Canadian Mackenzie Hughes birdied the final hole to finish in a tie for third on Sunday at the PGA Tour's Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla.
The Dundas, Ont. golfer finished at 9 under for the tournament along with Chandler Phillips, three strokes back of winner Peter Malnati of the U.S.
Hughes was leading after 10 holes, but settled for par on the par-5 11th before bogeying the next two holes — the last one coming when his first shot found water on the par-3 13th. He finished at 1-under 70 in the final round after draining a nine-footer for birdie on No. 18.
"(Malnati) played incredible," Hughes said. "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."
Meanwhile, Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. finished in a four-way tie for fifth at 8 under.
Hadwin shot a 2-under 69 in the final round.
Hughes, fifth among Canadians in the world rankings, and Hadwin, third, both are trying to narrow the gap and be in the top two at the June cutoff to earn a spot in the Paris Olympics.
Nick Taylor and Corey Conners were in the two top spots entering this tournament.
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