Mackenzie Hughes will start the 2024 PGA Tour season opener this week at Sentry. This has been designated as his one of his eight signature events this year.
There are bigger purses and smaller fields, giving you additional FedEx Cup points.
The only reason Hughes is participating is because Jon Rahm abandoned the PGA Tour in favor of LIV Golf. The move moves Hughes up one spot to 50th in the final 2023 FedEx Cup standings and exempts him from competing in this year's eight signature events.
He is grateful for the opportunity and is willing to take it. But he appears to have become a disgruntled PGA Tour veteran, and he vented his frustrations on Tuesday from Kapalua, Hawaii, host of the Sentry.
“It’s a shame for me because everyone who goes to LIV has made it very clear that it’s all about the money.
“But now that I'm eligible to compete in these events, it would obviously be stupid not to compete in these events. They're great opportunities. But I just don't think it's right.” Hughes said.
Photo credit: Alex Slits/Getty Images
He then directed his anger at the PGA Tour.
“2019 was all about golf. Our economic model was sustainable. The LIV threat came along and suddenly we started doubling our money, asking our sponsors to invest twice as much, and asking them to do the same. We’re giving them the product.”
Hughes is a member of the PAC (Player Advisory Council), which consults with the PGA Tour Policy Committee on matters related to the Tour. But many times they were left in the dark or caught by surprise.
That included the infamous “players-only meeting” to be held in Delaware in 2022.
“I think it clearly told us whose opinion mattered. I mean, there were 70 PGA Tour players there, but only 25 or 30 of them could be in that meeting. Were you thinking that? Kind of a slap in the face.
“There were 70 of the best players on the PGA Tour that season, and you're going to tell me I can't come to that meeting and at least listen?” You put me behind you and said, “Hey. , Mac, don't talk, but at least listen to us.'' It was like a closed-door meeting with everyone involved in the tour,” Hughes enthused.
The 33-year-old Canadian also tried to think about things from the fans' perspective.
“I think fans are also wondering, do men like golf anymore, or are they all just concerned about the money?
“Fans just want to watch golf. I think people watch sports to get away from all the other nonsense, but golf has brought in a lot of nonsense and now it's not just golf, it's a lot of other nonsense. I think there's a lot going on. It's a bit of a circus.”
It's easy to understand where fuses come from. He mentioned multiple times that the PAC and policy committee met to have discussions with no final outcome, only for him to find out on the news that the tour had decided to hold anyway. .
Like many others, he hopes to see golf reunited. But like many people, it's a mystery to me how such a thing could happen given the current state of the sport.
Kendall Capps is the senior editor of SB Nation's Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social platforms.
