MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2022

Mackenzie Hughes

Quick Quotes

Q. Great way to finish. I'm guessing that was a nice taste in your mouth on 18 sinking that putt?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yes.

Q. How much does that sort of help you walk off the golf course?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, my caddie and I both said that lunch tastes a little better making that six-footer. Yeah, it was a hard day, and it's not going to get any easier, it looks like, this afternoon.

It's a decent score. I actually played, I'd say, better than the score indicated. I felt like I hit a lot of great shots and it was a pretty solid round. Lots of good stuff. I'd say like even the bogeys I made on the front nine, I hit really good shots on 6. I hit a shot that landed like 2-1/2 steps from the flag but just left and rolled all the way to the front, and I three-putted. So little things like that, but the game felt pretty good today.

Q. The course changed a lot when you were out there. It was sort of wet and heavy when you started. It's dry and windy now. How much can this course change as you think about it?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: By the time we play tomorrow afternoon, it's going to look a lot like it did in the practice rounds. The 9th green was getting pretty firm when we played it.

Yeah, I see this course changing a lot over the next few days. This wind is supposed to be sustained for the next 48 hours basically, I think all the way through Friday into Saturday a little bit too. So this course is going to take on some teeth, and if it blows like this and it's firm, it's an animal.

Q. You've been working a lot on your putting, I saw earlier this week. How was it out there? Did you sort of figure anything out earlier in the week that paid off today?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, I felt good with the putter in my hands today. I think the biggest thing for me was I felt like I was getting too caught up in my line. I get my line down the ball, and I want it to be perfect.

So I kind of went away from the line today, and that felt great. In the wind like this, your reads can change a lot. You kind of got to be feel oriented when it's like this. So no line, and just kind of seeing my lines and just trying to roll over some spots. The putter felt good. So that's a good sign for the rest of the week.

Q. So your third trip here, but how were -- any 1st tee nerves?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: There's always 1st tee nerves whenever I'm at any TOUR event or here. This one might be more so, but good butterflies. Once you hit that first shot, it kind of eases the round a little bit.

It was a fun day. Yeah, just tough. I felt like I did a good job of staying patient through my front nine there. I made a couple bogeys, but kind of fought through the middle part of the round and got a couple on 12 and 13. Overall it was a nice day.

Q. How was your group? I saw you talking to Wolff there.

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Matt had a hard day. I know he's in the past been open about struggling with just being happy, and I just told him that he's a tremendous competitor and that we all want to do great but his golf score does not define who he is as a person.

I've been young, and I've been there where you're really hard on yourself and you expect greatness every day. Then you're out here for a long time, and you realize that you're going to have lots of days that you don't like. It's just the nature of sports.

So we just tried to maybe give him a couple words of encouragement because it's -- well, we've all been there before.