaker 3: almost might be living in a landlocked area and wanting
Speaker 3: to sail, you know, it's like there's not a whole bunch.
Speaker 1: Of availability for it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I was lucky throughout the summer having
Speaker 4: great access to facility.
Speaker 1: You know, I was really nice.
Speaker 4: I had twenty seven holes the listable golf club and
Speaker 4: a nice range, and you know, was able to find
Speaker 4: space on the golf course. You know, wasn't afraid to
Speaker 4: go play by myself and you know, make games and
Speaker 4: drop a ball at one hundred yards every hole, and
Speaker 4: you know, see if I could be three, four or
Speaker 4: five under par. I think, you know, my parents were
Speaker 4: really supportive and whatever I wanted to do, and you know, yeah,
Speaker 4: it was it was basically on me if whatever whatever
Speaker 4: I wanted, they were going to support. So you know,
Speaker 4: I put a lot of time into honing my craft
Speaker 4: on the golf course and I think they saw that,
Speaker 4: so they were they were definitely really supportive of that.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I enjoyed playing the other sports as well,
Speaker 4: and to be honest, throughout the winter time, I really
Speaker 4: didn't play a whole lot of golf. I think that
Speaker 4: changed towards the end of high school with the Canadian
Speaker 4: national development team's been part of the nation. Was part
Speaker 4: of the national team when I was sixteen years old,
Speaker 4: and throughout the winter months we would travel to training
Speaker 4: camps and you know be able to you know, try
Speaker 4: and stay as sharp as possible. And then yeah, that
Speaker 4: led into going to college at Kent State and on
Speaker 4: the golf scholarship, and again parents were supportive and whatever
Speaker 4: I wanted to do so.
Speaker 2: Corey, at Kent State, you studied actuary math. So this
Speaker 2: is like business risk assessment and things of that nature. Right,
Speaker 2: So what tell us the story of how why you
Speaker 2: chose to study math? And then do you use any
Speaker 2: any of those skills either in looking at your stats
Speaker 2: or planning tournament schedules or anything in that nature.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it certainly doesn't sound like a very exhilarating major
Speaker 4: to anyone else, but I I think I definitely enjoyed,
Speaker 4: enjoyed that I actually started in science program. I worked
Speaker 4: in a pharmacy through high school and had possible aspirations
Speaker 4: as a backup plan to maybe get into that. So
Speaker 4: I started in a science program in biochemistry, and the
Speaker 4: lab time that was required for the biology and chemistry
Speaker 4: courses was not ideal for practicing.
Speaker 1: I was okay with them.
Speaker 4: My coach was like, we gotta stop, we gotta stop
Speaker 4: the missing every practice every afternoon, I'm sitting in a
Speaker 4: science So that was my first year and a half,
Speaker 4: I think, and at that point I was like, well,
Speaker 4: I'm open to switching.
Speaker 1: What you know.
Speaker 4: I want to, you know, make sure I can still
Speaker 4: focus on golf as much as possible, So what what
Speaker 4: are my other options? And you know, I was passionate
Speaker 4: about mathematics as well, and and finance and actuarial math
Speaker 4: kind of fit the bill and didn't really have to,
Speaker 4: you know, change too much about the direction I was going,
Speaker 4: So you know, I was taking a lot of the
Speaker 4: prerequisites for for both regardless, and yeah, it was it
Speaker 4: was fun. There was a small class. I think there
Speaker 4: was like ten or twelve of us pretty much had
Speaker 4: all the classes together the junior and senior years, and
Speaker 4: you know, we became close friends and we'd study together,
Speaker 4: and yeah, it was good times. Missing class is difficult,
Speaker 4: think the golfers miss a lot of class as we
Speaker 4: travel for you know, three four five days for tournaments
Speaker 4: and you're you're at a class those days. So classmates
Speaker 4: and and professors were quite supportive and helping me, uh,
Speaker 4: you know, make up work and you know, answering answering
Speaker 4: questions or helping me get through it.
