RBC CANADIAN OPEN

June 7, 2025

Mackenzie Hughes

TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley (North Course)

Quick Quotes

Q. Low round of the tournament so far for you. What's working well out there for you?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: I've been putting the ball in play quite a bit, driving it pretty nice. I feel like that's taken some pressure off the putter and the short game. It's a big key around here. You start driving it well, you can attack and be aggressive. I was able to do that today for the most part.

Posted a low one. It kind of gets me somewhere in the mix there tomorrow. I don't know what they're going to finish at, but hopefully no more than a few back going into Sunday.

Q. Guys are getting pretty low out there. What is it about the conditions that have got them primed for scoring?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: The fairway is starting to run out a bit. You start driving it good. On 18 I hit a nice drive. I had a 6-iron in there. It's a golf course that you start driving it good, you're going to get some scoring clubs in your hands.

Yeah, so I think it is out there. Greens are receptive still. It would be nice to see them firm up, but they're just not going to by tomorrow. Start driving it good, and you can post a score.

Q. With not so firm greens, where can you kind of take -- where do you foresee yourself being able to take those risks and be aggressive tomorrow to kind of make your way towards the top?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: There's not really much that's going to change for tomorrow. You get a 5-, 6-iron in your hand, you're looking in the middle of the greens, and you get wedges in your hand and you're trying to be aggressive.

But what's kind of tricky about these greens, when you get down to 100, 110 yards, the shots you're hitting into these greens are not just like stock wedges because the greens are so receptive. You're always trying to play a shot from short range. So I think that's kind of what makes it a little bit tricky out here.

Tomorrow I'm going to be a few back, and I'm going to need to take a few chances probably at some point. It will be a bit of a feel play. I'll know when that moment comes when I have to take those chances. All I can do is control what I can do tomorrow and hopefully have a chance coming down the last few holes.

Q. Adam Hadwin was just here, and he was saying how he's learning to embrace the energy of the crowd again. I think he said this week is the first time he put on a jersey on the Rink Hole. I think that's fair to say that's never been a problem for you. Where does that come from?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: I don't know. I think that there's always been a part of me that's like, when I first came out here, thought, wow, it's going to be a little bit daunting to play in front of these crowds, but then I realized it's actually the fun part of what I do.

I've dreamt from a young age about doing something like this. 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.

It's easy to kind of get zoned in and looking down and locked in and trying not to like look around and embrace what's going on, but I feel like it's been really fun and enjoyable to interact with the crowd and get them going.

A week like this, I can use them. 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 favorite. 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.

Q. Just the fact that there's several of you guys playing well, which means the energy is probably going to be even higher tomorrow, you can use that even more to your advantage, I guess?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: I don't know what's going on out there with the other guys. I know Adam played well today. I saw Nick off to a bit of a slow start, but if he has a good back nine, he gets back up there.

Getting a few of us out there kind of consecutively, if we can kind of get a few guys up there near the lead, a couple guys in front of me start getting the crowds going and I come up there right behind them, it could be a lot of fun.

Like I said, I've tried to embrace it. Don't get to do it very often where I'm a bit of a favorite or a crowd favorite, and it's been enjoyable this week.

Q. Lee was saying he heard O Canada, his estimate was 77 times today. Is that an accurate estimate?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: It's maybe a little inflated, but there was a few today. It's a lot of fun. I'm very proud to be Canadian. It's a great country. I'm very proud to be from here. I can feel that pride out there for us and just for people being Canadian.

Yeah, really enjoying it. Like I said, the support's been phenomenal, and I hope tomorrow it's the loudest day yet.

Q. When you get a leaderboard like this, 21 guys within three strokes of the lead and no one is really running away and hiding, what's that say about what we're seeing here?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: Obviously it's still so wide open. Someone tomorrow near the top can go out there and shoot 61 and blow this thing open. You just never know. Obviously hasn't materialized that way where someone's pulled away. It's anyone's game at this point. No one's been able to totally light this place on fire yet. There's been low scores, but for three days for the lead to be around where it is, the course held up nicely.

We really haven't had much wind yet. This is a golf course where I feel like -- I mean on Wednesday it blew 20 miles an hour out here. I think the wind is supposed to blow tomorrow a little bit. The lead might not move a whole lot from today to tomorrow.

Yeah, I'm excited to see what happens tomorrow and give it a run like last year.

Q. Right now you're one shot off the lead, you're the low Canadian. You've been in this position before at this tournament. What maybe have you learned from last year and other times that you were close to winning this thing?

MACKENZIE HUGHES: 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. It's just something that tomorrow I'm going to need to do a good job of is, hey, what can I control tomorrow? Then when the round is over tomorrow night, I'm just like at peace with whatever happens.

Whether I play great, I don't play great, but I just do the best I can to control what I can control, and whatever happens happens. I think last year I got off to that great start. It was easy to kind of look forward and imagine what it would be like to win tournaments ten minutes from my house and win the Canadian Open. It was difficult not to have that in your mind. I think it affected me.

So tomorrow I'm going to need to do a good job of really staying present and being where my feet are. If I do that, I'll have a good chance tomorrow.