It wasn’t looking good for Mackenzie Hughes early Monday morning.
The RSM Classic playoff got off to a chilly start with four men left and after the tee shots at 17, Hughes was in a tough spot.
All four players — Hughes, Henrik Norlander, Blayne Barber and Camilo Villegas — missed the green at the third playoff hole, the 189-yard par three, the first playoff hole of the day after darkness put an end to the proceedings after two trips down the 18th late Sunday evening at Sea Island.
Norlander was in a front bunker, Villegas was just over the flag on the back fringe, Barber was pin high left on the fringe and Hughes had pulled his tee shot a bit, and faced the toughest shot of the four.
After Norlander got his bunker shot within seven feet, Hughes faces a very, very nerve-racking shot. He needed to hit it just right or it would either stay short of the green or roll well past the hole. He didn’t hit it hard enough and he found himself still on the fringe with 14-feet between him and probable elimination.
Barber got his shot within eight feet and Villegas left himself a testy downhill five-footer for par.
“If I don’t make that put, I’m probably done,” said Hughes, who had led the event from day one and barely missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole that would have ended it Sunday evening. “But I flipped it and told myself they all had tough shots and if I made mine, I’d put pressure on them.”
It was a miracle of sorts but Hughes started his putt from the fringe on a perfect line and made it dead-center.
And it did put pressure on the rest.
Barber got up next and missed his eight-footer. Done.
Then Norlander missed his seven-footer. Done.
Only Villegas, a four-time PGA Tour winner, the only experienced player in the final four, stood over his testy five-footer.
It started on its path then missed barely on the right lip.
Over, done, Hughes is a PGA Tour winner with an invite to the Masters and a schedule that will look very different from that of a rookie just off the Web.com Tour.
“What a feeling, to see it go in,” said the young Canadian. “This is huge.”
