45-minute stretch sinks Hughes’ hopes
Such is the fickle sport of golf that one’s good form can crash in a flash, whether you’re a weekender on track for a career low score or a PGA Tour member chasing a seven-figure paycheque.
That was the case Sunday for Mackenzie Hughes at the Valspar Championship. The 33-year-old held the tournament lead through 10 holes of the final round, alone at 10-under par. His scorecard contained four pars, four birdies and two bogeys, not sensational play but better than most on a tough course made more challenging by blustery conditions.
Then things went sideways for the Dundas, Ont., native. He drove his ball up against the lip of a fairway bunker on the par-5 11th hole, meaning he could only advance 100 yards on a hole most of his competitors were reaching in two. He made par while playing partner Peter Malnati, the eventual winner, made birdie and the two were tied.
Next, Hughes spent several minutes mulling over his second-shot club selection on the par-4 12th hole amid swirling winds. Once decided, he promptly airmailed the green by some 15 yards, his ball coming to rest on the downslope of a back bunker, which made any hope of getting his next shot close to the hole impossible. A bogey after Malnati’s birdie meant Hughes suddenly trailed by two.
Finally, Hughes aimed at a perilous right-hand pin location on the green of the water-guarded par-3 13th hole, aware that an aggressive line was necessary. He came up and out of the shot and his ball found the hazard. He did well to save a bogey from 12 feet, but the damage was done.
In a matter of 45 minutes, Hughes went from alone in first to three shots behind Malnati and Cameron Young. He then missed a slippery seven-footer for birdie on the 13th hole, which might have given him some hope coming home.
“I teed off with the intent that I could hoist the trophy and I was playing well enough to do that. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen for me, but you need to keep putting yourself there and have continuous chances for it to happen,” said Hughes, who finished on a positive with a birdie on the 18th hole.
“I played today with a guy who had an incredible day. Peter would have been really hard to beat even if I had a couple more great swings down the stretch.”
In the end, Hughes tied for third, his first top-10 finish of the season, while Malnati won by two shots over Young, now a seven-time PGA Tour runner-up in search of his first trophy.
Adam Hadwin, of Abbotsford, B.C., was one shot back of Hughes in a tie for fifth. Hadwin, the 2017 Valspar Championship winner, started poorly on Sunday with three bogeys over his first eight holes, but he righted the ship with five birdies over his last 10.
Adam Svensson, of Surrey, B.C., was tied with Hadwin to start off the day but he struggled to a sixover-par 77 to drop into a tie for 49th with Roger Sloan, of Merritt, B.C., among others. Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor tied for 64th.
The win was the second of Malnati’s PGA Tour career and the first since the 2015 Sanderson Farms Championship. He had registered only one other top-three finish since then.
“I told myself I was going to do my best on every shot and that is what I did,” said an emotional Malnati, who earned his first Masters invite with the victory.
“I was so nervous coming down the stretch … I was just … I can’t describe it, it’s so cool. It’s just amazing, just amazing.”