Mackenzie Hughes Dialed In For Presidents Cup Debut On Canadian Soil

Presidents Cup, a team golf battle royale that pits America’s top golfers against the best in the world (excluding Europe), tees off this week in Quebec, Canada’s belle province.

Historically the American side has dominated through the first fifteen editions of the event. The last time the United States got schooled by the Internationals was back in 1998 when Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Nick Price were in the top 10 in the world and the other upset was when the event ended in a draw in 2003.

The last time Royal Montreal, a golf club that dates back to 1873, hosted this biennial global golf grudge match was back in 2007. In that tête-à-tête, a Jack Nicklaus captained U.S.A. squad vanquished a Gary Player helmed crew 19 1⁄2 to 14 1⁄2.

Current team skippers Jim Furyk and Mike Weir both played in that event. While Weirsy’s team fell short overall, Canada’s golf GOAT wowed his home country crowds, coming out on top in both his partner matches and then put the cherry on top by taking down Tiger Woods in singles play action on the Sunday.

“He is really the reason that a lot of guys on the team, the Canadian guys, are really here at all. He paved the way for us and showed us what was possible and he’s someone I’ve looked up to for a long time. To play on his team is unbelievably special,” Mackenzie Hughes, a two-time PGA Tour winner said.

“He’s a great leader and someone the guys really respect and have rallied behind. Mike is a little bit on the quieter side but you can also see in how focused and determined he is, how much he wants to win and how much work he has put into this. It shines through that this is something he’s worked really hard for and cares just as much about this as anything else in his career.”

Weir was the lone Canadian on the squad back then and now the Canuck contingent accounts for a third of the roster with Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Hughes representing the true, north, strong and free. Throw in the home crowd chowing down on fare doled out by north of the 49^th parallel chains like Harvey’s, St. Hubert and Pickle Barrel and it feels almost like a Prime Ministers Cup.

Hughes, a Hamilton Ontario native was a captain’s pick who has been consistently solid all season and is coming in hot following a T4 finish at the Procore Championship is certainly fired up.

“I’ve always felt when I play in Canada I can always rally behind that support. It gets quite loud and I love the energy,” Hughes said, adding that home country vibes are strong enough to shave a point or two off his scorecard down the stretch. And perhaps with Mac’s sponsor Toronto-based 1Password, acting as one of the event’s tree global partners of the tournament, along with Rolex and Cognizant, you can knock an extra stroke off his scoring average.

The Kent State alum, who earned $17.6 million inside the ropes over his career, is a Presidents Cup rookie but one that brings a lot of experience to the table.

“On this team there are guys that have been here many years and played on a bunch of teams, so in that sense I am a rookie but I’ve been on tour for a long time and I know what to do and I know my game can be an asset to the team,” Hughes said.

Mac is well aware that the Internationals are the underdogs in this contest, but the extent of the American advantage is also often overplayed by the media, which solely focuses on the end results and pays short thrift to the numerous close matches that could’ve really gone either way. Overlooking the Internationals’ talent levels also provides an opportunity to rise to the occasion and defy the expectations of the armchair punditocracy.

“There’s no doubt that they’ve really had a great run in this event. I think sometimes the record is a bit misleading. I look at the last two times the Presidents Cup was away in Korea and Australia and it really was quite close. A point here or there really decided the outcome of the tournament so I think it has been closer than the record would indicate,” Hughes said.

“But ya, we’re underdogs in this one and that’s fine with us. I don’t think anyone on this team doesn’t believe that we can win. We’re all going into this thinking we have a great team and we’re ready to get this thing done,” he added.

With the puck not dropping on the new NHL season for another month and the Blue Jays well out of playoff contention, in the basement of the A.L. East, one thing is for sure: the President’s Cup is poised to be the country’s top sporting event of the early autumn season.

“There’s not a whole lot going on in Canada as far as sports go and this is a huge deal. I think it’s going to be pretty massive and I expect there to be a lot of people here on site and a lot of people tuning in across Canada and the world to watch this week and see how it plays out.”