Tiger fades late, ties for 24th after even-par 71

Trey Wingo, a 23-year veteran of ESPN whose contract ended in November, will make his PGA TOUR LIVE debut as he calls the Farmers Insurance Open at San Diego. While he is more closely linked to the NFL, Wingo is no stranger to golf, having covered the U.S. Open and The Open Championship for ESPN. We caught up to him to talk about the game, the TOUR, pop culture, and Tiger's most overlooked accomplishment. PGATOUR.COM: You're known as a football guy, having covered the NFL. Where does golf rank on your list? WINGO: I love the game; I always say I'm not sure the game loves me back. That's kind of what I love about it because the ball only goes where you send it. I think, to me, it's the second hardest thing to do in sports, behind only hitting Major League pitching. You see the No. 1, No. 2 players in the world miss four or five cuts in a row, and if they can suddenly have a problem playing the game, you have to understand you're definitely going to have a problem. PGATOUR.COM: What exactly will you be doing for PGA TOUR LIVE? WINGO: I'll be hosting some of the featured groups on Thursday and Friday. I'll work with Billy Kratzert, whom I've worked with for six or seven years on the U.S. Open and Open Championship, so I'm looking forward to that. Also, Craig Perks, the owner of the greatest 3-2-4 in the history of golf to win THE PLAYERS Championship. That was a couple years after "Be the Right Club Today" and Hal Sutton beating Tiger at THE PLAYERS, which was when Tiger was having problems with big, burly guys - Darren Clarke beat him at the WGC-Match Play in 2000. PGATOUR.COM: What kind of scores do you shoot, and does the game suffer a bit in a Connecticut winter? WINGO: I'm about a 9. My index at my club is a 7.6. I was on a heater toward the end of the year, but the clubs have been in storage for a while. Every year about this time I'm reminded that I have to play to be able to repeat anything and have success. PGATOUR.COM: What about a simulator? WINGO: We thought about putting one in the basement, but the ceiling was six inches too low. PGATOUR.COM: You'd have got get on your knees like Dorf on Golf. WINGO: Shout out to Tim Conway, rest in peace. PGATOUR.COM: Best score? WINGO: I shot 73 at the Bay Course at Kapalua. It's a shorter course; it's not the Plantation. I made the turn at level, and birdied the 10th hole, a par-5 before they rerouted the course, and birdied 11. I texted my wife, "I'm 1 under through 11," and she said, "What are you doing? Don't tell me that, just play!" And I bogeyed the next three holes. PGATOUR.COM: Dad would love a shutout. WINGO: "Bull Durham." Still the greatest sports movie of all time. PGATOUR.COM: Favorite golf movie or book? WINGO: "The Greatest Game Ever Played" and "The Match," both by the same author, Mark Frost. "The Greatest Game Ever Played" was the Francis Ouimet story, and "The Match" was Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward versus Hogan and Nelson, who ended up winning 1 up. An incredible story. The guy who set up the match, a successful car dealer in California, was Eddie Lowery, Ouimet's caddie at the U.S. Open at Brookline. PGATOUR.COM: You started a podcast, Trey Wingo Presents: Half-Forgotten History. What's that about? WINGO: It's about Super Bowl championships, how the winners got there, what people don't know about the journey. Season one has Archie and Eli Manning together. It's off to a great start, we've sold three seasons. Season two is in the can. Season three will be a lot about golf, by the way. PGATOUR.COM: Speaking of half-forgotten history, what have we overlooked about Tiger Woods? WINGO: His 142 straight made cuts is the greatest record no one talks about. These guys today, with all due respect, don't know how good he was in his prime. He would get out there on a day when he didn't have it and still find a way to shoot 68. PGATOUR.COM: Will working for PGA TOUR LIVE make you a better golfer? WINGO: Let me put it this way: If osmosis is a thing, then absolutely. I've yet to see any evidence that that helps, but I'm always optimistic.

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TORONTO, Ont. – Mackenzie Hughes was a golf-obsessed youngster in when he watched Mike Weir win the 2003 Masters, and he thought he could do that one day too. The following year, Hughes caddied in the RBC Canadian Open pro-am and was drawn into the same group as his hero. He was thrilled. The only problem that day, he recalls, is that he latched a little too tightly to the green jacket winner. “I just did a horrendous job caddying that day because I was so intrigued by just being close to Mike and trying to ask him a question here and there and just kind of hearing the stories he was telling,” said Hughes. “Then my player would be over (in) the rough and I’m like, ‘Oh sorry.’ Just nowhere near him. “But it was a really cool day.” Eighteen years later, Hughes teed it up alongside Weir – and fellow countryman Adam Hadwin – for the first two rounds of their national open. “I think that any time you get to play with Mike, it’s an honor,” said Hughes. “He’s basically my biggest golfing hero. “I know playing with Mike you draw in a few extra people. It was a really fun day.” Hughes’ opening-round 66 at St. George’s Golf and Country Club had him near the lead through most of the day. He was also the top Canadian through the majority of Thursday. There are plenty of reasons why this week is important for Hughes – who played in front of dozens of friends and family Thursday, a number that is expected to increase exponentially through the weekend – including the extended face time with Weir, who is once again an assistant captain for this year’s International Presidents Cup team. Weir said Hughes, who sits 12th on the International Team standings, “had a great day.” Corey Conners, who shot a 1-over 71, is No. 8 in the standings. Hadwin, who has played in two Presidents Cups, is 16th. Hadwin shot 1 under while Weir was 2 over. The group was greeted by a good contingent of Canadians, even at 7 a.m. and in the rain. “It was fantastic,” said Hughes, “and you felt it all the way around.” Hughes had as solid a day as he could have asked for Thursday. He birdied his opening hole and then made an eagle on the par-5 11th. “I felt like I played well enough to maybe get one or two more, which selfishly, you always want a couple more,” said Hughes, who was near the top of the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee on Thursday. “With where I drove it … I drove the ball really nicely today, and that’s not normally a strength of mine, but today it was a strength. “When I do that, I feel like I give myself a lot of chances. The day feels a little more stress-free.” Hughes is from Dundas, Ontario, about 40 miles from St. George’s and has continued to embrace teeing it up in front of the hometown crowds. He made his PGA TOUR debut at the 2012 RBC Canadian Open in Hamilton and earned Low Canadian honors in 2017. His opening 66 was just two shots off the lowest first-round total by a Canadian in tournament history. A Canadian hasn’t won the Canadian Open since 1954. The closest a Canadian has come to winning their national open in the last half-century was Weir in 2004, when he lost in a playoff to Vijay Singh. “Someone said no one’s seen someone so disappointed to win a tournament than Vijay that week,” said RBC Canadian Open defending champion Rory McIlroy, who matched Hughes’ 4-under 66 Thursday, with a laugh. Hughes was, of course, there in 2004. He had a fun memory from before the tournament began, and a sour one come Sunday night like many of his countrymen. Now he’s keen to make his own exciting memory at the RBC Canadian Open, in front of a big-time group of enthusiastic supporters – including Weir. “Obviously every week you go on the PGA TOUR, you want to play well, but playing well in front of the home fans and your friends and family, it’s hard to describe how good that feels,” said Hughes. “When you’re out there and you’re making birdies and having a good round, it just feels that much better.”

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