PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – For the second day in a row, Mackenzie Hughes ended his round with a little bonus. Hughes, who shot a 6-under-par 66 Saturday to move into the top-10 in Punta Cana, chipped in for birdie on the par-4 18th for his seventh birdie of the day. This came after he ended Friday’s round with a chip-in birdie on the par-3 9th. “I was walking up 18 thinking about what that round could have been,� admitted Hughes, who missed three birdie putts inside of 10 feet on the back nine. “I was kicking myself thinking, ‘man, if I had got a couple more I could have been right there.’ That, on 18, erased a couple of those.� The 66 matched Hughes low round of the season. His first round of 2018-19 at the Safeway Open was also a 66. Hughes finished T-13 last week at the Valspar Championship, which was his best result on TOUR since a T-8 at the 2018 RBC Canadian Open. This year’s Canadian Open is at Hamilton Golf and Country Club, where Hughes – who’s from nearby Dundas, Ontario – has played upwards of 50 times growing up. Although he’s looking forward to a home game that week, he said it was nice to reflect back on a solid result in Tampa as well, which came after missing four-straight cuts. “It’s not like if I miss four cuts in a row I was playing poorly. But you get a little down and the self-talk gets going the wrong way,� said Hughes, who won The RSM Classic in 2016. “Last week I flipped that self-talk around a little bit. Playing with those guys – like Bubba (Watson) on the weekend – seeing your game up against those guys … they’re not doing things much different than I am. It’s a putt here and there, and I felt like I was close. “Seeing that result definitely gave me a boost coming in here.� Hughes admitted he hasn’t yet got fully adjusted from last week’s tight Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort to this week’s wide-open Corales Golf Course. He said Sunday at the Valspar Championship putts that were downhill and down-grain would be rolling about 18 on the stimpmeter. He said this week there likely isn’t a putt over 10 on the stimpmeter. “The greens are good, it’s just a mater of getting yourself to hit it that hard. I’ve left putts inside of 15 short. It’s hard to do on a normal week,� said Hughes. “It’s been the biggest adjustment … a bit more aggression and committing to getting to roll the ball past the hole.� Away from the golf course Hughes has had to make an adjustment to his family’s new normal. The 28-year-old and his wife, Jenna, welcomed their first child (a boy, Kenton Robert) in 2017. He credits Jenna – his “rock-star wife,� he says – for allowing him to do what he needs to do to keep working on his game. After last year, he said he’s in a fun stage of life with Kenton, who is about 18 months old. “He’s talking and walking like a little man,� said Hughes, “it’s been really fun. It’s been a lot easier this year for sure. “It seems very normal, and I couldn’t imagine it any other way than it is now.� Although he admitted it was a steep learning curve last year, Hughes has turned a corner as he looks to build off of a good result last week, and some good play so far in Punta Cana.
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