Hughes continues march up world golf rankings
The last time Mackenzie Hughes travelled back to Canada, he was ranked 254th in the world. He will arrive home later this week the 39th best golfer in the world and with one extra son.
A lot has changed for the Dundas, Ont., native in the nearly two years between visits.
With the PGA Tour season on hold until January, Hughes left his golf clubs at home in Charlotte, N.C., and is spending American Thanksgiving with his wife Jenna’s family in New York, before making the trip across the border to see his side of the family with the couple’s now two sons. There are plans for a second trip north over Christmas.
“The weather has been a bit of a shock to my system and it’s not even that cold,” Hughes said during a lengthy phone conversation from New York on Tuesday. “Just tells you how soft I’m getting over the years.”
Living in North Carolina can make winter feel harsh, but not many in the golf world would describe the Canadian as soft. In fact, Hughes’ appearances on major leaderboards and penchant for dropping long putts at the right time has earned him a reputation as a gritty competitor.
It’s been a busy two years for Hughes, navigating the pandemic and climbing the world rankings while teeing it up 44 times since the tour’s restart last June. More recently, it’s been a busy two weeks as he celebrated his 31st birthday on Monday, a day after finishing runner-up at the RSM Classic, the site of his lone PGA Tour victory. A week earlier, at the Houston Open, the golfer spent an evening with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan who throughout the season occasionally invites small groups of players out for a meal.
“They try to pick a diverse group of five or six to have dinner and speak with him and ask him some questions that we might not have a chance to ask him in a larger setting,” Hughes said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Hughes said Monahan did highlight some of the changes headed to the tour, but that the commissioner didn’t let the cat out of the bag regarding this week’s announcement that PGA Tour purses will jump from US$367 million to $427 million in 2022, or that an additional $45 million in bonus money will be up for grabs.
Hughes knows some will be critical of bigger purses and more generally of the rich getting richer, but said the fact new money is available is a testament to the tour and to the popularity of the game. He also pointed out that the beauty of professional golf is that you still have to go out and earn it.
“The tour is not just handing out this money,” he said. “The eventual winner of the Fedex Cup is going to have to beat all these other great players to win. Yes, there’s extra money there, but if you want it, you’re going to have to go play your ass off.”
At 31, Hughes is excited for the future and believes he has plenty more to accomplish. The Presidents Cup chase and his push to earn a second PGA Tour victory will have to wait, though.