Speaker 3: One of the great compliments that a professional golfer could
Speaker 3: get is being called a flusher. Now you're a guy
Speaker 3: that is being called the flusher basically since you started
Speaker 3: to hit golf balls. What does it mean when other
Speaker 3: pros say, this guy's a flusher, and who are some
Speaker 3: people that you feel like you look at and go,
Speaker 3: my goodness, you should see this guy hit a golf ball.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's obviously a huge compliment. And you know
Speaker 4: something that I feel like I was kind of blessed
Speaker 4: with and sort of always hit the ball. Well, I've
Speaker 4: got some good guidance from a young age, And yeah,
Speaker 4: it feels pretty cool when you know other pros recognize
Speaker 4: that skill as obviously there's a ton of world class
Speaker 4: players out here and and world class talent. I love
Speaker 4: watching Rory hit a ball that's just yeah, majestic. And
Speaker 4: I didn't really see myself in the same category necessarily
Speaker 4: of flushers as a guy like him. But yeah, like
Speaker 4: playing with with Colin Morrikawa as well, really really solid.
Speaker 1: It's it's kind of cool.
Speaker 4: Or he predominantly hits fades and I predominantly hit draws,
Speaker 4: so we kind of are both curving it back to
Speaker 4: the target different ways and both both do hit it
Speaker 4: hit it pretty nice.
Speaker 3: So when you say you're not in the same class
Speaker 3: as a Rory or a call and when you kind
Speaker 3: of think about that in your brain, do you force
Speaker 3: yourself to look at stats, to look at where you
Speaker 3: landed on a page at the end of the tournament,
Speaker 3: to actually go kind of against maybe what you think
Speaker 3: is you're watching a Rory mclroy up close, going on,
Speaker 3: my goodness, I can't do what he does. Then you
Speaker 3: look at the stats sheet and it says you.
Speaker 1: Can do what he does. Yeah, yeah, I do a
Speaker 1: little bit.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: It's definitely gratifying to see some of the stats. I
Speaker 4: think more so kind of at the end of the year,
Speaker 4: on a week to week basis, I kind of realize,
Speaker 4: you know, if I if I hit it well, or
Speaker 4: what I was doing well, or what I was doing
Speaker 4: poorly for that matter, But kind of at the end
Speaker 4: of the year, you know, and kind of get the
Speaker 4: cumulative work, you know, tallied up and can can see,
Speaker 4: you know, how how my skills were. Yeah, it's pretty
Speaker 4: cool being near the top of the ball striking categories.
Speaker 1: Core.
Speaker 2: You work with Derek Ingram as one of our ping ambassadors.
Speaker 2: What type of things? How long have you worked with him,
Speaker 2: and what type of things do you work on, Like
Speaker 2: if you're if you're iron play driving gets a little
Speaker 2: bit off, what are your tendencies? What do you what
Speaker 2: do you guys work on.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've worked with Derek Ingram for a long time
Speaker 4: and you know, owe him a lot of credit to
Speaker 4: my success. He's an unbelievable guy, unbelievable coach and incredibly
Speaker 4: knowledgeable in the game of golf and many other areas.
Speaker 4: But work together since I was on the national team
Speaker 4: probably fifteen years now, and remembering back some of the
Speaker 4: years when I was still part of the national development program,
Speaker 4: I think he and I spent more days together, you know,
Speaker 4: on the road, you know, working on my game.
Speaker 1: Then he spent at home with his wife.
Speaker 4: So I you know, his wife a lot of credit
Speaker 4: too for putting up with him. But he's just an
Speaker 4: awesome guy. And what we've been working on really hasn't
Speaker 4: changed much over the years. A lot of it just
Speaker 4: stems from, you know, my my setup position. There's a
Speaker 4: few little keys that I like to feel on the
Speaker 4: takeaway of my swing and kind of just get the
Speaker 4: good rhythm started going in the right direction, and you know,
Speaker 4: continuing to work on using my body more. You know,
Speaker 4: as I start playing more tournaments in a row, I
Speaker 4: feel like, you know, my my hands take over a
Speaker 4: little bit and become a little less consistent, so just
Speaker 4: really try and simplify things as much as possible. But
Speaker 4: the biggest key for me just stems from from the setup.
Speaker 4: You know, my setup position, you know alignment, which is
Speaker 4: you know, quite basic, but it's it's something that's very important.
Speaker 4: If I'm set up well, there's a pretty good chance
Speaker 4: I'm going to hit it well.
