HAMILTON – Mackenzie Hughes’ wife, Jenna, found in the back of a closet a hand-made sign of Hughes’ face on a stick – the last remaining relic from the 2019 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton. His son, Kenton, proudly waved it around on Friday. The Hughes clan, numbering dozens, was out in force. The PGA Tour winner grew up about 10 kilometres from Hamilton and has played the club about 50 times.
He gave them plenty to cheer about on Friday after a 6-under 64 moved him right up the leaderboard in the second round. Hughes is just three back of Bob MacIntyre and Ryan Fox heading into the weekend.
“This one’s different,” Hughes said of this year’s Canadian Open. “Yesterday on the first tee when they announced me and they say, ‘Dundas, Ontario’ just knowing how close that is to here, it kind of hit that it was really, really special. Doing it here does feel different.
“Being in Toronto is obviously still home, but I spent time here as a kid. Probably my fondest memories of the Canadian Open were here when I was younger, as a volunteer or watching, so there's just a ton of cool memories and nostalgia from coming to this place.”
Hughes raced out to an impressive finish in the second round at Hamilton, birding his first hole of the day before knocking in a pitch from the junk on the par-4 12th for an eagle. He added three more birdies on the back nine, his first, before adding another birdie on No. 1 after making the turn and another eagle on the par-5 4th – after sizzling a mid-iron from 204 yards to just 11 feet.
Hughes couldn’t quite hold it together coming in, bogeying Nos. 7 and 8 before dropping in a slippery par saver on No. 9, his final hole of the day.
Still, Hughes’ 6-under effort left him at 7 under through 36 holes. He trails MacIntyre and Fox by just three.
“I’ve had some time to process the round and kind of the whole day and while the finish was disappointing, I look at the whole body of work. Starting today if you told me I was going to shoot 64, I would have taken it,” Hughes said. “So, it gets me into contention on the weekend and that’s all I can ask for.”
Hughes struggled off the tee Friday but has an incredible day with the putter, leading the way in strokes gained: putting in the second round.
MacIntyre, who earned a PGA Tour card for the first time in 2024 via his finish on the DP World Tour last season, has had a mixed bag of results since coming over to America earlier this year – missing half his cuts. But he’s also had three top-10 finishes, including a tie for 8th at the PGA Championship.
MacIntyre shot a bogey-free 4-under 66 after opening with a 64.
His father is making his debut as his caddie this week as MacIntrye admitted the golfing statistics have all shown this year he’s been playing just as well, if not better, than last year – but he said he needed an attitude adjustment.
“There was something stopping me from competing. I felt like I had a terrible start to the year. Something was stopping me,” he said. “And then you got to look at yourself, you got to look yourself in the mirror and go, ‘you might be the problem.’ We sat down, we spoke about it, and I think my attitude was a problem. Just now I'm working hard on that, trying to just stay as even keeled and just deal with whatever comes.”
Fox made a late bogey which dropped him out of the lead before dropping a 13-footer for birdie on his final hole of the day to get back to 10 under. He had a spectacular ball-striking day, sitting third in strokes gained: off the tee and second in strokes gained: approach to green.
Joel Dahmen – he of Netflix fame – sits third. He has plenty of Canadian connections with Nick Taylor being his best friend and spending a half-decade on PGA Tour Canada – winning the Order of Merit in 2014.
“I haven't played in this event in five years. I came here on Tuesday and I just kind of had great vibes again. I almost felt bad I hadn't been back,” Dahmen said.
The good Canadian vibes returned quickly, however.
“Putted well this week. Hit it well. Kind of done everything well. Just kind of sticking with my process doing the same thing over and over again,” Dahmen explained. “Over two days it adds up pretty nicely.”
Hughes is in a three-way tie for fourth while Wil Bateman and Corey Conners are tied for 13th at 4 under.
Conners also got off to a blistering start but stumbled home, like his countryman, making bogeys on Nos. 7 and 9 – his final hole of the day.
Conners was tied for 11th through the early part of the afternoon and admitted with a laugh that there’s one part of Hughes’ game that impressed him the most.
“I'm a little bit jealous sometimes how well he rolls it,” Conners said. “He can get on a good roll, and the greens here are rolling beautifully, no surprise he was rolling a bunch of putts in.”
The other Canadians to find the weekend include Taylor Pendrith (2 under), Ben Silverman (1 under), Myles Creighton (1 under), David Hearn (Even), and Adam Svensson (Even).
Hughes leads the Canadian contingent, however, and he’ll need to stay hot on the weekend. But he’s put himself in a great chance through 36 holes to potentially follow in the footsteps of Nick Taylor – who missed the cut in his title defence.
And if he does that, his wife will definitely need to get a new set of signs.
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