Mackenzie Hughes in the hunt heading into final round at Canadian Open
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CALEDON, Ont. — Mackenzie Hughes has dreamed of this moment. In fact, he’s already been in this moment. This time, he has to believe, will be different.
For the second straight year, the Dundas, Ont. native heads to Sunday at the RBC Canadian Open with a chance to win his national Open.
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Mackenzie Hughes in the hunt heading into final round at Canadian Open Back to video
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“I’ve dreamt from a young age about doing something like this,” Hughes said after shooting a Saturday 64 to head into the final round at 12-under par, two shots back of the lead. “I was standard-bearer back at Hamilton in ’03 and volunteered at a young age and thought, ‘Wow, this is really cool.’ Now that I get to actually do it, I tell myself, ‘Hey, you’ve got to lean into this. You’ve got to embrace it and enjoy it.'”
He tried to embrace it last year at Hamilton Golf and Country Club. Whether it was the weight of the moment, the thought of accomplishment, or simply golf, he couldn’t get it across the finish line, shooting a gut-wrenching 70 in the final round.
“It was easy to kind of look forward and imagine what it would be like to win tournaments 10 minutes from my house and win the Canadian Open,” he recalled. “It was difficult not to have that in your mind. I think it affected me.”
“I think the hardest thing is to not want it too much, which is hard to turn off. It’s hard to turn off something that you’ve thought about for years,” he said.
This year at TPC Toronto in Caledon, the 34-year-old Canadian will have plenty of crowd support as he tries to chase down co-leaders Ryan Fox and Matteo Manassero who head to Sunday at 14-under.
If Hughes is in the hunt when he reaches the rowdy par-3 Rink Hole 14th, they might be able to hear the cheers from Hamilton.
“You’ve got to embrace it and enjoy it. A week like this, I can use them,” Hughes said of the fans. “I can use them for energy. I can use them for momentum. We don’t get that very often. If I go play anywhere else in the world and I’m playing the last round with anyone that’s notable, I’m not the favourite. I’m not someone they’re going to be rooting for. Here I have that going for me, and I think it’s important to try and use it.”
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The rather unheralded trio of Lee Hodges, Kevin Yu and Matt McCarty are tied for third, one shot back at 13-under. Hughes is tied for sixth at 12-under with Jake Knapp and Andew Putnam.
There will be more than one Canadian trying to make history on Sunday. Canadian Open hero from two years ago Nick Taylor eagled the 18th hole on Saturday to join fellow Canucks Taylor Pendrith and Adam Hadwin at 10-under par. All three will be looking to take advantage of TPC Toronto’s receptive greens and make a Sunday charge.
“Certainly a low 60s is not out of the question around this place. We’ve seen it this week,” Hadwin said. “I think at this point it’s going to come down to whether I can get hot with the putter tomorrow.”
The condensed leaderboard has 15 players within three shots of the lead, and another nine players four back at 10-under, including the three Canadians, Irish star Shane Lowry, and American Sam Burns.
Hadwin expects the course could play tougher on Sunday if the expected winds kick up as the course continues to dry from a Wednesday rain storm.
“Fairways have definitely dried out. Greens are still a little soft; they grab pretty quickly,” Hadwin said of the changing conditions. “We’re definitely starting to see some release at least downwind with mid-irons which we hadn’t seen. I imagine by afternoon tomorrow, especially if the wind gets up at all, it will be a bit of a different golf course than we saw Thursday.”
The 37-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C. has struggled mightily this season as he goes through a swing change, but has seen plenty of reason for optimism through 54 holes, and hopes to use this trip home to jumpstart a mid-season push back into the FedEx Cup Top-100, which is the new cut-off to retain a PGA Tour card for 2026.
“To be able to continue momentum from Thursday and on, it’s been a great feeling,” he said. “Just the fact that I can kind of set up and know where the shot is going and how it’s going to come off is a great feeling, something that I felt like I’ve been missing for a while here.”
The Canadian contenders begin action with Taylor playing with Lowry at 11:50 a.m. Hadwin is paired with Pendrith in an all-Canadian group at 12:10 p.m., and Hughes plays with Matt McCarty at 1:25 p.m.
The final group of Fox and Manassero tees off at 1:45 p.m.
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