Speaker 3: You've played some really consistent major championship golf over the
Speaker 3: last few years. You've played well at Augusta, You've played
Speaker 3: well at the PGA Championship a couple of times last
Speaker 3: three years, had a good finish at the Open a
Speaker 3: couple of years ago. What has to go into a
Speaker 3: good week at a major championship? And as you kind
Speaker 3: of look at the way you've played in those majors,
Speaker 3: what's that next step or what's that next thing that
Speaker 3: you need to do to go from the top ten
Speaker 3: and the top eight finish to top two, top three
Speaker 3: Relli in contention on a Sunday.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's the majors, I would say, I'm getting more
Speaker 4: comfortable and definitely they've all kind of been a little
Speaker 4: bit of a learning experience for me. And you know,
Speaker 4: a week in, a week out on the PGA Tour,
Speaker 4: we're playing at the same courses, and you know, apart
Speaker 4: from the Masters, the you know, other major championship venues changed,
Speaker 4: so there's a bit of a learning curve to try
Speaker 4: and figure out those venues. This past spring at the
Speaker 4: PGA Championship, I had played at o'kill before, you know,
Speaker 4: didn't remember it great, but like had some familiarity which
Speaker 4: I think helped, you know, got off to a really
Speaker 4: good start there and kind of got myself in the mix,
Speaker 4: you know, going into the final round. But the uh, yeah,
Speaker 4: the other majors that they're so fun to be at
Speaker 4: a major championship. It's just got a special feeling to it,
Speaker 4: and you know, it requires everything to be clicking, you know,
Speaker 4: to get yourself near the top of the leader board.
Speaker 4: There's so many talented players, and you know, the venues
Speaker 4: are all really challenging and you know, different ways, but yeah,
Speaker 4: it's everything's got to be clicking. And you know, I've
Speaker 4: tried to kind of build my schedule to where I
Speaker 4: you know, feel like I'm going to be you know
Speaker 4: as much rested, but also you know, playing playing well.
Speaker 3: What does that look like for you specifically, because everybody
Speaker 3: likes to change their schedule differently. I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: Phil used to play the week before, Tiger always take
Speaker 3: it off. What's kind of the best recipe for Corey
Speaker 3: Connor's going into major weeks?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, you know, I think playing the week
Speaker 4: before is helpful because you can definitely see where your
Speaker 4: game's at. But I just don't want to play a
Speaker 4: major championship that's you know, my sort of fourth week
Speaker 4: in a row, because you know physically mentally you're going
Speaker 4: to be a little bit burnt out. So there's been
Speaker 4: a few major championships where you know, I've had the
Speaker 4: week off before. I enjoy playing the Scottish Open before
Speaker 4: the Open Championship. I've had some good says that the
Speaker 4: Valero Texas Open before Augusta. So probably, uh, probably.
Speaker 1: Continue continue doing doing that. I think.
Speaker 4: Yeah, some of the some of the US Open venues,
Speaker 4: you know, it's fallen right after the RBC Canadian Open
Speaker 4: the last few years, which is another you know major
Speaker 4: right in my mind, must play. So you know, the
Speaker 4: US Open venues I think are very challenging. And you know,
Speaker 4: I hadn't really hadn't played any of the venues that
Speaker 4: I've played a US Open up before, so again trying
Speaker 4: to learn the golf course and and figure out what
Speaker 4: it's going to take, you know, to be successful. I
Speaker 4: think things important, but those those weeks can can get,
Speaker 4: can get along with the preparation the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of energy management. Sounds like, Corey, you
Speaker 2: won the Valerio Texas Open in nineteen and twenty three.
Speaker 2: What is it kind of to juxtapose that a little
Speaker 2: bit one course that you think has suited your game? Well,
Speaker 2: you know, the conditions, the turf, the wind, the breeze,
Speaker 2: the bermuda. I mean, what is it that has really
Speaker 2: syncd up with your game?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I think ever since the first time I played there,
Speaker 4: I really loved the golf course. I think the week
Speaker 4: overall is awesome. The hotels right on site, the JW. Marriott,
Speaker 4: so the you know, logistically the week is really easy. Yeah,
Speaker 4: the great facilities there. And I think the golf course
Speaker 4: is really demanding off the tee and into the greens,
Speaker 4: which you know, plays into some strengths of my game
Speaker 4: hitting it well off the tee and hitting good iron shots.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of the t shots set up
Speaker 4: pretty nicely for a draw some of the trickier t shots.
Speaker 4: So I'm pretty comfortable turning the ball right to left
Speaker 4: off the tee and it's definitely you know, important there
Speaker 4: and kind of yeah, it fits into my game nicely.
