Hughes not bad for an Amateur

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/08/2011 (5401 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Golf can be exceptionally difficult at the easiest of times, so to hear an accomplished winner talk about the weight of a national championship before it’s won says more than something.

Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., said all the right things in a confident, relaxed and “no-big-deal” way on Saturday after he was handed a two-shot lead after 54 holes.

Sunday, after he essentially won the championship with a clutch 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole at Niakwa Country Club, he could barely utter the words in a quavering voice about the pressure and the nerves he battled during the final 18 holes.

This, please remember, was coming from a young man who’s a member of Golf Canada’s elite national amateur squad, somebody who’s had three years at Kent State going through the U.S. college golf grinder, somebody who’s won two NCAA tournaments in the last season — which is no small deal — and somebody who triumphed at one of Canada’s top amateur tournaments in Calgary earlier this summer.

“It was one of the hardest days of golf that I had to play,” Hughes said after shooting one-under-par 70 and finishing at 10-under 274. “It was really fun. I enjoyed being in that position but I was sweating big-time.

“And I got off to kind of a slow start and tried not to panic, and made a few birdies on the par-5’s (Nos. 6, 8, 11), which calmed me down.

“With five holes to go, I kind of let it slip and made it more interesting than it should have been. I had a three-shot lead at one point. But I got it done thankfully, and I’m happy to be the champion.”

Hughes said he didn’t run from his nerves, which manifested themselves in consecutive three-putt bogeys at Nos. 14, 15 and 16 that dropped him back into a tie with eventual runner-up, defending champion Albin Choi.

“If I didn’t feel edgy, I wouldn’t play,” Hughes said. “That’s kind of what you want to feel and if I didn’t feel any nerves, I wouldn’t be human.

“I was nervous and I still executed pretty well, but some shots go farther than you think because you’ve got the adrenaline pumping, so overall I did a pretty good job controlling it.

“And surprisingly, the best part of my game were the shots I had to hit the softest. My putting was fantastic today. That just tells me I can control my emotions and nerves on the greens.”

Hughes’ hands were soft throughout the week — the short stint on the back nine aside — and he had five more birdies on Sunday to make 22 for the championship.

The biggest championship of his career, he said.

“To say I’m a national champion of Canada is a huge honour,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming. I’ve had some close calls in these big events for Canada. It feels amazing. Definitely on the top of my list for wins.”

Choi, who did it last summer at London Hunt, was in a three-way tie for the lead when he made his third birdie in a row at the par-5 10th and Hughes made only par.

Ahead, second-day co-leader Cory Renfrew of Victoria had birdied Nos. 8, 10 and 11 to bravely join the top once again before fading off back to a share of third with a bogey at the 12th and a double at the 16th.

When Hughes made his three straight bogeys, the pair of Choi and Hughes were tied again at the 17th tee.

“I didn’t know the scores ahead of us, so in my head I was thinking maybe somebody posted a number,” Choi said. “When I was tied with Mackenzie, well, my game was a little shaky all day. I didn’t play very well and I don’t think I deserved to win.

“But I hung in there and tried my best and I was very happy with how I handled myself.

“And I was very happy for Mackenzie. I know how it feels to win, having done it last year.”

The championship, having been away from Winnipeg for 15 years, returns again in 2014 to Elmhurst.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

Nice little Open perk

 

CANADIAN Amateur champion Mackenzie Hughes will get a special thrill next summer, earning a berth in the 2012 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf and Country Club.

Hughes is a member of nearby Dundas Valley Golf and Country Club.

“Storybook,” Hughes said, hardly believing reporters about the 2012 Open venue. “Whenever it was at Hamilton (2003, 2006), I was dying to play. Obviously back then I wasn’t good enough. But next year hopefully my game keeps improving and hopefully I can have a good week.”

The prize of the Open invite crept into his head before he had secured it on Sunday.

“It crossed my mind a couple of times out there, which is not good,” he smiled. “But I tried to push it behind me and yeah, I’m ecstatic to be playing it next year.”