2023 Sony Open in Hawaii: Top 10 Power Rankings at Waialae

Corey Conners has never missed a payday at Waialae. He debuted at the Sony Open in Hawaii in 2018 and took T-39th.

The Canadian has finished toward the top of the leaderboard in his next three visits, recording T-3rd (68-67-64-64) in 2019, T-12th (68-71-69-66) in 2020 and 11th (64-67-69-64) last year.

Conners relied on his ball striking at this event in 2022 like he does most weeks. The former Kent State Golden Flash ranked seventh in the field in strokes gained approach (5.893) and ninth in SG tee to green (6.803).

He was a machine, hitting 86.11% of greens in regulation to rank T-3rd.

Conners finished middle of the pack last week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in a tie for 18th out of 38.

He was also middle of the pack in most categories, except for scrambling. He led in that department at 83.33%.

Some doubt about the current state of Conners’ game is what’s keeping me from moving him up higher in the power rankings.

The 31-year-old has horse for the course characteristics this week, but his confidence could still be a little fragile since his poor showing at the Presidents Cup.

Conners has gone seven official starts without a top-10. I see that changing this week in Honolulu.

Last season, he ranked 13th on the PGA Tour in SG tee to green per round (1.242). Conners was second in greens in regulation (71.9%) and, more importantly for this week, was 20th in driving accuracy (66.83%).

He was also 10th in par-4 scoring average (3.97).