Hughes isn't dwelling over untimely break: 'There's two ways to look at it'

"It was a tough thing to digest right away."

Mackenzie Hughes' reaction to learning the 2020 Players Championship was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic was understandable.

Not only did calling off The Players put an indefinite pause on the 2019-20 season, it also brought recent momentum built by the 29-year-old to a halt.

The Canadian was fresh off a second-place finish at the Honda Classic two weeks prior, where he made the cut on the number, and then carded back-to-back rounds of 66 at the difficult PGA National. He finished alone in second for his best result since winning the 2016 RSM Classic.

In front of him was the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot, and no better time to take advantage than at the PGA Tour's flagship event.

Hughes has fond memories of TPC Sawgrass. It's where he played his first-ever round with Tiger Woods in 2018, and where he finished tied for 16th in his Players debut in 2017.

However, as the Kent State product was preparing for his third Players Championship, he could feel his chances of capitalizing on newfound confidence dwindling.

The NBA suspended its season the night before The Players began. Midway through Hughes' first round on Thursday, March 12, other leagues followed suit, leading the PGA Tour to announce that the remainder of the tournament would be closed to the public.

"As the day went even further along and the NHL, MLB had done the same thing as the NBA, you just kind of got the sense that our time playing golf was getting very limited by the minute," Hughes told theScore.

After shooting a respectable even-par 72 in Round 1, the inevitable text came as Hughes was winding down Thursday night: the tournament was canceled, and so were the next three events on the calendar.

"It was a really eerie feeling. ... But as we got away from the tournament and got home, you started to sense what was happening and got a better feel for things going on all around the world," he recalled.

The pause arguably couldn't have come at a worse time for Hughes. His result at the Honda Classic snapped a streak of five straight missed cuts. It seemed the stars were aligning in time for The Players and he had a chance to cash in - the tournament's $15-million purse is the largest in golf.

Instead, Hughes was faced with a choice: embrace the impromptu offseason with positivity, or consider the break especially untimely.

"There's two ways to look at it. ... The worst time (for a break) for me would have been just before the Honda (Classic)," Hughes said. "If I had not had that great finish and gone into a break missing five straight cuts, it would have been tough to sit on.

"I wouldn't have felt good at home, wondering about my game and where it's at. It was nice to get that validation that my game was really close those previous five weeks. It just took one small thing for it to click."

That "one small thing" turned into a $763,000 payday for finishing as the runner-up to Sungjae Im, which Hughes decided he wasn't going to ruin with thoughts about what could have been.

"Yes, I would have loved to have carried that momentum forward but I'm also thankful I got some momentum to begin with to get my season going," he continued. "I'll choose to look at it that way because that's the most beneficial for me at this point."

Perhaps more important than the money was the 300 FedEx Cup points Hughes collected, more than enough to lock in full status (given to the top 125 on the points list at season's end) for the next year.

"It's huge and to be sitting here at home without that (job security) would suck," Hughes added.

The peace of mind provided allows Hughes to shift his worries elsewhere - mainly to his mother, Sandra, a nurse in Hamilton, Ontario, who's battling the virus that's upended society.

"I think about her often and worry about her but also know she's a trained professional," Hughes told PGA Tour's Sean Martin. "She knows this is her duty and her task right now. She's not complained once or ever made any excuses. That's what I've come to expect from her. Nonetheless, it still makes it very heroic what she does, and all the nurses and doctors."

Hughes is currently at home in Charlotte. For the first four weeks of the break, he didn't touch a club, opting to spend more time with his wife, Jenna, and two-and-a-half-year-old son, Kenton, during what he referred to as his "new offseason."

"I really enjoyed that time, it was fun to do some different things, obviously we were restricted with much of the stuff that we could do, but it was still nice to have a change of pace," he said.

But after taking on a few handyman projects, which he admittedly isn't very good at, and binge-watching a variety of Netflix shows, including the quarantine-favorite "Tiger King," Hughes started practicing again.

With courses open in North Carolina, Hughes has already played a handful of rounds using social-distancing measures, and supports the PGA Tour's decision to employ similar guidelines.

"I'm definitely itching to get back out there competing again soon," he said. "Anything that we can do to get out on the golf course, I'm okay with. If it has to be pins in for a while or no rakes in bunkers. I'm all for it."

If the PGA Tour returns on target for the Charles Schwab Challenge on June 11, it'll be to Hughes' benefit. He placed inside the top 10 at Colonial last year.

And there's no doubt Hughes will be hoping the momentum he built at the Honda Classic will still be around three months later.