Speaker 4: And around the greens is pretty treacherous there as well,
Speaker 4: but you know, if you're able to hit solid iron
Speaker 4: shots to the right parts of the green, you can
Speaker 4: give yourself some good looks. So it's just a place
Speaker 4: I felt really comfortable on and you know, winning again
Speaker 4: this year, I definitely drew on my experience in nineteen,
Speaker 4: you know, coming down the stretch and made me feel
Speaker 4: a lot more comfortable. So just a place I feel comfortable,
Speaker 4: and I'm hoping to add more places I feel comfortable
Speaker 4: like that in the future.
Speaker 3: Corey, you mentioned the Marriotts close. I mean, these are
Speaker 3: little things. I don't know if like golf fans realize,
Speaker 3: like the benefits of being close to a golf course,
Speaker 3: or like in the hotel, or like in a restaurant
Speaker 3: close to the like look close to a facility. Golf's
Speaker 3: four or five hours. You practice for an hour or
Speaker 3: two maybe on the front of the back end, and
Speaker 3: you have a lot of downtime what's a Cory Connor's
Speaker 3: week in terms of downtime when you're playing in a tournament.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've been fortunate my wife and daughter, Reese have
Speaker 4: traveled with me quite a lot, so it's really fun
Speaker 4: having them there. And you know, the first few, you
Speaker 4: know days of the week. Usually take it pretty easy.
Speaker 4: On Monday, I'll play nine or eighteen on Tuesday, with
Speaker 4: a good practice session. Tuesdays usually you know, one of
Speaker 4: my fuller days, I guess or at the at the
Speaker 4: course most of the day checking out the golf course,
Speaker 4: you know, trying to fine tune all the skills.
Speaker 1: And pro am.
Speaker 4: Wednesday, get in a little practice, usually play the pro
Speaker 4: ams in the morning, so a little practice, uh, you know,
Speaker 4: have some lunch and then goes spend some time with
Speaker 4: the girls in the afternoon. It's it's really fun having
Speaker 4: my daughter and wife on the road, just I don't know,
Speaker 4: a little normalcy.
Speaker 3: H Do you notice when they're not on the road,
Speaker 3: if you have a bad round or if you don't
Speaker 3: play well, do you notice that frustration like lingering versus
Speaker 3: when they are on the road, they can go out
Speaker 3: and go I gotta go see the family, Like they
Speaker 3: don't care really what I shot.
Speaker 4: Yeah, my daughter definitely doesn't care what I shot. She's
Speaker 4: she's pumped.
Speaker 1: Out the same dad every every every time.
Speaker 4: So but yeah, I think I'm definitely when I'm by myself,
Speaker 4: definitely more consumed by golf and just thinking about my
Speaker 4: round or thinking about the next day, you know, way
Speaker 4: more than I would be when they're around, and I can,
Speaker 4: you know, shut my mind off and just have fun
Speaker 4: coloring and reading books.
Speaker 2: Corey, you've played a number of a number of different
Speaker 2: PLD putters. Tell tell us a little bit about how
Speaker 2: that process has gone for you in terms of things
Speaker 2: we've customized for you in the putter, some things that
Speaker 2: might be super important to you that we were able
Speaker 2: to do with those pods and in which one you're
Speaker 2: playing now is at the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So.
Speaker 4: All through my time at Kent State was an answer
Speaker 4: putter user, like the blade feel and sort of the
Speaker 4: flow of the stroke with that used to blade putter
Speaker 4: when I first got on tour, switched to a sort
Speaker 4: of a mid mallet PLD just trying to get a
Speaker 4: little bit more consistency and had success with that, you know,
Speaker 4: try to went back to a blade again and you know,
Speaker 4: had some success there again, fell into a funk and
Speaker 4: tried out the little the mallet potter the time that
Speaker 4: I'm using now. I switched away from that UH for
Speaker 4: probably about a year to UH like the OSLO model
Speaker 4: and sort of messed around with a couple of different
Speaker 4: hozzele types there the I guess the answer to sort
Speaker 4: of hozzle that I'm most comfortable with. You know, was
Speaker 4: able to customize the the Oslo with the answer three neck,
Speaker 4: which is kind of like a little a little bit
Speaker 4: of a slant neck. So having that you know capability
Speaker 4: was really cool. Ultimately went back to the to the
Speaker 4: time again. It's it served me well over the last
Speaker 4: you know, the season. Really I felt like I've been
Speaker 4: a little bit more consistent still, you know, trying to
Speaker 4: work hard on that area of my game and get
Speaker 4: the ball in the whole a little better. But you know,
Speaker 4: my my bad weeks are aren't as bad, and starting
Speaker 4: to have some some pretty good weeks that are you know,
Speaker 4: keep me in tournaments or getting me up near the
Speaker 4: top of the leaderboard. So the customization of the PLD
Speaker 4: is really cool, and you know, changing the finish, you know,
Speaker 4: got the black finish and on my putter. Now just
Speaker 4: think you know, all the design features of the putters
Speaker 4: that just frames the ball really nicely, and you know,
Speaker 4: something that it's cool to be able to mess around
Speaker 4: with and and you know, easy to find something you like.
