Best Canadian finish at Open a small consolation prize for Hughes

Solid play at majors a signal Dundas native can play with best in world

After draining a long birdie putt on the final hole of the Open Championship, Mackenzie Hughes moved into a tie for sixth place — and into the Canadian record book.

It was Hughes’ debut at the final men’s major championship of the season, and his result was the best by a Canadianborn golfer in the tournament’s history.

“I felt like I was kind of born to play links golf,” said Hughes, the Dundas product who shot in the 60s in all four rounds at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England.

Hughes finished at 8-under, seven shots back of winner Collin Morikawa — who became the first golfer ever to win his first two major titles in debuts. (He also won the 2020 PGA Championship in his first attempt.)

“When you make history, and I’m 24 years old, it’s hard to grasp and hard to really take it in,” said Morikawa. “At 24, it’s so hard to look back at the short two years that I’ve been a pro and see what I’ve done, because I want more.”

Hughes — who played with four-time major winner Brooks Koepka on Saturday and ended up tied with him Sunday — said solid back-to-back results at majors (he was also in the final group at the U.S. Open last month) prove he can hang with the best in the world.

“When you have high finishes like that and play with the best players in the world, and hang in there and stay with them, it does a lot for you,” said Hughes. “Going forward I know I have things to work on and get better at, but that’s the exciting part. There is tons of room for improvement still, but I’m getting better. I’m learning.”

Prior to this year, Hughes had missed five of six cuts at major events and his best result was a tie for 58th at last year’s PGA.

“Obviously, I would’ve loved to play a little better the last couple days, but all in all I was pretty pleased with the efforts,” said Hughes. “It was another good major experience.”

The other Canadian to find the weekend, Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., played in the penultimate pairing with runner-up Jordan Spieth, who finished two shots back at 13-under.

Like Hughes, Conners made bogeys on the first two holes of the day — “You couldn’t have too much of a worse start,” said Hughes — and said Sunday was “more of a battle” than he had hoped. He settled in through the middle of the round, though, making a birdie on the par-4 sixth and adding an eagle on the next hole. But he stumbled home with bogeys on two of his final four holes.

In the end, Conners finished tied for 15th after solid results at the Masters (tie for eighth) and the PGA Championship (tie for 17th after holding the firstround lead).

“Probably say I left each one a little sour, left a few shots out there. Definitely room for improvement as of this week,” said Conners. “But overall, it’s been pretty solid and fun to be kind of in the mix at three of the four majors this year.”