The Truist Championship has no Philly locals. But two golfers wear a Cricket member’s name on their sleeve.
Look for the logo, and listen for a few extra cheers for two players.
Due respect to Jordan Spieth’s Lehigh Valley roots — his parents attended Saucon Valley High School — the Truist Championship at the Philadelphia Cricket Club this week is an event bereft of a true Philly-area local.
Justin Rose might have honorary status and some local fans after winning the AT&T National at Aronimink in 2010 and then the U.S. Open at Merion in 2013. Patrick Cantlay won the most recent event in the region, the 2022 BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club. One of those guys calls rural southern England home. The other is from Long Beach, Calif.
This week, as some of the best golfers on the PGA Tour descend on Flourtown at the famed Wissahickon Course, Canadian Corey Conners, the 22nd-ranked player in the world, can wear the local armband. He does, after all, wear the name of a Cricket member on his sleeve.
» READ MORE: The Inquirer's complete coverage of the Truist Championship
Conners, a 33-year-old from two hours west of Toronto in Ontario, is sponsored by the law firm Pogust Goodhead, a name he wears on his right shirtsleeve. The firm’s founding member, Harris Pogust, lives five minutes from Cricket in Ambler and has been a member at the oldest country club in America for nearly a decade.
Pogust has long been looking forward to this week, when he’ll host Conners and his family at his home. Then the Pogust Goodhead crew at the Truist doubled in size when Sam Stevens, the other player sponsored by the firm, received a late invitation to the event. Stevens, the 62nd-ranked player in the world, is a 28-year-old from Texas.
“It’s amazing,” Pogust said.
How does one get involved with sponsoring a golfer?
Pogust, who made his mark specializing in class-action and mass-tort suits against major companies, started asking around a few years ago about whether it was worth the investment. He talked to Brett Falkoff, Bryson DeChambeau’s agent, and people he knew at Cozen O’Connor, a Philadelphia firm that was one of the first major law firms to put its name on a golfer’s shirt.
Pogust found his way to Conners after speaking with a few available players by phone.
“As soon as you speak to Corey, you realize what a good guy he is,” Pogust said. “I decided to go with Corey to be our representative.”
From there, a business relationship has blossomed into a friendship. Pogust has taken trips to Florida, where Conners resides part-time, to play with Conners, friends, and clients. Conners last year took a trip to Philly and then down the Shore to Hidden Creek in Egg Harbor Township, where Conners blended in with Pogust and his crew, golfing, playing pool, and drinking beer.
“The relationship with him is a lot more personal,” Conners said. “He’s got a logo on my shirt, but the relationship I have with him compared to a lot of players and a lot of sponsors is fairly personal.”
“Everybody who meets him just raves about him,” Pogust said. “He’s one of the guys.”
Conners was supposed to leave Hidden Creek last fall and head with Pogust back to Ambler to play a round at Cricket, but a tropical storm was brewing in Florida, and Conners had a “very pregnant wife” at home. That round would have made him the only player in this week’s Truist Championship field to play at Cricket before the event.
Conners, who has five top-10 finishes in 10 starts this year on the PGA Tour, planned to spend part of the early portion of this week getting the inside scoop on Cricket’s quirks at Pogust’s home. “Hopefully he’s got some good tips for me,” Conners said.
“It maybe would’ve given me a leg up,” he said of the preview last fall. “But I can figure it out. Hit the fairway, hit the green, try to knock in the putt. I’ve heard great things about it, and I’m really excited to get there.”
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Pogust Goodhead doesn’t get a ton out of the sponsorship arrangement, Pogust said, but it has helped Pogust with some of his charitable endeavors. He recently used money from his own pockets and some of the money Conners helped him raise at outings to build a school for children in Ghana. Conners also sent in a video for a charity Pogust works with that benefits cancer causes. And some of their work together has benefited Trial Lawyers for a Better Tomorrow, a nonprofit founded by Pogust that works to increase the educational opportunities for children in impoverished communities.
“It’s really quite amazing with the stuff he’s been able to do there,” Conners said. “I haven’t had boots on the ground like he has, but just communicated a lot, and I think we both share the same vision in a way of being in a position to give back.”
While Conners and Pogust have had a relationship for a few years, Stevens is in his first season wearing the Pogust Goodhead logo on his right sleeve.
This week won’t be the first time Pogust watches Conners play on tour up close. When Conners played his way into the final pairing of the final round with Brooks Koepka at the 2023 PGA Championship, Pogust got in his car and drove to Pittsford, N.Y., for the Sunday finish. (Conners crumbled and finished nine shots back.) Pogust also attended the 2024 Presidents Cup in Canada and found himself hanging out with Conners’ crew and rooting for the International team.
“When he’s on TV and in one of the last groups, it’s super cool to be sitting on my sofa,” Pogust said. “We’re all cheering for him and we have some friends over and I’ll get texts.”
This week, Pogust will be rooting for a fun Sunday at his home club. If you hear a few extra roars for the Canadian at Cricket, or for Stevens, it’s probably Pogust and his pals.
“It’ll be me and everybody who sees the right shirtsleeve with our name on it,” Pogust said.
Pogust said their little team has a motto: “Right Sleeve Strong.”