Speaker 3: Mart you know what this sounds like, sounds like somebody
Speaker 3: needs more PLDs in.
Speaker 2: The exactly.
Speaker 3: A few different models.
Speaker 4: I'm just trying to get some gold ones and trying
Speaker 4: to get the biggest and try and get the biggest,
Speaker 4: biggest putter model available.
Speaker 3: So there are some wild ones in the vault I've seen.
Speaker 3: You know, there are a few League Westwood models in there.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he's got quite a mix in there, very
Speaker 2: very fun mixed Corey.
Speaker 3: When Canadian sports are on TV and you're playing golf,
Speaker 3: do you think about what's going on in the back
Speaker 3: of your mind? Do you have like a caddy check
Speaker 3: to score? Are you trying not to think about that?
Speaker 3: Like if it's a big, big like in the cup
Speaker 3: finals or you know, Olympic match, Like is that going
Speaker 3: on the back of your brainer? Can you kind of
Speaker 3: shove that out?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I can shut it out a little bit. It's always,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm always kind of thinking about it. You know,
Speaker 4: if there's something really big happening, someone in the crowd's
Speaker 4: probably yelling at me to okay, be updated. So but
Speaker 4: I'm not super crazy about that. Fortunately, the you know,
Speaker 4: big Toronto may Pleife fan probably my favorite professional sports team,
Speaker 4: big hockey fan in general, but their games are typically
Speaker 4: in the evening, so I'm off the golf course and
Speaker 4: I can tune in on my laptop or iPad in
Speaker 4: the hotel room. But yeah, you know see a lot
Speaker 4: of the English guys kind of checking it, checking up.
Speaker 4: We're a little more curious on some of the soccer
Speaker 4: football scores they But yeah, I'm not uh, not crazy
Speaker 4: about that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, NFL game goes on like it like noon. If
Speaker 3: you've got like the one pm Eastern game and your
Speaker 3: team's play it and you're kind of in the hut
Speaker 3: on a Sunday, it's like I might check the score
Speaker 3: after nine, just see what we're doing. But yeah, hockey
Speaker 3: in the evening. You mentioned RBC Canadian Open Major. I
Speaker 3: mean you said that when you go to that event,
Speaker 3: what's it like in terms of being a Canadian player
Speaker 3: playing it, getting himself in contention and the fans reaction
Speaker 3: doesn't feel as big to you as a President's Cup
Speaker 3: as as a major championship.
Speaker 4: Does Yeah, it feels it feels massive. You know, my
Speaker 4: mug is plastered all over billboards and you know, things
Speaker 4: around the clubhouse. So it's kind of weird, but it
Speaker 4: feels huge. The Canadians love sports, Cananes love you know,
Speaker 4: they're Canadian golfers, and it's a pretty special feeling teaming
Speaker 4: up in that event. And you know, played pretty well
Speaker 4: the last couple of years. I hadn't had much success there,
Speaker 4: but it's been really fun to get in the mix
Speaker 4: and you just feel so much support from all the fans.
Speaker 4: It's it's an unbelievable feeling and and something that you know,
Speaker 4: I look forward to, you know, continuing to have for
Speaker 4: for many years into the future.
Speaker 3: Well, it's just so interesting, Like I mean, I think
Speaker 3: is golfers. You know, we are conditioned to think every
Speaker 3: golfer wants to win the Masters, in the US Open,
Speaker 3: in the Open Championship. And when when Max Homill won
Speaker 3: RIV and he said, this is the event I wanted
Speaker 3: to win the most of every golf tournament out there.
Speaker 3: I mean, do you feel like that with the Canadian Open?
Speaker 3: I mean, does it feel like even as much that
Speaker 3: would come with the major championship victory, if you were
Speaker 3: able to snag one of those, I mean, would that
Speaker 3: be the career highlight for you?
Speaker 1: It would definitely be.
Speaker 4: I'd be lying if I said a major championship wouldn't
Speaker 4: be wouldn't be ahead of the RBC Canadian Open for me.
