There are no players happier to be north of the border this week for the 2024 Presidents Cup than Mackenzie Hughes, Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith. The Canadian trio grew up playing golf in Canada, and now they return to Royal Montreal Golf Club to represent the International Team — and Hughes got the party started early Thursday.
Before the opening four-ball session kicked off with Xander Schauffle and Tony Finau battling Jason Day and Byeong Hun An, Hughes took a knee in front of the home crowd on the first tee and chugged a beer — a Stella Artois to be exact.
Hughes was at his son’s baseball practice when Weir’s name popped up on his phone.
MONTREAL — Earlier this month, Mackenzie Hughes tried to temper his expectations as he waited for a call to find out if he would be selected as a captain’s pick for the International Team for the Presidents Cup team.
Two years earlier, he didn’t get the nod when the competition was held at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, just down the road from where he calls home and where he practices regularly. How did he spend the week of the competition? “Sulking at home,” said Hughes who didn’t bother to attend as a spectator either. “I don’t think I could’ve quite stomached it.”
Hughes, who grew up in Dundas, Ontario, set a goal to make this year’s team when the biennial competition returned north of the border to Royal Montreal Golf Club for the first time since 2007, and he played well during the qualifying period but not well enough, finishing 15th in the standings. The top-6 automatically qualified and then International Team Captain Mike Weir was given six captain’s picks to round out the 12-man roster. Hughes was at his son’s baseball practice when Weir’s name popped up on his phone. Hughes answered and took a deep breath.
When Weir began by saying it had been a tough few days of deliberation and that he had to make some tough calls, Hughes prepared for the worst. “I thought, Oh, man, here we go again. My heart kind of sank for a minute,” he recalled.
But Weir quickly shifted gears and dropped the good news that he had made the team.
“It was head spinning, heart thumping, this euphoric-type moment,” Hughes said. “Getting that phone call is probably one of the highlights of my career.”
Hughes wasn’t the only Canadian to make Weir’s team, which is made up of players from the rest of the world excluding Europe, which already compete against the U.S. in the Ryder Cup. Hughes was joined by fellow Canadians Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith, who both represented the International Team two years ago but failed to win a single point as the Internationals lost for the ninth straight time.
Hughes, Conners and Pendrith represent a quarter of the team and it marks the first time that three Canadians have been selected for a team in Presidents Cup history. That’s not the only team these three share. All three overlapped at Kent State, with Hughes a junior when Conners and Pendrith joined the Golden Flashes at the northeastern Ohio school in the early 2010s.
Herb Page, who coached Kent State for 41 years before retiring in 2019, boasted that his three players in the competition was one more than powerhouse Georgia, Cal and two better than Texas. Ahead of the official announcement on Sept. 3, Hughes called his coach on FaceTime and then widened the image to show Conners and Pendrith all together and broke the news of their selection.
“I just about cried,” Page told the Canadian Press.
To Hughes making the team in any capacity was special but to do so with his former college teammates was “the cherry on top.”
The International team for the 2024 Presidents Cup at The Royal Montreal Golf Club. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Weir noted that he chose Hughes in part because of his splendid short game and touch around the greens. He ranked fourth in both Strokes Gained: Putting and Strokes Gained: Around the Greens this season on the PGA Tour. While he will be one of two rookies on the International Team, Hughes experienced competing in front of a partisan crowd at home when he played in the final group Sunday at the RBC Canadian Open in June. But he said the experience he will most draw on is being in a twosome with Tiger Woods at the 2018 Players Championship when Woods stormed into contention.
“It was a circus, absolutely chaos and I shot 68,” he said. “I’ll never forget what I felt like playing with him and I think that’s going to be along the lines of what I will feel like at Royal Montreal.”
Hughes is coming into the competition on a high note after finishing T-4 at the Procore Championship in Napa, California, less than two weeks ago, and said he plans to embrace the chaos of playing on home soil and potentially in foursomes or four-ball with Conners or Pendrith.
