VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP

March 24, 2024

Mackenzie Hughes

Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead)

Quick Quotes

Q. I'm sure there's disappointment that you didn't get to win this event, but there's a lot of things that can you take away from it. Just how proud are you of this performance and being in the mix?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah. No, it was a blast. I love being in the battle, in the fight. Yeah, Peter just -- he played incredible. He deserved to win. He played better than I did. He was in control of his golf ball. On that back nine, it kind of flipped there early in the back nine. I made a couple loose swings and kind of misjudged a bit of wind on 12 and 13. He played those holes 1-under, and we kind of flip-flopped. But he played tremendous. Yeah, it was impressive to watch.

Q. Your putting performance this week was either the best or second best, one of the top two of the week. What do you take from that going forward and what are some of the things you might take from the other parts of your game going forward?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, I mean, for the last three, four years that's been a strength of my game. I really hadn't putted well this year, up to my standards, to this point. Losing strokes last week at THE PLAYERS. I think I lost three and a half strokes putting at THE PLAYERS. So, like, if I putted this good last week, I would have had a chance to win, probably. But it's just amazing. You're waiting to put it all together, to put all those pieces together, and, unfortunately, I just didn't drive it -- I drove it great last week and I just didn't quite drive it as well this week. That made it a little bit more difficult.

But with my putting, I kind of went a little more feel, a little more no line. I've been kind of using the line a little bit this year, and I went no line and just tried to free it up a little bit. Yeah, I felt really good out there. So that was nice to see some putts go in and kind of get some confidence back.

Q. What was your discussion with Julian on 12? Was that a club discussion?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, so the wind was right-to-left and it was supposed to be almost dead right-to-left. Then we were standing there in the fairway and it kind of almost felt like it was a bit of hurt and I had 9-iron in my hand and we were trying to figure out if I could cover it. I had 166 cover and 173 pin. It almost switched as I was hitting to like down off the right and I hit a 9-iron that kind of was working on the wind. I mean, it went 12 yards furthers than I thought it could ever go. It was just really hard to feel the wind in certain spots on the golf course today. There was a few pockets of wind that were different than what the forecast was kind of calling for. Around those holes it makes it really difficult because have you some small targets and some tight areas to hit it into.

So, yeah, I was a bit in between clubs and obviously kind of pulled the wrong one.

Q. What's the mix between falling just short on a trophy but doing a lot of really good things to kind of get right in that mix?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, like, I think for me, today I obviously had -- I teed off with the intent that I could hoist the trophy and I was playing well enough to do that. Unfortunately, it didn't happen for me. But you need to keep putting yourself there and have continuous chances for it to happen. There are guys that put themselves there a lot, consistently, and it's hard to win. I mean, Scottie Scheffler last year, look how many times he was right there and he won a couple times. I mean, big tournaments, but like it's just really hard to win.

I played today with a guy who had an incredible day. Peter would have been really hard to beat even if I had a couple more great swings down the stretch. He would have been very, very hard to beat. So it was Peter's day and he played fantastic.

Q. Adam Hadwin had a good finish ahead of you. What sort of messages are you guys sending to Captain Weir early in the season here?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, I mean, it's early. He knows we're all dying to be on that team, but all we can do is just keep playing. It's a long way away. So I know he's watching and I would have loved to have shown him a bit more today and kind of got across the line. But yeah, I know that a player like that would do some damage in match play.

Q. When Peter had that putt on 12, when he kind of looked away, he thought he hit it short and it goes in. When you're playing with a guy like that, do you think --

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah. It was kind of funny because like on 8 and 10 there it was almost like I had some of that going, where he's probably, like, I hit it in there close, and Mac makes another 40-footer. But, yeah, then obviously on 12 was a bit of a big swing there. I make bogey. He makes birdie. Yeah, obviously, he thought he left it short and it trickled in. So, yeah, I mean he, again, like I said, I have nothing but great things to say about how he played today. Obviously he's an asset to our TOUR, just in the way he carries himself, and so, yeah, fun being out there with him and he deserved one today.