Speaker 4: You know, it's just their historic championships. They're the majors.
Speaker 4: But you know it's a very very close runner up
Speaker 4: would be winning the RBC Canadian Open. And you know,
Speaker 4: I'm definitely inspired by watching Nick Taylor win this year
Speaker 4: and you know, looking forward to getting getting some more
Speaker 4: cracks at it. But it's a really special event. And yeah,
Speaker 4: it's it's way up there for sure.
Speaker 3: And he didn't get tackled.
Speaker 1: I didn't get tackled.
Speaker 4: For I couldn't work, I couldn't find my bottle of champagne. Fortunately,
Speaker 4: I may have gotten tackled chest injury. I also give
Speaker 4: Hadman a hard time. I was like, yeah, he looked
Speaker 4: at both of us and said, I'm tackling this guy.
Speaker 4: So the younger guy, the smaller guy.
Speaker 1: He's older.
Speaker 2: Corey, you have the honor of playing in the Olympics.
Speaker 2: Tell us a little bit about what that was like.
Speaker 4: You know, yeah, it's funny, like I didn't dream of
Speaker 4: being an Olympian when I was a kid because golf
Speaker 4: wasn't in the Olympics. But you know, ever since I
Speaker 4: think the Olympics in Rio, it was kind of on
Speaker 4: my radar and.
Speaker 1: It was a huge goal. But it would be really cool.
Speaker 4: I can represent Canada, you know, the Olympics, and you know,
Speaker 4: being an Olympian.
Speaker 1: Is is kind of a.
Speaker 4: Pretty cool thing to have on your resume, and it
Speaker 4: was an incredible honor, you know, to make that team
Speaker 4: and the experience was really really cool. I played in
Speaker 4: Tokyo and in twenty twenty one and still pretty locked
Speaker 4: down with restrictions, so we weren't able to go and
Speaker 4: watch other events. You know, every time the Olympics is on.
Speaker 4: When I was a kid, I was always tuned in,
Speaker 4: whether it was summer or winter Olympics, watching all the
Speaker 4: sports and cheering on the Canadians. So it would have
Speaker 4: been to get to experience some of those other events
Speaker 4: and you know, cheer on some of the other fellow Canadians,
Speaker 4: but just getting introduced, you know, putting on the Canada
Speaker 4: shirt was pretty cool feeling and incredible honor and you know,
Speaker 4: still hopefully have a few more in my future and
Speaker 4: you know, going to keep working hard to try and
Speaker 4: make the Canadian Olympic team for Paris next year.
Speaker 3: There is something about the Olympics, especially in golf, that
Speaker 3: I really appreciate, and that is the fact that week
Speaker 3: in and week out, we talk about the winner in
Speaker 3: golf and that's it. And you can have a good
Speaker 3: week and finish fourth or eighth or twelfth, even and
Speaker 3: have a great week. I hit the ball great, maybe
Speaker 3: I didn't make as many putts. I love the fact
Speaker 3: that there's a celebration for that top three position and
Speaker 3: we celebrate it, even in a sport that doesn't typically
Speaker 3: celebrate it. Do you wish there was a little more
Speaker 3: of that and golf we're second and third was appreciated,
Speaker 3: maybe a little bit more than it is considering there's
Speaker 3: one hundred and forty guys teen it up every week.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I certainly appreciate, you know, the weeks.
Speaker 4: You know, even if I don't win, you know, having
Speaker 4: a solid finish, you know, get yourself in the top ten,
Speaker 4: you know, you feel pretty good about yourself after the week.
Speaker 4: The Olympics is unique in that aspect where you know, gold, silver, bronze,
Speaker 4: top three get recognized. You know, I'm fine with golf
Speaker 4: being the way it is. I can fly under the
Speaker 4: radar and be happy with some solid weeks, I guess.
Speaker 4: But yeah, that aspect of the Olympics is pretty cool.
Speaker 4: And you know, you're you know you're not you're obviously
Speaker 4: fighting for the gold medal, playing for the gold medal,
Speaker 4: but you know there's a couple of consolation prizes that
Speaker 4: are pretty good as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that playoff for the bronze. I mean
Speaker 3: I remember we were calling the action and like it
Speaker 3: felt like you were calling the final championship putt right,
Speaker 3: and this was for third place, and you had these
Speaker 3: big names in it, and you obviously had countrymen involved.
