Hughes took charge and began to soar

Canadian star's rise in world rankings started with adopting a positive outlook

There was a time when the voice in Mackenzie Hughes' head was his worst enemy on the golf course. Now it's the only one he wants to hear.

The Canadian golfer finished his 2021 schedule ranked a career-high 39th in the world, a position he has achieved by turning his greatest weakness into a strength, and finding comfort in a simpler approach.

With the holidays and arrival of golf 's mini off-season, we caught up with the Hamilton native during the first of two family trips that include visits home to Canada for the first time in nearly two pandemic-dominated years.

“I don't know if, when I graduated university, I would have thought that the 31-year-oldversion of me would be the 39th ranked player in the world, but I always had a belief that I had what it took. At the same time, you just don't know,” Hughes said by phone over American Thanksgiving. “All that time I have continued to get better, and sometimes it's been through experiences that I didn't like, but I've always been good at learning from those things and not letting them be failures. That's a big reason I'm here.”

Those learning experiences included losing his Korn Ferry card after 13 missed cuts in 20 starts on the developmental tour in 2014. More recently on the PGA Tour, they included opening the 2019-20 season with nine missed cuts in 11 starts, and a blip this year where he missed five straight cuts heading into the U.S. Open. None of these were made easier by Hughes' lifelong penchant for being hard on himself on the golf course. When things got bad during a tournament, he often would get quiet, and Hughes said that's when the negative selftalk would take over.

These days he's having fewer days like that, thanks to a determination to not only keep working on it, but also to turn his attitude into a strength.

Hughes emerged from both of these recent rough patches in style, finishing runner-up at the 2020 Honda Classic in his final start before the COVID-19 shutdown, and enjoying a memorable week this summer at Torrey Pines in California, where he played in the final group on Sunday at a major.

He also emerged more resolute than ever in his belief that his game was good enough to compete with the world's best, and that a positive attitude is the key. If his stoic reaction and bounceback grit after losing a ball in a tree on Sunday at the U.S. Open was an example, he's on the right track.

“If I'm going to give myself the best chance to win, week in and week out, I need the way that I think to be a constant, and be a hallmark of my game,” he said. “It's made a big difference for me and I think I've only scratched the surface of it.”

He's also growing more comfortable with his swing, recently taking ownership of that aspect of his game, as well. When his most recent swing coach Ralph Bauer was named director of instruction at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club at the end of 2020, Hughes had a decision to make.

“At that time I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I just kind of went on my own and thought, `I'll just see what happens,'” Hughes said. “I felt pretty good about what I was doing, so I didn't hire anybody and didn't feel like I needed that extra help. I've enjoyed the simplicity of doing my own thing and having one voice in my head and that being my own, and it's been nice.”

Hughes is grateful to Bauer, Team Canada coach Derek Ingram, and his college coach Herb Page, and isn't ruling out working with a coach again in the future.

“At a certain point you know your swing, and I just feel comfortable making some changes and I know what's going on when things aren't going well,” he said. “That's really what I've become good at is taking control of my game and my swing and diagnosing, `Hey, I'm hitting this kind of shot and it's because of this,' and there's been a comfort from that.”

With his game in a good place, there aren't many technical changes he's interested in making, and practice these days is built around rhythm. His short

game and putting have always been his great strength.

Returning to his childhood home this month playing his best golf on the PGA Tour, and as the father of two boys, Hughes has achieved a very unlikely Canadian dream. Listening to the 31-year-old, though, it's clear he wants more.

“I know that I still have to believe in myself more, I know

that I don't always have the most positive thoughts going for myself, even when I'm playing well, and that's an area where I can still grow and I'm working on it,” he said. “It's awesome to look back on my journey and where I am now, but I still think I'm just getting started and I've got a long way to go, because I've got higher aspirations than 39th in the world.”