Hughes overcomes pressure to punch ticket to Tour Championship
Mackenzie Hughes shot a final-round 71 at the BMW Championship to secure his fourth top-10 result of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season, and more importantly, earn his berth into next week's Tour Championship with the FedEx Cup trophy on the line.
But it wasn't easy.
Hughes played himself into the penultimate pairing through three rounds and needed to come up with another strong performance at a difficult Olympia Fields to sneak inside the top 30 on the FedEx Cup points list.
After a late bogey on No. 17 dropped Hughes into a tie for 10th, he was faced with a simple yet daunting task with one hole remaining: Make a par and move on to East Lake, or make bogey and go home.
"That was some of the most pressure I've felt in a long time," Hughes said after his round, according to ASAP Sports.
Despite not being known for his power, Hughes stepped up on the 18th tee and launched a 348-yard drive over the dogleg that left him with a short-iron in. His approach shot came up short in a greenside bunker, which he splashed out to give himself a 5-foot putt for par.
"I've contended to win some tournaments this summer, and that kind of felt like the same kind of intensity on that putt," he said.
Hughes confidently struck the slippery 5-footer - one he called "the greasiest, longest putt you'd ever want to have" - which snuck inside the right side of the cup. He let out a fist pump, picked his ball out of the cup, and raised his arms in celebration as he looked to the sky.
"I made it pretty hard there down the stretch, but just really thankful and relieved to get it done," he said.
Due to the shortened 2019-20 PGA Tour season, Hughes' spot in the Tour Championship gets him into all four 2021 majors, the 2021 Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, and the WGC-Mexico Championship. He'll make his second trip to Augusta in April after playing his first Masters in 2017.
Hughes has a slim chance to win the FedEx Cup, as he'll start the event 10 shots behind current points leader Dustin Johnson. Still, there is plenty of cash up for grabs at the season finale, including $395,000 for finishing 30th out of 30.
"It's kind of a freeing feeling," Hughes said about qualifying for East Lake. "I'm obviously not expected to go do anything at the Tour Championship, but I'm 10 back ... you never know what could happen. I know you can't win if you're not there, so step one accomplished, and I'm excited for the week."