Speaker 3: I mean, it was really really cool. And again, I
Speaker 3: like we were talking about your major record. I mean,
Speaker 3: you play three straight years the Masters, you finished top
Speaker 3: ten three straight years, Yet it seems like the only
Speaker 3: kind of conversation point is who wins, not the guy
Speaker 3: that's played as you know, arguably as consistent golf as
Speaker 3: anybody that goes national last three years.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, I remember watching that playoff as well. It
Speaker 4: was really cool, and yeah, it's it's a big deal.
Speaker 4: You know, it's just something unique and something different. The
Speaker 4: the Olympics is yeah, pretty special. But yeah, like my
Speaker 4: record at Augusta of some top ten finishes, you know,
Speaker 4: definitely felt good and you know, was was proud of that,
Speaker 4: but yeah it wasn't I wasn't really talked about much
Speaker 4: because I don't have a green jacket just to have
Speaker 4: black and blue ones in the closet at all.
Speaker 3: I mean, listen, you can start to think though, I mean,
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know if poutine has been involved
Speaker 3: in a Master's before. Maybe Mike were had it somewhere
Speaker 3: in there, but at least throw it maybe in the conversation, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we would have to have to put that probably
Speaker 4: to nap, probably mix that in. Yeah it can get messy,
Speaker 4: but it's Corey.
Speaker 2: How much how much do you think drawing the golf
Speaker 2: balls helped you at Augusta? Like is it is it
Speaker 2: a significant? I mean I've been there, I've walked around it.
Speaker 2: I haven't been back on the either new or old
Speaker 2: tea on thirteen or some of those holes. You know,
Speaker 2: even two t how much of an advantage is it
Speaker 2: for you because so many of the other players here
Speaker 2: hit the cuts out there nowadays right handed.
Speaker 1: Go Yeah.
Speaker 4: I really think that the right to left ball flight
Speaker 4: you know, fits in at Augusta National really really well.
Speaker 4: There's a few T shots that are are kind of
Speaker 4: tricky that I find difficult, and the first I think
Speaker 4: everybody finds the first difficult, But hitting a draw off
Speaker 4: of that tee it's I don't quite hit it far
Speaker 4: enough that I can get myself into trouble, so there's
Speaker 4: still room out there.
Speaker 1: The eighth is.
Speaker 4: Another one where it's kind of tricky to fit a
Speaker 4: draw into that fairway. Again, the fairway's pretty wide and
Speaker 4: I've been able to hit plenty of good shots there,
Speaker 4: But so many of the T shots I think really
Speaker 4: shape up nicely for a draw. Even the you know,
Speaker 4: seventh is a really straight hole, but I've you know,
Speaker 4: you can fit a draw in there nicely. The thirteenth
Speaker 4: stands out definitely, and even fourteen being able to hit
Speaker 4: it right to left is great, but thirteen hitting a
Speaker 4: right to left trying to sneak it around the corner
Speaker 4: a little bit is It's definitely the ideal shape.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's a reason and there's been so much
Speaker 3: Lefty success there over the last few years, and it's
Speaker 3: because if you hit that big booming cut. I mean
Speaker 3: we saw obviously Bubba hit that shot them thirteen and
Speaker 3: twenty fourteen that everybody thought was going to be lost
Speaker 3: and he had wedge yet I mean, if you can
Speaker 3: move it in that direction, you can have some success
Speaker 3: of that golfer.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I definitely think so. And you know even you
Speaker 4: know some of the iron shots as well, you know,
Speaker 4: being hitting it right to left. I've I've found comfort
Speaker 4: in that on a number of the whole locations, on
Speaker 4: a number of the holes as well.
Speaker 1: Corey.
Speaker 3: Obviously you're wearing in President's Cup gear. When the President's
Speaker 3: Cups ends, now for you, when do you start thinking
Speaker 3: about the next time you could play or potentially make
Speaker 3: the team.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a pretty much at President's Cup. You know,
Speaker 4: it's been looking forward to, you know, ever since you know,
Speaker 4: leaving Charlotte. Really yeah, in my home country in Canada,
Speaker 4: you know, Mike, we're being the captain someone I idolized
Speaker 4: and really looked up to as a young Canadian golfer.
Speaker 4: It's it's going to be massive there and you know,
Speaker 4: definitely gonna be working really really hard to try and
Speaker 4: earn my spot on that team.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, it.
