THE 152ND OPEN

July 18, 2024

Mackenzie Hughes

Mixed Zone

Q. How hard was that putt? A lot of guys have been missing them on 18. On a day when it seems like guys are struggling, you've been going great.

MACKENZIE HUGHES: I feel like I've been reading the greens pretty well. I think for the most part I try to under read them, if anything. I try not to find too much in these putts. It's pretty often from 25 feet, it's right edge or left edge. It's hard to get online from that far.

But I just try to keep my lines pretty tight, and I was able to roll in a few today.

Q. Was it difficult to read the putts in this dying light?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, I think at this point in the day, like the last hole for sure and maybe even 17, just not great light. Even like seeing the tee shots coming down 18, it's a little bit tough. You see them, but you don't quite see where they end up.

Q. With the short game and long putting being the real strength of your game, what kind of confidence did that give you once you saw it was a day you were seeing the lines well?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, it definitely had a nice feel with the putter. The greens are a speed where you feel like you can putt them pretty aggressively. There was a couple times today I thought I hit it a little too hard and it might go three feet by.

I think that's a bit of freedom there for me. It kind of freed me up from that 30-foot range. Yeah, I had a pretty good feel for the speed and had some nice looks today. It was nice to see a few go in.

Q. Could you feel the conditions changing that as you came out in the afternoon, even kind of within an hour, the wind had died down a little bit. Was there a sense that I can take advantage of this?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, I didn't feel like -- especially on the front nine there, just not having like the rain. I know I watched a little bit of it earlier, and there was some rain. So taking the moisture out of the equation was big.

So I felt like, yeah, there was a bit of a chance there to put a score up. Yeah, it was nice to take advantage of that.

Q. I know you said in 2021 you feel like you were almost born for links golf. What does an opening round like this do for the rest of the week for you?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: It's nice to get off to a good start. There's lots of golf to play. It's a very demanding golf course. You've got to put the ball in play. There's some pretty thick fescue out there, which I found on 15.

I love this type of golf. I feel like it kind of throws the rule book out the window. It's not about playing perfect golf. It's just about kind of managing your way around and hitting golf shots. I think that's why I've always loved coming over here.

Q. As sweet as that putt on 18 was, is it sweeter to know that Nick, Adam, and Corey all missed on that line?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: No, I root for those guys. I don't want to see them miss. Yeah, I thought I had a pretty good read there. Thankfully it rolled in.

Q. On a day with a lot happening, was there one shot that sort of swung it in the right direction or something that stands out in your mind?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: I really feel like the start was critical. I felt like the holes early on were tough. 1 was a 2-iron and an 8-iron. It was 2-iron, 5-iron on 2. I hit a great 5-iron into 2 and made an eight-foot putt. I think getting under-par early was a really nice little bonus.

I just kind of felt like I had my feet under me, and it was like, okay, I can go, versus if you're a couple over through two or a couple over through four, you're kind of fighting your way back.

So I just felt like that nice start and probably the birdie on 2 is what got me going.

Q. You talked about the Postage Stamp, you got up-and-down from the bunker. I don't know how many people did that, but it looked pretty special.

MACKENZIE HUGHES: I almost thought my ball was going to stay up, and they were clapping, and then it just trickled off of that green into the bunker on the right.

I was so mad at myself because I watched guys all morning do that. I was like, I'm going to make sure I keep the ball left of the flag. It gets up there and just starts cutting on the wind. You just can't miss that ball right. Once I got down there, I didn't have the greatest lie, but I was in the bottom.

So at that point, it's just damage control. I'm just trying to get that ball on the green to have a putt. So just take a 15-footer behind the hole and try and roll it in, and that's what I did.

Q. Is keeping the putter singing kind of the key thing, looking at what Shane Lowry's done, what you've done today?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, if you're hitting it good and you get around these hole locations, the greens don't break a tremendous amount. So I feel like you can start making some putts if you are reading them well.