Hughes comes up short at Honda Classic
Canadian golfer one shot back as Im takes first PGA title
Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes nearly erased a season of frustration with one magical weekend, but came up a single stroke short on Sunday at the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
After dropping a 54-foot birdie at the 17th hole to stay within one of the lead, Hughes arrived at the par-5 18th green with a chance to catch playing partner Sungjae Im at six-under-par.
But Hughes’ 25-foot birdie putt rolled past the hole and the 29-year-old finished at five-under, his chance for a second win on tour gone.
After final chasers Tommy Fleetwood (-4) and Brendan Steele (-3) both found water at the 72nd hole, the 21-year-old Im claimed his first PGA Tour victory.
“I had plenty of chances to win, I was a little upset that I let those chances slip by,” Im said after his round. “Even now to come back and win at such a young age it really means a lot and I just want to say thanks to everyone out there who supports me and hopefully many more to come.”
There will almost assuredly be many more to come for the reigning PGA Tour rookie of the year. The South Korean is a ball-striking machine who rarely takes a week off and has been turning heads of his fellow players since arriving on the scene. At the Presidents Cup in December, Im finished with an International team-best 3-1-1 record. His first win in Melbourne, Australia, came alongside Canadian Adam Hadwin.
“He’s so solid,” Hadwin told Postmedia in Melbourne. “He’s never going to be out of position, so it makes you feel comfortable as a player, as well.”
The Canadian connection continued for Im as he held off Hughes on Sunday with Canuck Albin Choi working as his caddie. Choi is a professional golfer from Toronto who played on the Korn Ferry Tour last year and won the 2010 Canadian Amateur. In a moment likely only appreciated north of the border, Hughes and Choi shared a fist-bump after Hughes’ 54-foot putt dropped on the 17th.
“That was really crazy,” Hughes said of Choi caddying for Im. “This is the first time he’s caddied for Sungjae and we’re paired together on Sunday. I thought it was kind of a dream come true because my caddie is a good friend of mine, and I get to walk with Albin who I’ve known since junior golf days. It was a lot of fun.”
It had been a frustrating season for Hughes who hadn’t made a cut in 2020. Since the 2019/2020 wraparound season began last September, Hughes had made just two of 11 cuts, with his previous best finish a T55 at the Houston Open. This week, he made the three-over-par cutline right on the number before incredibly going 66-66 on the weekend. His swing coach Derek Ingram said that narrowly making the cut for once instead of narrowly missing it likely allowed Hughes to play with freedom over the final rounds.
“Imagine missing cuts by one or two shots basically the last three months and then finally making one,” Ingram told Postmedia by phone on Sunday. “Imagine the relief of at least getting to work on the weekend and see if you can do something special.”
With Nick Taylor’s recent win over Phil Mickelson at Pebble Beach, the potential of a second
Canadian winner on the PGA Tour in less than a month began to look like a reality on the 13th hole, when Hughes holed-out from the bunker for birdie to tie the lead. A bogey at the 16th hole looked perhaps to sink his chances before the 54-footer dropped one hole later.
“That’s a huge bonus that that ball would drop in,” Hughes said. “I haven’t been that excited on the golf course in a long time.”
For all the positives from the week, the shot that Hughes might think about for a while is his three-wood approach to the final hole. Looking to reach the par-5 green in two, Hughes missed badly, rocketing the ball way left into the grandstand. After taking a free drop, he was able to get his third onto the green and give himself one last chance.
When the birdie putt missed Hughes finished his tournament with a solid five-footer for par that gave him solo second place and a cheque for $763,000 US.