“I feel like I want to use the crowd to my advantage,” he said. “I know they’re going to be loud and energetic and I want to lean into that.”
While most eyes were glued to the Solheim Cup in Virginia, PGA Tour action continued Saturday at the 2024 Procore Championship across Silverado Resort’s North Course. And with 18 holes left to play in Napa, California, the leaderboard is cluttered behind the man up top.
Patton Kizzire, who entered Moving Day in pole position, is alone in first at 18 under after a 5-under 67.
David Lipsky is his closest pursuer at 14 under, while Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes — both players are members of the International Team for the Presidents Cup — are part of a group of four at 13 under, five back.
“(I) made some really nice putts coming down the stretch and hung in there and kept myself in it and that’s all I can ask for when I don’t have my A-game from tee to green.” Lipsky said of his day.
Defending champion Sahith Theegala is 12 under through 54 holes and is tied for seventh.
If you missed any of Saturday’s action, no worries, we have you covered. Here are five things to know from the third round of the Procore Championship.
Patton Kizzire of the United States hits his tee shot on the fourth hole during the third round of the Procore Championship 2024 at Silverado Resort on September 14, 2024 in Napa, California. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
Kizzire was in the driver’s seat entering Saturday’s third round and got off to a hot start with three straight birdies on Nos. 3-5. Even better, he chipped in for a clutch par on the seventh after missing the green with his tee shot and second.
After making the turn with a 3-under 32, Kizzire three-putted for bogey on the 10th but got the shot right back with a lengthy birdie make on the 11th.
Two birdies later (Nos. 15 and 17), Kizzire signed for his 67 that was aided heavily by his putter — he ranked second on Saturday in SG: Putting.
“This (course) is very similar to Sony,” he said. “This course has a little more undulation on the greens. The greens were fantastic. The maintenance crew has done a fantastic job, the agronomy team has done a fantastic job. They’re rolling really nice. I’m seeing the greens well and putting it on the line, it’s holding. This is a golf course I really enjoy playing and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Kizzire, who entered the week with three missed cuts in his previous five starts to end the season, hasn’t won since the 2018 Sony Open in Hawaii.
Mackenzie Hughes is dialed for Presidents Cup
Mackenzie Hughes of Canada hits his tee shot on the seventh hole during the third round of the Procore Championship 2024 at Silverado Resort on September 14, 2024 in Napa, California. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
In a few weeks, Mackenzie Hughes will head to his home country of Canada for the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club. Hughes is one of the 12 members of the International Team, and he’s getting dialed in for the biennial event by contending at the Procore.
After opening with a 2-under 70 on Thursday, Hughes has now posted rounds of 67-66 and is tied for third, five back of the lead.
The Canadian, who hasn’t won since the 2022 Sanderson Farms, made three birdies on each half of Silverado Resort’s North Course, gaining nearly 3½ strokes with his iron play (first in Strokes Gained: Approach). If his putter cooperated a bit better, his round could have been special.
“I actually — I had a lot of chances,” he said. “I felt like — I’m not sure what my strokes gained approach would have been today, but I felt I had a lot of close looks that I wasn’t able to convert.”
If the flat-stick heats up on Sunday, watch out for Hughes.
Corey Conners continues to roll
Corey Conners of Canada hits his tee shot on the seventh hole during the third round of the Procore Championship 2024 at Silverado Resort on September 14, 2024 in Napa, California. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
Like Hughes, Conners will don the black and gold at the Presidents Cup for the International Team — Hughes, Conners and Taylor Pendrith are the three Canadians playing at Royal Montreal.
In 22 starts this season, Conners never missed a weekend. That’s a lot of money, but what he failed to do was win.
That could change Sunday with a special round as he sits at 13 under in a tie for third thanks to rounds of 73-64-66.
After making the turn with a 2-under 33, Conners made four birdies on his final six holes to catapult up the leaderboard.
