May 6, 2020
Canada's Hughes cheering for 'very heroic' mom these days
Encouraged by his mom since he took up golf as a youngster, Canadian PGA Tour player Mackenzie Hughes is now rooting for her - a nurse at Juravinksi Hospital in Hamilton, Bob Weeks writes.
By Bob Weeks
There aren’t many bigger Mackenzie Hughes fans than Sandra Hughes. That would be the Canadian PGA Tour player’s mother who has encouraged and rooted her son along since he took up the game as a youngster.
But now son is cheering on mother, loud and proud.
Sandra Hughes is a nurse at Juravinksi Hospital in Hamilton, Ont., which was put into emergency mode in March preparing for a flurry of COVID-19 cases. Thankfully that hasn’t happened although there were two positive cases among the staff, which were handled quickly and safely.
But the restrictions at the hospital mean many of the patients she had been treating with non-COVID-19 afflictions were moved out. She’s anxious to get them back so she can continue to treat them.
"She’s been a rock star," said Hughes of his mother, who continues to don the full personal protection equipment at work. "Every nurse and doctor across the country, we’re really asking a lot of them right now. What they’re doing and what my mom is doing are very heroic."
Hughes’s job chasing golf balls around fairways and greens may seem somewhat inconsequential by comparison, but he is gradually preparing himself for a return to work, which the PGA Tour has scheduled for June 11 at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
After a month without playing, the 29-year-old who makes his home in Charlotte, N.C., is back at it, not only grooving his game but also clearing his head.
"The last 10 days or so, I’ve started to play golf again," he said. "It’s been nice to be on the golf course and get away from the whole COVID-19 thing. I’m still taking all the precautions but for a brief second you don’t feel like you’re in the middle of a pandemic."
When the tour halted play after the first round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass on March 12, Hughes was riding a high. The week prior, he’d finished second at the Honda Classic, staunching what had been a tough year that saw him miss the cut in nine of 11 starts. That momentum he was hoping to carry forward was put on pause.
He’s not sure how his game will feel once he goes back to playing and he’s also uncertain of how golf will feel with the new rules.
"I think it’s going to seem a bit eerie in the beginning because of no fans on the golf course which doesn’t happen very often for us," he stated. "You hit a great shot or hole a long putt and your reaction might be to wave to the crowd but there will be no one there.
"I don’t know if we’re going to shake hands, or what they’re going to do with the pins or the rakes. Your guess is as good as mine. There are so many different ways it could go. Speculating on it right now, we’re going nowhere with that."
Galleries or not, Hughes said getting back on the tour will have some similarities from the pre-pandemic times.
"The biggest thing for me is the competition, feeling the nerves, a chance to win golf tournaments," he said. "That’s what I really miss the most. There’s a lot of uncertainty about our return but for right now I’m optimistic."
Optimism, it seems, runs in the Hughes family no matter whether it’s hitting golf shots or, more importantly, helping patients in hospitals.