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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 27, 2017

Mackenzie Hughes

Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Q. You grew up just down the road from here. How many times have you played Glen Abbey.
MACKENZIE HUGHES: You're going to be surprised but hardly at all. I probably played -- I could probably count on one hand the rounds I played here as a junior. Back then, Glen Abbey was a really big deal to get on and I wasn't in a position to be getting on here. But I played here probably eight, nine, ten times, and I'm pretty familiar with the place and feel comfortable around here.

Q. How do you feel about the round? You hit it good off the tee statistically. That's key on these holes?
MACKENZIE HUGHES: If you hit it in the fairway, you can be aggressive. The few fairways I missed, I was just trying to make par and you have to be a little bit defensive.

All in all it was a great day. Probably could be a bit better but I made a couple nice par putts, too. Overall, happy with my start.

Q. Team Canada, do you ever talk about Pat Fletcher, or that all media stuff and you guys ignore that?
MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, it's pretty much media stuff. We're aware about it but it gets talked about it enough. At the end of the day, we prepare 30 weeks a year trying to win tournaments, and this is another one I'll be trying to win. To have this be in Canada, and obviously it would be very special, but you just can't try too hard to win your National Open, because it's not going to happen if you try that hard.

Just got to hit one shot at a time and see where you end up Sunday afternoon.

Q. Six birdies, one bogey. Did you feel any pressure coming into this week?
MACKENZIE HUGHES: You know, there's a little bit of pressure. I'd be lying if I said it was a normal week. It's not. You see a lot of familiar faces in the gallery, people calling your name. On the PGA TOUR, I don't get noticed for my appearance usually.

It's been a lot of fun. It's really great to have the Canadian support, and we really look forward to this one every year.

Q. Talking about a special week, you had the golf course you grew up on renamed after you this week. How was that ceremony?
MACKENZIE HUGHES: That was really cool. It's a par 3 course that I grew up playing, and I've played probably hundreds and hundreds of rounds as a seven-, eight-, nine-year-old. It's cool that they thought of me to rename that and call it the Mackenzie Hughes Par 3 Course. Very special and adds to a special week.

Q. You come into this week a PGA TOUR winner in your rookie season. What have your expectations been like this year?
MACKENZIE HUGHES: I would say my expectations have been kind of all over the place because at the start, you just kind of want to get your footing and play well and make some money so you can reshuffle in, and then I won and then my expectation level went pretty high. I think having a really high expectation level as a rookie can be your undoing. I went through a little lull there for a few weeks and trying to just really stay patient and let the rounds come to me. Not trying to expect every week that I can win. I believe that I can win every week but I don't expect to win every week. It's a big difference there, so I'm trying to manage those expectations and doing a pretty good job so far.

Q. Good round to start the RBC Canadian Open, 5-under 67. Give us a few insights to that round.
MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, it was mostly stress-free. There was a couple nice little par saves I made. I made one little hiccup on the 17th hole. Missed a short putt. But other than that, it was pretty rock solid, lots of fairways and gave myself some really good looks. The birdie putts I made were relatively close, inside ten feet, 12 feet. Those are nice days when you can be aggressive from that 15-foot range. It was a fun day.

Q. Whether you finished up on 18 and made the turn, I think a stretch of six holes, five birdies, just talk about how locked in you were and how great it feels to do this on home soil?
MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, during that little run there, it was a really great run and it could have been that much -- there was two holes where I missed an eight-foot eagle putt and I missed a seven footer for birdie. Could have been a really special run there. It was great. Got me right back in the thick of things and off to a great start.

Q. Playing with a guy like Ernie Els, does that help in an opening round?
MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, Ernie's a pretty relaxed guy. It's always nice to play with guys that have good rhythm and they are very calm, collected. Playing with a guy like Ernie Els, it's a good thing.

Q. Touch on the support from the galleries out here.
MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, it's been great. They have been rooting me on every hole and to hear my name called out and "Go Mackenzie," it's a lot of fun. As Canadians we all look forward to come here and have this one week a year where we get to be the favorites.

Q. How nice and how much of a relief is it to go out on Thursday morning and get off to such a great start, in any tournament, let alone this one?
MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, any tournament's great, especially here. You can't win on Thursday but you can lose it on Thursday. I put myself in a pretty good spot. I know the scores are up there today and someone might shoot 7-, 8-under, but it's a four-round tournament and I'm off to a great start.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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