Like it has been all year, Conners’ tee-to-green game was outstanding on Day 3 — he ranked fourth in both SG: Off the Tee and Approach.
International Team captain Mike Weir must like what he’s seeing from Hughes and Conners.
Wilson Furr credits bachelor trip for ‘reset’
Wilson Furr of the United States hits his tee shot on the 18th hole during the third round of the Procore Championship 2024 at Silverado Resort on September 14, 2024 in Napa, California. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
It was a tough 2023-24 Tour season for Furr. In 18 starts, he made just four cuts with his best finish coming at the Texas Children’s Houston Open where he tied for 36th.
But over the break — his last Tour start came at the Wyndham Championship, the final event before the FedEx Cup Playoffs — Furr went on his bachelor trip and credited it for a much-needed reset.
“I had my bachelor trip over the break and I felt like it was an amazing reset,” Furr said. “We went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, went fly fishing and exploring Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Yeah, I think that was about as good a reset as I could ask for. Got to see a lot of my friends I hadn’t seen in a long time.”
And how’d the fishing go?
“Sick. We crushed it.”
He also crushed it on the course Saturday, firing a 8-under 64. Furr made five birdies on the front nine before making the turn and adding another on the 16th. He also made an eagle at the par-5 15th after his 216-yard approach shot finished less than three feet from the hole.
Furr will enter the final round in a tie for seventh at 12 under, six back of the lead.
Procore Championship top 10, odds to win
Position
Player
Score
Odds to win
1
Patton Kizzire
18 under
(-110)
2
David Lipsky
14 under
(+1200)
T-3
Mackenzie Hughes
13 under
(+1100)
T-3
Greyson Sigg
13 under
(+2200)
T-3
Corey Conners
13 under
(+650)
T-3
Patrick Fishburn
13 under
(+1400)
T-7
Wilson Furr
12 under
(+6500)
T-7
Ben Silverman
12 under
(+3500)
T-7
Sahith Theegala
12 under
(+1100)
T-10
Chez Reavie
11 under
(+11000)
T-10
Justin Lower
11 under
(+7500)
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Missing or being late to a tee time is never a good thing. Especially at a professional golf event.
That’s what happened to Mackenzie Hughes on Saturday, who was penalized two shots for being late to his third-round tee time at the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club. The penalty was added to his score on the first hole, giving him a double-bogey 6.
Hughes’ tee time was scheduled for 2:45 p.m. local time in Scotland, so one can wonder how he was late.
However, the late start didn’t seem to hamper Hughes, who was 1 under for his round thru 10 holes and inside the top 20 on the leaderboard.
Mackenzie Hughes was assessed a two-stroke penalty for being late to his third-round tee time at the Genesis Scottish Open.
The two-stroke penalty was applied to the par-4 first hole.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) July 13, 2024
“I don’t think anybody could have dreamed when that idea was brought forward that it would have grown to what it is today”
HAMILTON, Ontario – Mackenzie Hughes arrived at the par-3 13th hole at Hamilton Golf & Country Club on Saturday and described the scene as pandemonium.
Before he could hit his tee shot, the fans at The Rink, the hockey-themed hole wrapped in boards on both sides of the tee, goalie helmets as tee markers, a goal on the tee, and an ice-resurfacing machine nearby, serenaded him with Canada’s national anthem.
“The hair on the back of my neck stood up,” Hughes said.
They sang “Hey, Baby!” before Trace Crowe teed off and John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” in between groups, while Rory McIlroy was treated to a Ryder Cup-esque Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!
It was a hair-brained idea that debuted seven years ago and is now part of the fabric of the RBC Canadian Open. Credit goes to the executive director of Golf Saskatchewan, who suggested a hockey-themed hole to combine Canada’s most popular pastimes, golf and hockey. It debuted originally in 2017 at Glenn Abbey.
The first year, rowdy fans lined the hockey-style boards, which replaced traditional roping, on one side of the seventh hole. The next year, at St. George’s it was both sides of the 16th hole, which created a different vibe, and it just keeps growing with a double decker tent lining the left side of the hole.
