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TSN Senior Reporter

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Four Canadians will tee it up at the season’s fourth and final major, all hoping to push what have successful seasons to another level.

Corey Conners, Nick Taylor, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith will carry the Maple Leaf hopes into The Open Championship, set to start early Thursday morning at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. They are looking to boost the Canadian results in the oldest of championships.

Over the years, Canadians have fared well in the other three majors. Mike Weir has a win at the Masters, Dave Barr was runner-up in the 1985 U.S. Open, this past May, Pendrith ended up tied for fifth at the PGA Championship. Those are all the best finishes by those from north of the 49th.

But The Open? Hughes has the best result for a Canadian, logging a tie for fifth in 2021. Al Balding had a tie for eighth in 1967 and followed that up a year later with a ninth-place finish.

Conners has the most experience of the quartet, with this being his sixth start. After missing the cut in his first appearance, he’s played on the weekend the other four times with a tie for 15th his best finish.

He’s enjoyed a solid season with five top-10 finishes and just one missed cut in 17 starts. He finished tied for eighth at the Masters and tied for 19th at the PGA Championship. He was faring well at the U.S. Open before withdrawing after injuring his wrist in a bunker. He declared the ailment behind him last week at the Scottish Open and is reportedly playing pain-free.

Taylor, who is the only Canadian with a win this year, has played The Open just twice, missing the cut both times. But he comes in as perhaps the most consistent of the bunch. Since failing to advance to the weekend at the PGA Championship in May, he’s finished inside the top 25 in his last five starts, including last week in Scotland.

Hughes has had a typically up-and-down season with three top-10s, including a playoff loss at the OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic. But he’s also missed the cut seven times with one of those coming at the Scottish Open last week where he was undone by a second-round 73. He will need to get some performance from his putter, normally one of the strong suits of his game. That hasn’t been the case this year as he sits 106th in Strokes Gained: Putting.

When Pendrith tees off on Thursday, it will mark the first time in his career that he’s played all four majors in one year and his inaugural run at The Open Championship. Not only that, but last week’s Scottish Open was the first time he’d played on a links course.

Adjustments needed to be made, such as when he hit a 2-iron from 320 yards out to 30 feet from the pin

“Just hit it and ran it up there,” he told the Toronto Sun. “So, you can play so many different shots. It brings out the creativity in your game.”

Pendrith has had a solid season with four top-10 finishes in 19 events, including his play at the PGA Championship. He was tied for 13th last week in Scotland with four rounds in the 60s.

As has become their custom, the four Canadians played a practice round together on Tuesday, with the team of Taylor and Pendrith collecting their winnings from Conners and Hughes.

For all four Canadians, the challenges this week will be dealing with the many differences presented by Royal Portrush and Mother Nature. The course has firm turf, blind shots and false fronts on many of the greens. The weather is calling for rain of different intensity on all four days of the tournament. Put it all together and it’s a major championship.

Pendrith has the earliest start of the four, beginning his day at 7:08 AM, while Hughes goes at 8:25 AM and Conners at 10:20 AM. Taylor has an afternoon time, beginning his Open at 3:21 PM. All times are local.