Which Canadian has best chance this week at PGA Championship?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Five Canadian is less than four American with the exchange rate, but that didn't help the boys from north of border in trying to put together a practice round at the PGA Championship in Charlotte.
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With a quintet of Canadian golfers in the field for the tournament beginning Thursday at Quail Hollow, the major championship tradition of an all-Canadian practice round was slightly more complicated.
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'We thought about playing a fivesome, but had to break it up,' Mackenzie Hughes said.
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Hughes played in a threesome with Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor on Tuesday and the trio caught up with Postmedia as they waited on the back of the 18th green for Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith in the group behind, perhaps in order to sort out some friendly wagers.
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'We used to barely fill out a foursome and now we are splitting it into two groups,' Hadwin said. 'Guys are playing great. It's been incredible to see the growth of the game in Canada and the individual games of the guys out here.'
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Hughes is coming off a playoff loss to Ryan Fox at last week's Myrtle Beach Classic and the notoriously streaky player looks to have found his form at the right time heading into the season's second major, with three top tens in his past four starts.
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'The things I've been working on with my full swing have been coming along nicely. That's been a nice progression over the past eight weeks,' Hughes said. 'I'm seeing signs of that with my strokes gained numbers improving. My putter is starting to come back around and I've just got to wait for one of those tournaments where I put it all together and I know that if I play like have the past few weeks I can have a chance to win.'
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As a Charlotte resident and a Quail Hollow member, Hughes is the de-facto tournament host for the Canadian contingent this week. On Tuesday evening, the entire gang — including wives, kids and caddies — headed over to Hughes' place for dinner.
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With the course being a regular stop on the PGA Tour for years, Hughes doesn't think he has much of a home-field advantage over the rest of the players, but says the added comfort of seeing familiar faces at the course and sleeping in his own bed has him feeling unusually comfortable for a major championship week.
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Five-time PGA Tour winner Taylor is trying his best to get comfortable at a weather-softened golf course that will play longer than its posted 7,626 yards and seems built for the game's biggest bombers.
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'It's playing super long,' Taylor said. 'But you've still got to hit iron shots to the green and make putts. I feel like if I get it play I can compete with anybody with my iron game and putting and chipping.
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'I'm not trying to overpower anything because that's not my game,' he added. 'I'll try to draw back from weeks like Torrey Pines earlier this season which was playing brutally long and I had a nice week there doing my thing.'
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