The Rink, the hockey-themed hole at the RBC Canadian Open, has become part of the fabric of the championship. (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)
RBC Canadian Open tournament director Bryan Crawford told PGA Tour.com, “I don’t think anybody could have dreamed when that idea was brought forward that it would have grown to what it is today.”
It creates an electric atmosphere that is shades of the infamous 16th at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course during the WM Phoenix Open, only these fans tend to be buzzed rather than three sheets to the wind and while they slap the boards and singalong to their heart’s content, it becomes quiet enough to hear a pin drop before a player tees off.
The pros have bought into putting a slice of Canada’s national pastime into the act, wearing their favorite hockey jersey. Mike Weir has worn a Detroit Red Wings jersey. Dustin Johnson, a past champion before departing to LIV, used to rock an Edmonton Oilers jersey of his father-in-law, “The Great One,” Wayne Gretzky. Former touring pro Graham DeLaet used to sport a Calgary Flames jersey.
The hockey helmet tee box marker at the 2024 RBC Canadian Open. (Photo: Adam Schupak/Golfweek)
Two years ago, Golf Canada introduced The Rink at the Canadian Women’s Open, with Brooke Henderson donning a sweater of her hometown Ottawa Senators and Nelly Korda a Chicago Blackhawks jersey, the team that her boyfriend played for at the time. The volunteer marshals dress as referees too, and have dubbed the area around the tee “The Penalty Box.” And just like at a hockey game, the fans booed and chanted “Referees suck,” when one of them confiscated a plastic hockey puck that was being toss in the stands. It’s fast become one of the more unique experiences at a professional golf tournament without feeling too contrived or the fans getting out of control.
“On that Rink, there’s like no space. It’s just like the boards are right there on the tee and they’re banging and they’re screaming,” said Hughes, who wore a Durham 360 Painting jersey of a late friend as a tribute. “Walking on that tee, again, just a total hair-raising moment where, I mean, I’m trying to play it pretty cool, but inside I’m thinking this is really, really cool.”
HAMILTON, Ontario – DP World Tour graduates Robert MacIntyre and Ryan Fox are taking advantage of earning PGA Tour privileges this season north of the border. MacIntyre, a Scotsman who represented Team Europe at the Ryder Cup in Rome, and Fox, a New …
HAMILTON, Ontario – DP World Tour graduates Robert MacIntyre and Ryan Fox are taking advantage of earning PGA Tour privileges this season north of the border.
MacIntyre, a Scotsman who represented Team Europe at the Ryder Cup in Rome, and Fox, a New Zealand native, were among 10 DP World Tour pros who graduated to the PGA Tour this season for the first time. Earlier this year, Frenchman Matthieu Pavon won the Farmers Insurance Open and Finland’s Sami Valimaki finished second at the Mexico Open.
The agreement to give cards to DP World Tour pros was one of the final deals produced by former DP World Tour commissioner Keith Pelley, a Canadian, who must love seeing this leaderboard. When Pelley announced he was taking a new post outside of golf back in his native country with Maple Leaf Sports Enterprises, MacIntyre was asked what his legacy would be. “He got me to the PGA Tour, didn’t he?” MacIntyre said. “He’s given me a pathway to achieve dreams I’ve always wanted to achieve.”
The Scotsman is bogey-free through 36 holes and shares the lead with Fox with a total of 10-under 130 — and that much closer to achieving that dream of winning on the PGA Tour.
Here’s four more things to know about the second round of the RBC Canadian Open.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre is bogey-free through 36 holes with dad, Dougie, on the bag as his emergency caddie.
“He jumped at the chance,” the PGA Tour rookie said of his old man, who serves as a greenkeeper back home at Glencruitten Golf Course in Oban, Scotland. “It’s good to just spend an extra week with loved ones.”