Speaker 4: Feels special to you know, be a part of that group,
Speaker 4: and it'll feel extra special to be on home soil
Speaker 4: with with Mike as a captain, and you know, hopefully
Speaker 4: myself and and some other Canadians can play their way
Speaker 4: on that team as well, because we've we've all been
Speaker 4: trending in the right direction over this past season, so
Speaker 4: hopefully that can continue and we'll definitely have some some
Speaker 4: hometown support there, I think in Montreal, so definitely, you know,
Speaker 4: big goal of mine, you know, coming in you know,
Speaker 4: to next season, and yeah, it'd be pretty amazing to
Speaker 4: get to be a part of that team.
Speaker 3: Are you good about setting goals in it not feeling intimidating?
Speaker 3: I mean something like this where obviously there's not very
Speaker 3: many players that are going to make a President's Cup
Speaker 3: team when you write that down, or you know, obviously
Speaker 3: the President's Cups going to Canada and it'd be a
Speaker 3: big deal to be on that team. Does that add
Speaker 3: weight on your shoulders or is that something you can
Speaker 3: handle pretty well?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm definitely good about, you know, writing down some goals,
Speaker 4: and I've been able to handle that that pretty well.
Speaker 4: I think it's just you know, each week, each week
Speaker 4: is a huge week, honestly, you know out here on
Speaker 4: the PGA tour, so really trying to take care of
Speaker 4: business week in and week out. And you know, if
Speaker 4: you do that consistently enough for you know, a long
Speaker 4: enough time, you know the the other big goals are
Speaker 4: going to fall into place and take care of themselves.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it's definitely definitely beyond my my goals for
Speaker 4: next year making the President's Cup team. But you know,
Speaker 4: I think I'm pretty good at you know, taking it
Speaker 4: week by week and you know, working hard on the
Speaker 4: game on the off weeks and making sure I'm ready
Speaker 4: to go every week, and you know, those those cumulative
Speaker 4: results will speak for themselves.
Speaker 3: Corey, Canadians are chill, I'd say, for the most part,
Speaker 3: very chill people, easy going, fun to hang out with.
Speaker 3: Which American professional golfer has the most Canadian in your opinion?
Speaker 3: Is there somebody that stands out that when you look
Speaker 3: at you go, you could you could pass as the
Speaker 3: Canadian you got you kind of got that.
Speaker 4: I'm not really sure we kind of a Canadian fraternity
Speaker 4: out here. We spend a lot of time together. Not
Speaker 4: that I opposed any any Americans getting in there, but no,
Speaker 4: no one really comes comes to mind off the top
Speaker 4: of my head. I'm a lot of guys are really nice.
Speaker 3: That's what I was going to say, the right professional golf.
Speaker 4: So many guys are really really nice. Yeah, welcome any
Speaker 4: of them as a Canadian.
Speaker 2: Why aren't there any lefties now in the Canadian great point? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I mean, and are you do you do anything left handed?
Speaker 1: I right left handed, but that everything else right handed?
Speaker 2: Why aren't there any lefties?
Speaker 1: That's that's a good question.
Speaker 3: You right lefty? So you drag across the ink I
Speaker 3: do my hand gets I should have gone righty with it.
Speaker 1: Well, it's funny when I right lefty.
Speaker 3: To my everything lefty, I'll right righty. It's so weird.
Speaker 1: That is weird.
Speaker 4: Ye, My dad just flipped me around when I was
Speaker 4: a kid, said I was doing it backwards. So I
Speaker 4: actually could play play golf. When I was a junior
Speaker 4: golfer with my friends, I'd play lefty once in a
Speaker 4: while and could the game beat up on them. Not
Speaker 4: too bad, I think I haven't really, that's probably stop
Speaker 4: when I was like fourteen or fifth team, but a
Speaker 4: couple couple of nine hole games and high thirties or forty,
Speaker 4: so wow, you're like.
Speaker 2: VJ level could come in handy for a shot you
Speaker 2: never know, although not the way you drive it though.
Speaker 3: That's right, he doesn't have another spots, right, have to
Speaker 3: fight round.
Speaker 4: I think over the last few years, I've tried to
Speaker 4: pull that at one time on like a green side
Speaker 4: shot and just totally butchered it, and like.
Speaker 1: Well, there you go.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna stick to a righty with your golf, all right, Lefty,
Speaker 3: I'll play golf righty. Well, Corey, really appreciate the time,
Speaker 3: good luck the rest of the year. Excited to see
Speaker 3: on that President's Cup team and we appreciate you taking
Speaker 3: some time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks guys, good join you.
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