Mackenzie Hughes may simply be what the Worldwide workforce wants as this yr’s Presidents Cup.
Hughes, from Dundas, Ont., is considered one of three Canadians on the squad competing within the match-play occasion at Royal Montreal Golf Membership subsequent week.
His placing expertise, cool manner below strain, pre-existing connections with teammates and clubhouse management might assist the workforce — made up of non-American gamers outdoors Europe — finish a nine-tournament shedding skid to the USA on the biennial occasion.
“I’ve had this one circled on the calendar for a number of years now,” stated Hughes on becoming a member of fellow Canadians Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners as captain’s picks on the 12-player Worldwide workforce. “I just about knew that when it was introduced the event can be in Canada and that Mike Weir was going to be the captain, you just about knew the place that was going to go.
“To get that decision from (Weir) is admittedly particular as a result of he’s the man that I appeared as much as, all of us appeared as much as, as Canadian golfers.”
Pendrith and Conners are returning to the workforce after a disappointing 17 1/2 to 12 1/2 loss to the USA at Quail Hole Membership in Charlotte, N.C. in 2022.
Hughes was ranked 14th on the Worldwide workforce standings in 2022 and will have simply been included on that squad after Australia’s Cameron Smith and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann have been dominated ineligible after leaping ship to the rival LIV Golf circuit.
Nevertheless, captain Trevor Immelman of South Africa as an alternative selected the decrease ranked Christiaan Bezuidenhout (sixteenth) of South Africa, Pendrith (18th), South Korea’s Kim Si-woo (twentieth) and Australia’s Cameron Davis (twenty fifth).
“I actually needed to be on that workforce but additionally I understood the picks,” stated Hughes, who lives in Charlotte and performs at Quail Hole recurrently. “I feel that like a number of guys that don’t get picked you extra so look again by yourself play and I want I had made that choice simpler for them.
“I didn’t do myself any favours within the six weeks main as much as it and that’s a tough tablet to swallow.”
It might have been a expensive oversight on Immelman’s half, as ending holes was a difficulty for the Worldwide workforce in 2022 and Hughes is likely one of the greatest putters on the PGA Tour. This season he’s third in pictures gained across the inexperienced and fifth in pictures gained from placing.
“It doesn’t imply that simply because I used to be there it will have turned the tide, however I’d prefer to assume perhaps I might have helped,” stated Hughes. “That’s why you play the matches. It’s a must to get on the market and do it.”
This yr Hughes made it simpler for Weir, the Canadian golf legend from Brights Grove, Ont., to decide on him. Hughes is 51st within the FedEx Cup Fall standings and has made the reduce seven tournaments in a row, together with a tie for fourth finally week’s Procore Championship.
“Mac performed very solidly all yr. Actually like his brief sport, an all-around brief sport,” stated Weir on Sept. 3 after asserting his captain’s picks. “He’s one of many elite and greatest brief sport guys on the PGA Tour
“I additionally love Mac’s grit. In order that was the explanation I picked him.”
Hughes’s intangible qualities transcend grit.
He, Pendrith and Conners will arrive at Royal Montreal as a unit throughout the Worldwide squad, having change into shut buddies whereas enjoying on Kent State College’s males’s golf workforce earlier than turning professional. They’re additionally a part of a gaggle of Canadians, together with Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., that recurrently apply collectively earlier than PGA Tour occasions.
“To have these guys with me is admittedly icing on the cake, it’s very particular,” stated Hughes. “Alternatives like this don’t come round fairly often: to play this type of workforce competitors, which is already exhausting to do, however to play with a few of your greatest buddies, it virtually appears scripted.”
An 11-year skilled, Hughes has additionally been a member of the PGA Tour’s participant advisory council the previous two years and has been an outspoken advocate for making skilled golf extra accessible to followers.
Though Weir relied closely on analytics to make his captain’s picks, Hughes’s character got here up many times when requested why he was named to the workforce.
“I simply have a intestine feeling with Mac that he has what it takes in these huge moments,” stated Weir. “They’re huge strain moments, and I’ve a sense he’s going to do nice in these moments.”
DP WORLD TOUR — Aaron Cockerill of Stony Mountain, Man., continues his chase for a spot within the Europe-based DP World Tour’s playoffs. The highest 50 gamers on the Race to Dubai standings make the DP World Tour Championship and Cockerill moved eight spots as much as thirty ninth within the rankings after tying for ninth finally week’s Irish Open. He’ll be again at it on Thursday on the BMW PGA Championship on the Wentworth Membership in Surrey, England.
KORN FERRY TOUR — Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., is ranked thirty eighth on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour’s factors record. He leads the Canadian contingent into this week’s Nationwide Kids’s Hospital Championship. He’ll be joined at Ohio State College Golf Membership — Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio by Edmonton’s Wil Bateman (53rd), Etienne Papineau (sixty fifth) of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., and Sudarshan Yellamaraju (99th) of Mississauga, Ont.
CHAMPIONS TOUR — Calgary’s Stephen Ames is the lone Canadian at this week’s Pure Insurance coverage Championship. He’s No. 2 on the senior circuit’s factors record. The occasion will begin Friday and be performed at Pebble Seashore Golf Hyperlinks and Spyglass Hill Golf Course in Monterey, Calif.
LPGA TOUR — There are 4 Canadians on this week’s Kroger Metropolis Championship. Savannah Grewal (97th within the Race to CME Globe Rankings) of Mississauga, Ont., Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (one hundred and fifteenth), and Maude-Aimee Leblanc (142nd) of Sherbrooke, Que., will all tee it up at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio.
EPSON TOUR — Vancouver’s Leah John is the low Canadian heading into the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout. She’s 54th within the second-tier tour’s factors record. She’ll be joined by Maddie Szeryk (118th) of London, Ont., and Brigitte Thibault (119th) of Rosemere, Que., at Mystic Creek Golf Membership in El Dorado, Ark.