MacIntyre, who fired a 4-under 66 at Hamilton Golf & Country Club on Friday, parted ways with his previous caddie after missing the cut last week. He called his father Saturday to ask him to fill in this week and he hopped on a flight the next day. It’s the first time MacIntyre has had his dad, who he tabbed a good golfer in his own right, on the bag since he caddied at DP World Tour Q-School seven years ago. For more on this story, click here.
Nick Taylor ended the 69-year drought without a Canadian native winning the RBC Canadian Open. Wouldn’t it be funny if they had back-to-back champions?
Mackenzie Hughes, who grew up nearby and took lessons at host course Hamilton Golf & Country Club as a junior, thrust himself into the conversation, ridding a sizzling hot putter to a 6-under 64 on Friday.
“I walk around this place often and think about myself as a young kid. I was here a lot as a young kid watching these tournaments in 2003 and 2006. I remember thinking how cool it was back then. I wanted to get close to the players, get autographs and all that,” Hughes said. “Yesterday on the first tee when they announced me and they say Dundas, Ontario, like just knowing how close that is to here it kind of hit me that it was really, really special. Doing it here does feel different. Being in Toronto is obviously still home, but I spent time here as a kid.”
After an opening 1-under 69, Hughes, who started on No. 10, birdied three of his first six holes and holed a 60-degree wedge from 79 yards at No. 12 to shoot 5-under 30 on his first nine and join the fray. After another birdie at No. 1, Hughes attempted to tee off first in his group but it was Shane Lowry’s honor.
“You got to give me that tee at least once today,” Lowry said.
Lowry wouldn’t have the tee for long because Hughes canned a 12-foot eagle putt at the fourth.
Hughes needed the oven mitts for his sizzling putter. He took just 22 putts and leads the field in SG: Putting through 36 holes. The Canadian faithful were loving it and Hughes was feeding off their energy.
“Those putts just seemed to be going in the middle of the hole and it got loud and it got really exciting there. I know the weekend will be even more amped up than that and I’m excited for it,” he said.
After the eagle at four, Hughes, who figures he’s played Hamilton some 50 times, realized he could shoot a special number.
“I knew standing in 7 fairway if I birdied the last three holes it was 59 too, so I was definitely aware of it coming down the end,” he said.
But Hughes made what he termed “two mental mistakes” at Nos. 7 and 8 that resulted in bogeys and left him settling for 64, the best round of the day.
“While the finish was disappointing, I look at the whole body of work,” he said. “Starting today if you told me I was going to shoot 64, I would have taken it. So it gets me into contention for the weekend and that’s all I can ask for.”
Hughes is low Canadian through two rounds at 7-under 133 and T-4, and his words from the pre-championship press conference are starting to ring true.
“I’m here to win this trophy, it wouldn’t matter if it was for a thousand bucks or a million bucks, I’m here to play well and win this tournament,” he said.
Joel Dahmen hadn’t played in the Canadian Open in five years, but the PGA Tour Canada Player of the Year from a decade ago is happy to be back. He fired a 5-under 65 on Friday and sits in third place, just two shots back of the lead.
“I came here on Tuesday and I just kind of had great vibes again,” Dahmen said. “I almost felt bad I hadn’t been back. The schedule didn’t work out previously. It is, it’s a really special place.”
And special for Dahmen for good reason: he played 45 events over five seasons on PGA Tour Canada (2010-2014) and won twice in 2014 to earn his Korn Ferry Tour card.
Asked what has been working for him this week, Dahmen, who ranks No. 119 in the FedEx Cup standings, said, “Kind of done everything well.” Indeed, he ranks 22nd in SG: Tee-to-Green, fifth in proximity and fourth in SG: Putting.
Dahmen credited the pre-shot visualization work he’s been working hard on to commit to each shot.
“Having a clear plan, which sounds weird that I’ve played golf a long time without a clear plan,” he said. “But, yeah, it’s doing the same thing over and over again and it’s worked out great.
