WATCH: Mackenzie Hughes drains 2nd eagle of Round 2 to take sole lead in home RBC Canadian Open
Mackenzie Hughes is the highest-placed Canadian at the RBC Canadian Open so far. He played his second round for a score of 6 under 64 to put himself in contention for the title.
Hughes made his second eagle of the day on the 4th hole (13th of the round for him) to momentarily move into first place.
A video of this moment was posted by the PGA Tour on its X account (formerly Twitter):
Mackenzie Hughes made this play on the par-5 539-yard 4th hole. The Canadian hit the fairway with a 326-yard drive and reached the green with his second shot. The ball was 11 feet from the hole and got the putt and the eagle.
At the time, Hughes had a score of 8 under for the round and was alone in first place. He was later overtaken by other players, as he closed the round with bogey-bogey-par on the last three holes.
Mackenzie Hughes' performance in the second round of the 2024 RBC Canadian Open started with a birdie on the first hole, par on the second and his first eagle of the day on the third.
He bogeyed the fourth but made birdie-birdie-par-birdie-par on the last five holes of the front nine and turned in 5 under. On the back nine, Mackenzie Hughes was bogey-free until the 15th, with a birdie on the 10th and an eagle on the 13th.
Hughes played the first round of the 2024 RBC Canadian Open with three birdies and two bogeys (1 under). His score of 7 under for 36 holes currently places him tied for second place three strokes behind leader Robert MacIntyre with the round still to finish.
A look into Mackenzie Hughes' stats at the RBC Canadian Open
Hughes is an excellent putter. His 'Stroke Gained (SG): Putting' is 7.360, currently second in the tournament. He also uses the fewest putts per greens in regulations, 1.44.
He has not been equal in ball striking, as he has managed to hit only 13 of the 28 fairways he has played (46.43%) and reach only 18 of the 36 greens in regulation (50%). His average driving distance is 316.70 yards.
Hughes made up for his lack of accuracy with his short game, as he saved par or better on 13 of the 18 times he missed the green in regulation. This allowed him to report a 'SG: Approach the green' of 1.471 and a 'SG: Around the green' of 0.353.
Hughes is one of the best putters on the PGA Tour, with an 'SG: Putting' of 0.500 during the 2024 season (ranked 18th on the circuit). In addition, he uses only 1.541 putts per round (6th) and only one putt on 43.97% of the holes (10th).