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TSN Senior Reporter

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So far, Mackenzie Hughes’s season has been filled with highs and lows.

The lows occurred in the first part of the year, prior to the shutdown caused by the pandemic. That’s when Hughes missed the cut in nine of 11 starts.

As for the highs, he’s enjoying those right now, riding a streak of seven made cuts that includes two finishes inside the top six. A tie for 13th at last week’s Northern Trust moved the Dundas, Ont., native to 36th spot on the FedEx Cup point list, giving him a legitimate shot of making it to the Tour Championship. To do that, he’ll need a good performance at this week’s BMW Championship in Chicago.

“It has been unusual when you look at it in two parts,” said Hughes of his season. “But I never felt I was playing that poorly.”

Slow starts are nothing new for Hughes. Last season, he missed the cut in seven of his first 10 events. A year before that, he didn’t play the weekend until the ninth tournament of the year. For that reason, he wasn’t overly concerned when this year followed a similar pattern. He trusted his game and that it would turn around at some point.

Unfortunately, that came at the Honda Classic, in the last event before the PGA Tour went on hiatus. Hughes ended up second and was looking forward to building off that finish before he was forced into shutdown mode.

Thankfully he was able to keep his stride when the PGA Tour’s season restarted.

“I’ve always been a guy who can ride momentum,” he said. “Making the cut now is way in the back of my mind. Now I’m thinking about finishing as high as I can. This is up there with my best stretches of golf.”

Hughes knows what’s at stake if he can make it to East Lake Golf Club and the final event of the FedEx Cup. Every player in the field earns a spot in the four majors and every World Golf Championship tournament next season, as well as a big payday. The winner takes home $15 million and last place earns roughly $400,000.

But he’s also wary of wanting it too much, of trying to force the matter instead of relying on his game.

“There’s a big carrot hanging there because everyone knows what comes with making it to East Lake,” said Hughes. “But I’m just going to concentrate on my golf and then we’ll see where we end up after that.”

Hughes’s game is humming along nicely. Last week, he was tied for 13th in Strokes Gained: Overall, a compilation of the major statistical categories. It shows that his play is strong through the bag, although his putting and short game are clearly his strengths. For the season, he’s ranked seventh in Around the Green and 19th in putting.

To make it to the Tour Championship, he’ll need at least a top-15 finish and likely something inside the top 10 this week. That can be tough in a field that includes the top 70 golfers on the season.

Make it or not, Hughes is also looking deeper into the calendar and on to next month’s U.S. Open. He qualified for that with a top-three finish at the Travelers Championship in June. He can’t get into the field for this year’s Masters, slated for November, as the field was closed off prior to the pandemic pause.

There’s also the matter of next summer’s Olympics. Hughes is currently 70th on the world ranking, a spot behind Corey Conners and nine back of Adam Hadwin. He’d love to get inside the top 50 on the world rankings and vie for a spot on the Canadian team.

“I definitely check on it,” he said of the list that will determine who goes to Tokyo. “I want to know where I am. Nine months ago it wasn’t a possibility, but now I have a second life. Representing Canada is something we all want.”

As with this week, all of that can be taken care of by playing good golf. Right now, that’s been something Hughes has been able to do with ease.