Mackenzie Hughes fired eleven bogeys and two consecutive bogeys from the 14th to close with a 9-under 63, tie his low round of the season and take a one-shot lead at the Procore Championship. He leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (6.151).

11 birdies are the most he has made in a single round in his PGA Tour career (767 total). His previous best was 10 (twice, 2024 Sentry/R4/finished T25, 2020 Travelers Championship/R1/finished T3).

“I got off to a nice start, made a bit of a bonus birdie on 2, hit a great shot in there, nice putt on 3 and good save on 4, so I kind of felt like I got some good momentum going early,” said Hughes.

“Then was really able to kind of pile it on there on the front nine. Kind of got a sense that around the turn there that things were going nicely. I had a nice feel with the putter, so it was really just about like continuing to put my foot on the gas and go forward.

“I did some really nice things, I mean even like on 12 I drove it right and had to kind of pitch back to the fairway and I got up and down from 225 yards for birdie. So I did some stuff that you can’t really count on all the time. Yeah, really was a nice day, obviously boosted a lot by a strong putter.”

“[The bogeys were] a bit disappointing obviously,” he added, “especially from where I drove it on 14 and to play 15 like that, I mean, I would have loved to play those holes 1-under. I played them 2 over. So that was disappointing, but I was also telling myself walking off the 15th green I was 7 under par still and if I had that at the beginning of the day as something in my head, I would have been ecstatic.

“So I knew I was playing nicely and had some good things going, so it was like just kind of look forward and not look behind you there. I think that’s something that at this point in my career I’m a lot better at doing than I was five, six years ago. So it’s easy to get kind of flustered there and then to maybe compound that, make some more mistakes coming in, but to kind of rebound there and to finish strong like I did was a huge bonus.”

The Canadian holds his seventh 18-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour and is 1-for-6 in converting to victory (2016 RSM Classic). This is his second outright 18-hole lead this season (ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic/finished P2).

Hughes entered the week 65th in the FedExCup Fall standings after logging three top-10 finishes in 23 starts this year (10th/Texas Children’s Houston Open, T3/RBC Heritage, P2/ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic).

Americans Matt McCarty and Ben Griffin both signed for bogey-free 64s and share second place at 8-under.

Griffin tied for his career low first-round score. He has had ten top-10 finishes this season and is tied with Russell Henley for second most by any player (most: 16, Scottie Scheffler).

American Lanto Griffin closed with a bogey-free 65 for a share of fourth place at 7-under alongside compatriot Russell Henley who shot ten birdies and three bogeys for his 65.

American World Number 1 Scottie Scheffler made two bogeys and carded a 70, snapping his streak of 21 consecutive rounds in the 60s, and lies in T38. He is tied with Patrick Cantlay (2021-22) for the longest such streak since 1983 (21/Cantlay/2021-22, 21/Scheffler/2025, 19/Viktor Hovland/2019-20, 17/Bob Estes/2003, 17/Taylor Montgomery/2023-24).

Defending champion Patton Kizzire of the USA who seeks to join compatriots Max Homa and Brendan Steele (2018, 2019) as the only players to successfully defend their title at the Procore Championship, lies in T67 having made one birdie and one bogey.

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