RBC CANADIAN OPEN

June 6, 2025

Mackenzie Hughes

TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley (North Course)

Quick Quotes

Q. Mack, 12-under is leading, which sounds like a lot under par. What's your plan? Do you feel like this course might firm up and the guys might come back to you?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: I was just saying to Bob, 12-under leading seems like a big deficit, but second is 9-under. Obviously Cam is playing great, but if he gets off to a slower start or doesn't play great tomorrow, then obviously it starts to open things up a bit.

All I can do is go out there and try to get off to a nice start like I did today. I think the key is not to force things. I think it will get firmer, it will get a little harder over the weekends.

Nothing much really changes. If it gets late tomorrow and I'm finding myself quite a ways back or six, seven back, I might take a few more chances. Starting tomorrow, it will be the same game plan, try to pick off a few early and keep that going.

Q. At this stage of the week on a golf course you don't know that well, do you go into tomorrow thinking I know exactly what I have to do now? There's no more tricks, you figured it out?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, I think that every day on this course you pick up some new knowledge. We've played it in a couple different winds now. It will be a little bit different tomorrow even.

It requires a little more prep work in advance. You look at some of the tee shots, how they're going to play off the tee. Today they moved around a few tee blocks, and that changed a few club selections off the tee. I feel comfortable and confident in what to do, but the course changes small bits day to day.

Yeah, tomorrow, I've got a good game plan, and I am starting to feel a little more comfortable around here.

Q. Obviously the better weather today meant more fans out. They're louder today. How much has that helped you and the all-Canadian group?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Yeah, I felt like really early on, me and the boys were playing, and we were playing nice. Having those putts go in and making the birdies early, I felt like we got the crowds behind us pretty quickly. That was a lot of fun. It started to kind of feel like the whole group was kind of being carried by the fans there.

It was pretty electric there on the Rink. We were enjoying it for sure.

Q. You touched on this a little in your answers to Jason, but how much was your strategy just to come out really strong on that front nine?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: I don't know if it was necessarily a tactic or a strategy, but I knew I was quite a bit behind starting the day. Getting myself back into the tournament was going to require me to be a little aggressive.

Obviously the start was fantastic. I didn't keep that going, unfortunately, but I think I did enough to kind of get my nose up there in contention a little bit. Two more long days to go.

Q. Many kinds of scores today. How has this course changed since yesterday?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: I think just for the guys that played yesterday morning, it felt quite a bit different because the ball was going quite a bit further. We weren't getting rained on. I felt like the ball was going pretty far today in the heat.

I think that's been something we're trying to keep an eye on is how far the ball's going. Especially today when we're playing with it a bit firmer, a bit windier, the ball was going pretty far.

Yeah, I think the course is changing a little bit, and guys are still learning this golf course as we go. Even myself, I feel like I'm still picking up knowledge each day. I think just not knowing where the best misses are kind of makes things a bit tricky.

Yeah, everyone is still learning this golf course. I think it's starting to play the way it should play now.