Columnist image

TSN Senior Reporter

| Archive

Mackenzie Hughes has been here before. As the FedEx Cup playoffs get set to start the three-week ending to the PGA Tour’s season, he is once again a Bubble Boy.

Hughes sits in 59th spot for the first leg, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, which gets underway Thursday morning. The top 70 are here but only the top 50 after this week will move on to the second leg, the BMW Championship.

“It’s the final push,” said Hughes of the playoffs. “I have the chance to win a FedEx Cup. Everyone here, all 70 guys, have a chance to win a FedEx Cup. Obviously I'm on the outside looking in, but I go and have a great week and win a tournament, and I’m right there. So, it's exciting to have the volatility that it presents and I’m excited to lay it all on the line this week.”

Getting inside the top 50 comes with a big bonus: entry into all eight of next year’s Signature events which have $20 million purses. It’s what every player in this field wants as it comes with huge paydays and the ability to set a schedule, knowing which tournaments they are in. The final event, the Tour Championship, is for the top 30 players after the BMW. The winner of that takes home $10 million.

For Hughes, this week hasn’t been that kind in the past. Two years ago, he started the playoffs in 47th spot but ended up tied for 58th at the first event and found himself in 51st spot in the standings. He was on the outside looking in until Jon Rahm left for LIV Golf and opened up a spot and Hughes was bumped up.

Last year, Hughes must have felt a sense of déjà vu. He came into the FedEx St. Jude Championship ranked 48th, ended the tournament in 58th spot and fell to 52nd in the standings. This time, there was no reprieve. He was officially on the outside looking in.

This year, Hughes has a tougher mission. He is 59th in the standings after mediocre year and needs a big finish to get a spot in next week’s field. At the minimum, he’d require a tie for 22nd. Getting help from players above him who might slip down the standings wouldn’t hurt his chances either. But compared to the last two years, he seemingly finds this attempt at the top 50 less difficult.

“I actually think it's going to be easier than what I've had in the past,” stated Hughes. “The last couple years, I’ve come in here not needing exceptional, but needing just like a really solid finish, like a top 25 or something like that, or top 30, and I haven't been able to do that. And this year I come in needing more. And I'm on the outside looking in. So, to me, there's a little bit less to protect. I'm not 48 or 47. I'm outside looking in so pretty much all to gain and nothing to lose at this point.”

Hughes knows about pressure moments in the PGA Tour playoffs. In 2020, he found himself on the 72nd hole of the BMW Championship needing to get up and down from a greenside bunker to earn a spot in the Tour Championship. He hit a silky bunker shot and rolled in a slippery downhill breaker to finish in 28th spot and advance to the final stop of the year.

The reason the Dundas, Ont., product finds himself on the outside of the top 50 is due to what he calls a mediocre season that saw him lose an event in a playoff at the OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic to finish second but also miss the cut in eight of the 22 starts he made.

If there is one glaring stat that shows his struggle, it is Strokes Gained: Putting. Last year, the player regarded as one of the Tour’s best on the greens, finished third. This year, he comes in this week sitting in 97th spot.

“It’s been good in stretches, but mostly, I'd say on the disappointing side,” summed up Hughes of his year. “I mean, I just haven't been as consistent as I would like. I actually had a stretch in the middle of the year, kind of around Harbor Town, Myrtle Beach, Houston, where I thought I found something really nice in my game, and I wasn't able to really maintain it. That was frustrating. But I'm working on some good stuff now. I feel like I'm encouraged by the direction it's headed.”

That positivity will be needed when he tees off this week. The field is deep and every player is vying to move on to the next event. All have had some level of success this year and no one wants to finish outside the top 50.

“It's really kind of all or nothing,” he stated. “I try not to look at it too much, because after Thursday, there's going to be some wild projections, and after Friday, there will be even more wild projections. But it tends to shake out. Last week in Greensboro, there was lots of volatility but in the end, one guy moved in, one guy moved out (of the top 70). So to me, it's a little more like, ‘Hey, if I just control what I'm controlling, and do a good job of that, be a good version of myself, and kind of have no regrets during the week, whether I do or don't do it, I want to feel like I just gave my best efforts.”

Hughes is the only one of the four Canadians outside the top 50. Corey Conners (13), Nick Taylor (18) and Taylor Pendrith (38) are all but assured of moving on to next week’s BMW Championship.

Hughes is hoping he can rally his game and end this week on the inside looking out.