Harry Higgs talked about it a lot the last two weeks, and it’s kind of the same thing, really, you accept where it goes and you go and you do it again. It frees me up to play golf and let my body take over. My body knows what to do if I just kind of stay out of the way.”
So far, so good.
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox sunk a 12-foot birdie putt at the ninth hole, his 18th hole of the day, to tie for the 36-hole lead.
Fox fired a 6-under 64, tied for the low round of the day, to tie MacIntyre.
“I drove it great, I hit may irons really good, and had a few more putts drop today. It could have been really silly,” Fox said.
It marks Fox’s first 36-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour.
“Golf course kind of suits my eye,” Fox said. “Similar grass to what we play at home. Similar kind of old style, tree-lined golf course, which is what I grew up on.”
At No. 63 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is the highest-ranked Tour member that has not played in a Signature event this season. He entered the week No. 8 in the Aon Swing 5 standings and is currently projected to move to No. 1 and earn a spot in next week’s Memorial Tournament.
Fox is seeking his first Tour title, but the 37-year-old pro counts four DP World Tour wins on his resume.
In addition to having his dad on the bag, Robert MacIntyre will enjoy being paired with Ryan Fox, a friend from there DP World Tour days.
“He’s a great kid,” Fox said. “We get along really well. Played together a bunch of times in Europe. Played together the first two days at Myrtle Beach this year. We both went pretty well there. Hopefully, we can have a bit of fun tomorrow and feed off each other and be in that final group again on Sunday.”
Speaking at the Myrtle Beach Classic earlier this month, MacIntyre explained why it’s tough traveling alone on the Tour.
“It’s difficult for all the European guys, all the guys in Europe, coming out here this year. Obviously Foxy has got his family out with him. It’s a completely different lifestyle in the U.S., and good or bad, some people love it, some people hate it. It’s just a different culture, different style of life,” he said. :It’s good to have people in the same boat as you. I’ve struggled out here with the lifestyle.”
“I don’t think the money that’s going around is sustainable for golf.”
HAMILTON, Ontario – No PGA Tour event has felt the repercussions of the PGA Tour-LIV controversy quite like the RBC Canadian Open.
Two years ago, LIV Golf played its debut tournament in London the same week with former RBC ambassadors Dustin Johnson and Graeme McDowell among the defectors. It took a big final-round 62 for Rory McIlroy to repeat as champion, winning his 21st Tour title and taking a dig at LIV CEO Greg Norman when he passed him on the Tour’s career victory list.
“I had extra motivation of what’s going on across the pond,” McIlroy said at the time. “The guy that’s spearheading that tour has 20 wins on the PGA Tour and I was tied with him and I wanted to get one ahead of him. And I did. So, that was really cool for me, just a little sense of pride on that one.”
And then, of course, who can forget last year’s bombshell news of the framework agreement on Tuesday of tournament week between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. During his press conference the next day, McIlroy said he felt like a “sacrificial lamb.” A few months later, McIlroy stepped down from the Tour board.
McIlroy, who had been the public face for the PGA Tour in the skirmish with LIV, is back for the fourth straight time north of the border and at Hamilton Golf Club, where he won the first of his consecutive titles in 2019. In this year’s press conference, he expressed regret over being such an outspoken critic of the Saudi-backed LIV.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland talks with the media following the Pro-Am of the RBC Canadian Open at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club on May 29, 2024 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
“In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t have gotten involved or not hadn’t have gotten involved, hadn’t have gotten as deeply involved in it,” he said. “I hold no grudge, I hold no resentment over the guys that chose to go and play on LIV. Everyone’s got their own decisions to make and everyone is, has the right to make those decisions. My whole thing is I’m just disappointed to what it’s done to, not to the game of golf, the game of golf will be fine, but men’s professional golf and this sort of divide we have at the minute. Hopefully, we’re on a path to sorting that out and getting that to come back together, but, yeah, I mean, in hindsight, hindsight’s always 20/20, but in hindsight I wish I hadn’t have gotten as deeply involved as I have.”
