On the surface, things appeared to be trending up for Mackenzie Hughes, the leader at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic after an opening round 65. Sure, he missed the cut at last week’s CJ Cup, but he finished 10th at the Houston Open and T3 at the RBC Heritage, one of the PGA Tour’s signature events.
But Hughes, a two-time winner on Tour with his sights set on more, didn’t like the way he was rolling the ball.
“I think as a player, you have these intuitions that something is not quite right,” he said. “At Harbour Town on Sunday, I think I lost two strokes putting to the field … If I was putting like I did today, I probably win that tournament or have a great chance to win there on the last hole.
“I just felt like in those few weeks even though I had been playing pretty nice, my putting wasn’t really there to the level I would like. So that was kind of the reason for the adjustments coming in here.”
In the run up to this week, Hughes changed his putting routine and focused on clearing his mind.
“Just trying to kind of free myself up a little bit and also kind of get more into (more) reactionary putting, like trust my instincts a little bit more,” Hughes said of the changes. “To me, putting has always been more of an art, and I feel like I’ve been trying to make it a little too perfect lately. Probably having one of my worst putting years I’ve had in a long time.”
For at least 18 holes, Hughes’ battle with putter was over. He led the field with 4.027 strokes gained putting and rolled in just over 108 feet of putts. The Canadian closed his round with four consecutive birdies, but that was courtesy of great iron play as much as it was a hot putter.
Of those closing birdies, the longest was 7 feet, 9 inches, and he was inside three feet on holes 15 and 18. While next week’s PGA Championship is never far from Hughes’ mind – he is a member at Quail Hollow after all – he has put himself in position to contend for his third PGA Tour victory, and that is the immediate priority.
Gotterup Hot, Potgieter Flashes, Kim Falters in Opening Round at Myrtle Beach
Defending champion Chris Gotterup, Tom Kim, the highest ranked player in the field, and Aldrich Potgieter, the long hitting South African, were the featured group in the opening round of the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, and the trio played in a way that mostly reflected their year-to-date performance.
There was reason for optimism and frustration for all three, but it was Gotterup that played the day’s best golf and heads into the second round positioned to defend his lone PGA Tour title. After playing the opening nine in even par 35, alternately struggling off the tee and on the approach, Gotterup caught fire over the final nine holes.
He jump-started his round with a downhill 15-footer for birdie on No. 12, igniting a run that saw Gotterup birdie four of the Dunes Club’s next five holes, a run capped by a 7-footer to make three on the par 4 16th hole. Gotterup finished the day at 68, four strokes behind Hughes.
The view of Potgieter’s round of 3-under 69 depends on whether you are a glass half full or half empty kind of guy. On the bright side, the 20-year-old was four under after five holes and looked as if he might’ve been poised to overwhelm the venerable Robert Trent Jones Sr. design with his length.
Unfortunately, he has struggled around the greens and on the approach during his rookie year on Tour and those issues arose again Thursday. He failed to birdie either of the back nine par 5s, despite being within 80 feet of the pin after two shots on each.
He bogeyed No. 14 when he couldn’t get up and down from just off the green and squandered an opportunity for birdie after he bombed a 315-yard drive on the shortish par 4 16th.
Potgieter is well-positioned, but his round could’ve been much better.
It’s more difficult to find reasons for optimism for fans of Kim, who struggled to a 1-over-par 72. In comparison to Gotterup and Potgieter, Kim is short off the tee, often trailing the long-hitting duo by 15-20 yards, and his irons weren’t sharp. The 22-year-old, three-time winner on Tour will have to play well to make the cut.
