Mackenzie Hughes has spoken out on the state of golf ahead of the PGA Tour’s first event of the season.
The Canadian World No.66 was a late addition into The Sentry at Kapalua this week after moving from 51st to 50th on last year’s FedEx Cup standings due to Jon Rahm’s PGA Tour suspension following his big money move to LIV Golf late last year.
It meant Hughes qualified for the eight signature events this year, including The Sentry, which offer increased purses and FedEx Cup points.
Shortly after Rahm’s defection to LIV, Hughes posted a thread on X after a series of comments lamenting the state of men’s professional golf. He called the game “a sad place” and spoke about how “money has changed things” for the worse.
Men’s professional golf is in a sad place. The direction it's headed right now isn't healthy or good for the sport.And I know many of you are upset with the recent developments - I would be too. I had some thoughts I wanted to share 🧵December 8, 2023
While he’s thankful to be at the first of eight limited field, signature events on the Tour – and perhaps even aware of the irony that it was Rahm’s move that helped him benefit this season – Hughes isn’t necessarily happy with the circumstances that got him there.
Continuing on from where he left off in his tweets from last year, Hughes underlined how golf has become “all about money”.
“All these guys going to LIV have made it pretty clear that it's all about money. I mean, ‘growing the game,’ but also money,” Hughes told media ahead of the $20m tournament in Hawaii.
“So, to me, that's disappointing … Like, in 2019, I didn't pick a schedule based on a purse. But now that I'm qualified for these events [such as The Sentry], obviously it would be silly for me not to play in these events. They are great opportunities. But I just don't think it's right.”
Hughes says a players-only meeting in Delaware, led by Tiger Woods who flew up from Florida, at the 2022 BMW Championship – which played a big part in changing the structure of the PGA Tour – showed him the divide in professional golf and whose voice really mattered.
“There were 70 PGA tour players there and they thought only 25 or 30 of them were good enough for that meeting? Bit of a slap in the face,” Hughes said. “You got 70 of the best players on the PGA Tour that season, and you're going to tell me I can't sit in that meeting and at least listen? You can just put me in the back and say, ‘Hey, Mac, don't speak, but you can at least listen to what we're saying.’ It was like this closed doors meeting for the who's who of the tour.
“I'm not saying that you should make a decision based on what I think, but it would be nice to even just to put your two cents in or to hear what's going on, to be involved, to feel like you're part of it. Because I'm not a star of the PGA Tour, but I'm not a chump, either.”
Hughes didn’t hold back on his fellow players either, calling those who are demanding compensation for their loyalty to the PGA Tour amid negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund “entitled”.
“I think that also there's a lot of guys that feel entitled out here. Like, you start to see all these big amounts of money flying around and this offer and that offer and people think, ‘Oh, well I stayed loyal, like, where's my money?’” Hughes said. “You're not entitled to play the PGA Tour. You have the right and you have a privilege to play out here and it's an opportunity, but it's not like anyone owes you anything. No one's forcing your hand. You don't have to stay; you can go play over there if you want.
“So, this whole, the-tour-owes-me-something attitude, I don't like either.”
Ultimately, Hughes was there to play golf – and he hopes to let his clubs do the talking going forward.
“Obviously, it wasn't for the circumstances I would have liked to have been here for, but we are here nonetheless," Hughes said. "And I'm hopefully going to try and take advantage of the opportunities."
