Hughes: Electric finish at Travelers was 'definitely weird' without fans

Mackenzie Hughes made over 90 feet of putts on his final two holes at the Travelers Championship to shoot a 3-under 67 and finish in a tie for 3rd.

The Canadian, who opened the week with a 10-under 60 to hold the early lead at TPC River Highlands, was playing in the penultimate pairing alongside Kevin Streelman, and he began the day four strokes back.

Despite being unable to close the gap on eventual winner Dustin Johnson, Hughes ended his week in style with back-to-back stunning birdie putts.

First, on No. 17, he nailed a sweeping 47-footer that would have typically sent the crowd into a frenzy.

Then, from off the green on No. 18, Hughes dropped another bomb for birdie to secure his top-three result.

"... That was definitely weird," Hughes said about making two big putts without a crowd. "Like I hit the putt on 17, that was a putt that would just make people erupt, the way it was a pretty dramatic putt. It broke 20 feet, went in with perfect speed. That would have been really exciting.

"Again, 18 would have been an amphitheater and it would have, again, kind of charged the crowd up again. Yeah, it was definitely different to hear crickets when you make some putts, but I was happy nonetheless."

Instead of finishing in a six-way tie for sixth, Hughes leaped into a share of third with his two lengthy birdie efforts, earning an additional $210,900.

But even with only one bogey on his card throughout the weekend at the Travelers - and he played in a final group with Phil Mickelson during one of his rounds - Hughes left TPC River Highlands wanting more after his opening-round 60.

"Obviously starting the way I did, it would have been nice to carry that forward and win this week, but my game is showing some good signs, and proud of the way I played this week," he said.

Additionally, Hughes will crack the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career, according to world-ranking guru Nosferatu. He'll join fellow Canadians Adam Hadwin and Corey Conners inside the top 100.