McIlroy, who was named recently as one of three active players to the Tour Enterprises’ Transaction Subcommittee, did have Commissioner Jay Monahan’s ear on Wednesday. Monahan walked with McIlroy’s group during his morning pro-am round.
All year long, Canadian Mackenzie Hughes has been a voice of reason among active players on the greed that has infected the game. His comments have been a refreshing perspective that fans have needed to hear from somebody.
Asked for his assessment on the state of the pro game during these uncertain times, Hughes spoke eloquently on the topic yet again.
“I knew it was coming. Yeah, that’s a big question,” he said. “Obviously a year later you would have thought we had a bit more clarity on that. There’s not really much there. I think eventually when we get through this situation I think golf will be in a great spot still. But there’s a lot of hurdles to get over right now. I think one of the biggest things I think about is the fan and how the fan has been affected by all this. The fans are just tired of hearing about it, tired of hearing about the money. I don’t think the money that’s going around is sustainable for golf.
“I would love for the game to kind of come back a little bit where it’s like we’re just, we’re talking about the golf now, we’re not talking about LIV, we’re not talking about the money and these purses and all that sort of stuff. Because people don’t care. People don’t want to hear it. I’ve said this many times to, you know, the media, the Tour, I mean, it just, we just, we want to, like, I feel like we’re shoving it down people’s throats. This is a big tournament for me, you know, I would say far bigger than the one next week, but next week’s worth 20 million dollars, this one’s worth, I don’t know how many, whatever, but that’s not something that I care or think about, but I’m here to win this trophy, it wouldn’t matter if it was for a thousand bucks or a million bucks, I’m here to play well and win this tournament. I think it’s become so much about the money and, again, I would say 99 percent of the people don’t care, they don’t want to hear it. So I think the state of the game, I would say right now it’s not super healthy, because of the things we’re focused on, but I think once we can kind of get past this stuff and maybe the deal happens or it doesn’t happen, but we kind of get some clarity there, then we can kind of go forward.”
Hughes noted that before LIV started throwing around obscene amounts of guaranteed money to woo players to the renegade circuit, the Tour highlighted its impressive charitable contributions.
“It was like a badge of honor,” he said. “We donated more than all the other major sports leagues combined. I would like to see that become a priority again, where we really impact the places that we play and leave them better than we found ’em. So, you know, I do think that golf will come out of this OK, but right now I think it’s in a very weird spot and a difficult spot and we need to get a lot of things figured out.”
Mackenzie Hughes took the term “bank shot” from basketball and applied it to his first round of golf on Thursday at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational. No. 3 at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando has water down the entire left side of the hole, and Hughes did well to avoid it off the tee as his drive found the right rough. His approach 164 yards out was flirting with the water as his ball landed on the bank of the lake and ricocheted off some rocks and onto the green.
A shot that should’ve splashed into the water instead left a 7-foot birdie putt for Hughes (spoiler alert, he missed).
The field of 132 at the Mexico Open was reduced to 65 on Friday night after the cut came in at 2 under.
The field of 132 at the Mexico Open at Vidanta was reduced Friday night after the cut came in at 2 under, and that sent 65 players to Saturday’s third round.
It’s not the most star-studded field on the PGA Tour this season, but there were still some notable names among the 67 who failed to make the weekend at Vidanta Vallarta, a 7,456-yard golf course where Tony Finau – who is tied for ninth – is the defending champion.
Still up for grabs for those playing is the $1,458,000 first-place prize as well as a Masters invite, if one is not already secured by the man who hoists the trophy come Sunday.
The second signature event of the PGA Tour’s 2024 season is here as a loaded field of 80 pros has descended upon Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the Monterey Peninsula.
The amateurs in the field will play alongside their partners for the first two rounds — one at Pebble Beach, one at Spyglass Hill — before it’s just the pros at Pebble Beach over the weekend.
Among the world’s best in the field are Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa.
