Mackenzie Hughes

It is funny how things can suddenly snowball and change one's life. In July 2016, Hughes struggled on the Korn Ferry Tour, and it looked like he would lose his card and have to start all over again. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, he had dreamed of being a great hockey player and one day playing in the NHL. But his dreams changed at age 7 when his parents brought him to a driving range instead of letting him stay home with the babysitter, and he became hooked on golf. He got very good at it and was a standout college and amateur player, winning the 2011 and '12 Canadian Amateur Championships and attending Kent State University. He turned professional in 2013 and proved his game was ready by qualifying for the Mackenzie Canadian Tour. In his eighth start, he won the Cape Breton Classic. That victory, along with a runner-up and a third-place finish, helped him win the Order of Merit and move on to the Korn Ferry Tour, one step closer to the PGA Tour.
Things faltered for Hughes on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2014. In 20 starts, he made seven cuts and only finished inside the top 50 twice (best was T-46th, Albertsons WinCo Foods Portland Open). So it was back to the Mackenzie Tour for 2015, where he made all of his cuts and recorded three top-10 finishes, the best a T-3rd at the ATB Financial Classic. His 13th-place finish on the Order of Merit secured an exemption into the second stage of Korn Ferry Tour qualifying. He reached the finals and finished T-21st, barely getting him a card for 2016.
2016 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 23; Rounds Played - 75; In Money - 14; Top-10 Finishes - 3; Scoring Average - 70.11 (Rank 53rd); Regular Season Money - $167,369 (Rank 17th); Finals Money - $42,070 (Rank 20th); Priority Rank - 28; Hughes started slowly again, and when he missed his eighth cut of the year (out of 13 starts) at the Air Capital Classic, things looked terrible. He was 140th on the money list and struggling.
Hughes had a week off and worked hard on his game, finding his putting stroke. He wasn't a poor putter, but he was streaky and inconsistent. He found a comfortable stance and grip and felt much better with the putting stroke. At the Lecom Health Challenge, he played a great final three rounds and finished T-5th, his best career finish on the Korn Ferry Tour. Five events later, at the Price Cutter Charity, he got hot and with a birdie at his 72nd hole, edged out Richy Werenski by one shot and won his first Korn Ferry Tour event. He climbed to 14th on the money list and was able to play well enough in the playoffs to finally make it onto the PGA Tour. The timing couldn't have been better because he had been going out for the last six years with Jenna Shaw, and they had made plans to wed on October 22nd in Charlotte, N.C. They had planned to play the rest of the fall schedule and then have their honeymoon in Thailand after the RSM Classic.
2017 Notes: He played in 31 PGA Tour events in his rookie season, making 22 cuts with two top-ten finishes. Was 36th in the FedExCup standings. He opened his season OK with a T-13th at the Safeway Open. He took the next weekend off so he and Jenna could get married as planned. The honeymoon trip was set after the RSM Classic, but they were able to splurge big time on it. Hughes beat four others in a playoff to claim his first PGA Tour top-ten finish and his first PGA Tour victory at the RSM Classic. With the victory, he became the first player in PGA Tour history to win on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, and PGA Tour. It also changed his travel plans for 2017. He could play an extra week in Hawaii at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and added an April trip to Augusta, Ga., for the Masters. His win at Sea Island also made it easier for Mackenzie to have Jenna join him on Tour, and they made plans to travel together for the rest of the season. He was T-10th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am and at the FedExCup Playoffs was T-62nd at the Northern Trust, T-13th at the Dell Technologies Championship, and T-44th at the BMW Championship.
2018 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events making 11 cuts with one top-ten finish. Was 160th in the FedExCup standings. He had a tough start to his year, missing his first eight cuts and 13 of his first 15. Best finish was T-8th at the RBC Canadian Open.
2019 Notes: Played in 25 PGA Tour events making 15 cuts with two top-ten finishes. Was 98th in the FedExCup standings. T-2nd at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, a shot back of winner Graeme McDowell. T-8th at the Charles Schwab Challenge. In the FedExCup Playoffs was T-67th at the Northern Trust.
2020 Notes: Played in 22 PGA Tour events making 12 cuts with four top-ten finishes. He was 14th in the FedExCup standings. After a slow beginning in which he missed nine cuts in his first 11 starts, he was 2nd at the Honda Classic, a shot back of Sungjae Im. He was T-3rd at the Travelers, two shots back of winner Dustin Johnson. Hughes was T-6th at the Memorial, six shots back of winner Jon Rahm. In the FedExCup playoffs was T-13th at the Northern Trust, T-10th at the BMW Championship, and 14th at the Tour Championship. At the end of 2019, he was 264th in the Official World Golf Ranking, he ended 2020 49th.
2021 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events making 19 cuts with four top-ten finishes. Was 67th in the FedExCup standings. He was 3rd at the Corales Puntacana Resort Championship, two shots back of winner Hudson Swafford. T-7th at the Vivint Houston Open. At the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, finished T-9th, losing to Sergio Garcia 2 & 1 in the round of 16. He held a share of the lead entering the final round of the U.S. Open in June, but things went wrong on the back nine, including a ball in a tree at the 11th hole to shoot 77 and finish T-15th. He was T-6th at the British Open, seven shots back of winner Collin Morikawa. Represented Canada at the Tokyo Olympic Games, finishing 50th. In the FedExCup Playoffs was T-27th at the Northern Trust and T-52nd at the BMW Championship.
2022 Notes: Played in 27 PGA Tour events making 16 cuts with three top-ten finishes. Was 57th in the FedExCup standings. In the Zozo Championship was T-4th. Shot 62 in the final round of the RSM Classic to finish second, three shots back of winner Talor Gooch. Shot a final-round 67 to finish T-9th at the Wells Fargo Championship. In the FedEx Cup playoffs, he was T-46th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and T-58th at the BMW Championship.
2023 Notes: Beat Sepp Straka with a birdie of 8 feet, 3 inches on the second extra hole to win the Sanderson Farms Championship. The victory came in his 167th career start on the PGA Tour at 31 years, ten months, and 9 days. He improved to 2-0 in playoffs in his career. At the WGC-Dell Match Play won a playoff over Taylor Montgomery with a birdie on the first hole to get out of group play. He defeated Max Homa 3 & 2 to reach the quarterfinals, then lost to Sam Burns 3 & 2 to finish T-5th.