Self belief and Mackenzie Hughes’ putter make for a lethal combination.
The 31-year-old Canadian claimed his second PGA Tour victory on Sunday, defeating Sepp Straka in a playoff to win the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi. Hughes rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to get back in the winner’s circle for the first time in nearly six years.
“I knew about a foot out that it was going right in the middle,” Hughes said. “That was the best feeling in the world.”
Hughes joins Nick Taylor — the 2014 Sanderson Farms winner — as the only two-time tour winners in this generation of Canadian men.
“The second one felt harder because I’ve had to wait a lot longer for it,” Hughes said. “The first one came in my fifth tournament as a PGA Tour member. I felt like, ‘Oh, man, this is going to be easy, I’m going to be able to rack up a few of these.’ And it’s been six years since I did that.”
A week ago, Hughes was on the outside looking in as his friends and countrymen Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith played for Trevor Immelman’s International team at the Presidents Cup. Adding to the sting was the event was held at Quail Hollow, in Hughes’ adopted hometown of Charlotte.
“I guess you would say it was fuel because I definitely worked a little harder after that and felt like that was a team I really, really badly wanted to be on, and I felt like I could have been a good help there,” he said. “I still cheered like hell for them to pull it off. But I’m definitely motivated for Montreal (in 2024), and I don’t want to have to let that come to a captain’s pick next time.”
Hughes is off to a good start winning $1.4 million on Sunday at the Country Club of Jackson and jumping to the top of the FedEx Cup Standings after three events of the 2022-23 season.
It was well-documented throughout the week that Hughes has been working hard in the gym and on the driving range to add extra distance to his drives, but on Sunday at the Sanderson Championship, when his drives went a little sideways, it was his ever-faithful flat stick and a positive attitude that saw him through. Hughes hit just one fairway on the back-nine but escaped each and every time, refusing to give a single stroke back after making the turn on Sunday. His only bogey on the back nine all week came on Saturday, and he was 22 for 25 in scrambling for the week.
“Friday, I really found some nice rhythm and started making some nice putts,” Hughes said of his second round 63. “I felt like at that point I had put myself in the mix and I felt like I was going to stay there. I just had a belief after that round that my game was at a great spot.”
Hughes began Sunday tied for the lead and shot a three-under par 69 to reach 17-under par, forcing the playoff with a par-saving up-and-down from the back of the 18th green in regulation. Hughes leaned heavily on his stellar short game down the stretch, and it held up under intense pressure.
There was a 15-footer for par on the 14th hole that he rolled in; a tidy up-and-down for birdie on the driveable par-4 15th; another par save at the 16th that lipped in the left side of the hole from seven feet; and then the 35-yard up-and-down from off the 18th green with a putter.
All of that just set the table for the playoff.
Hughes tied the first playoff hole against Straka with another bit of short game magic from the greenside bunker, making a sand save for par. Straka’s birdie putt didn’t fall and the pair went back to the 18th hole for the third time on Sunday. Both players found the fairway but this time Hughes had the upper hand, sticking his approach shot eight feet from the hole. A putt and a huge fist-pump later, his young family was pouring onto the green.
“Just the greatest feeling ever to see them on the side of the green,” Hughes said. “My youngest son stumbling, and my older son running towards me. I’ve literally dreamed about that many times. To see it happen and experience it for real is unbelievable.”
Visualizing the positives hasn’t always been Hughes’ strongpoint. For years he battled with negative self-talk and often found himself getting down on himself when things didn’t go right on the course. It’s something he has focused on improving.
“I’ve been working really hard on the mental side, to instill that belief in myself,” he said. “I tell myself a lot of things throughout the day and try to really overdo the positive, and I used that a lot today. I know there were times that I had some doubt, and I just kept reminding myself that I was really good. It’s hard to do sometimes because this game can beat you up, but I’m really proud of the work that I’ve done.”
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