Canada’s Hughes hoping comfort at home provides advantage at PGA Championship
Hughes is hoping that the comforts of home will help him get over a heartbreaking playoff loss at the Myrtle Beach Classic as he prepares for the PGA Championship.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Mackenzie Hughes hosted his fellow Canadian players and caddies and coaches at his new home Tuesday night, just minutes from Quail Hollow Cub. It was an intimate affair at their familial pad, with Hughes a member of the stately Charlotte club.
Hughes is, in fact, the only resident member of Quail Hollow in the field this week. Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson have been given honorary memberships but they, of course, don’t live within driving distance of the first tee.
Hughes is hoping that the comforts of home will help him get over a heartbreaking playoff loss Sunday at the ONEFlight Myrtle Beach Classic.
The Canadian had a one-shot lead on the 18th tee but blasted his tee shot into the trees and was forced to punch out. He missed a 12-footer for par that would have won in regulation.
On the first playoff hole, Ryan Fox made a miraculous chip-in from about 50 feet away. Hughes was in the trees again off the tee but this time he got a fortuitous bounce into the fairway and had an even shorter putt for his own birdie to keep the playoff going. It was not to be, however. Hughes left the property without speaking.
He got in his car and listened to his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs as they lost to Florida Sunday night – a double-whammy of woe – but he told Sportsnet Wednesday, he was able to put the past in the past fairly quickly.
“It’s helpful we’ve got a tournament this week to prepare for. If we had a week off where I was sitting at home, it might be tough to wrestle with that one,” Hughes said. “Had a great chance there and didn’t get it done but in the playoff something miraculous happened and it didn’t go my way, and that’s a part of golf.
“We’ve got a big tournament in front of me this week and it quickly gets you to re-focus and get ready for this week.”
Hughes is one of five Canadians in the field at the PGA Championship and the 34-year-old has had a solid 2025 campaign thus far, with three top-10s on his ledger – all of which having come in his last four starts. Along with the playoff loss in Myrtle Beach, he also finished tied for third at the RBC Heritage, a Signature Event on the PGA Tour calendar.
Hughes has always struggled with the driver (he’s 133rd in strokes gained: off the tee and was 153rd in the same stat last year) but has more than made up for it with the putter. He was, very literally, the best putter on the PGA Tour in 2024. He’s struggled so far this year, but last week, the best of his season, he was third in putting – so goes the putter, so goes the scoring for Hughes.
He’ll need his driver to be firing on all cylinders around a wet Quail Hollow, but there is no place on the PGA Tour calendar where he’s more comfortable than here. When he is home, he said, he play with anyone from club-championship types to people he needs to give a stroke-a-hole on in order to have a competitive game.
It’s an exciting opportunity to – finally – make some noise at the PGA Championship, where he’s missed four straight cuts.
Hughes did, however, finish tied for sixth last time the PGA Tour teed it up at Quail Hollow, in 2024 for the then-Wells Fargo Championship, the first year he was a full-fledged member of the club.
The recent solid result here in 2024 came thanks to a final-round 67, the second-lowest round of the day. Hughes said that the knowing that he can play Quail Hollow at a high level is going to be something he’ll lean on for the PGA Championship.
“That breeds confidence, just knowing that round is in you (since) it’s a golf course that requires a lot of good things to be working well,” Hughes said. “Knowing that that result is in there and I can play this golf course well is big for this week.”
