Weekly Recap: Return of the Mac

Two weeks ago at the Presidents Cup, the International team was clearly inferior to the U.S. squad. But they showed their future could be brighter going forward, with Tom Kim a star in the making and other young players who were not quite ready.

This past week at the two biggest tournaments around the world, golfers who thought they should've been on that International team both won. Coincidence? We'll get to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship later on. At the Sanderson Farms Championship, foreign players dominated the top of the leaderboard.

Canada's Mackenzie Hughes earned his second career PGA Tour victory in a playoff over Sepp Straka -- an Austrian who could be in Europe's Ryder Cup future. South Africans Garrick Higgo and Dean Burmester finished third and fourth, respectively, and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo tied for fifth.

For Hughes, a win at the 2016 RSM Classic appeared to signal a promising career built upon a great short game with wonderful touch around the greens. But like so many other maiden winners, he meandered through the next few years.

A great late-season stretch lifted him into the 2020 TOUR Championship, but again, it didn't go anywhere. When he finished runner-up last year at the RSM Classic, Hughes moved to a career-best 39th in the world. But again, he could not build upon that. Almost a year later, he entered the Sanderson Farms having plummeted to 82nd in the world rankings.

With all this inconsistency, Hughes never has been chosen for a Presidents Cup team, though he was among captain Trevor Immelman's final considerations for Quail Hollow -- and that surely was on his mind.

"I don't know if it's extra fuel, but it was disappointing," Hughes told reporters on-site at the Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi. "I guess you would say it was fuel because I definitely worked a little harder after that and felt like that was a team I really, really badly wanted to be on, and I felt like I could have been a good help there. I totally respected Trevor's decision to go the direction he went, and the team -- there wasn't a weak link on that team. There was 12 great players. They had a really tough opponent in the U.S. I still cheered like hell for them to pull it off."

"But I'm definitely motivated for Montreal, and I don't want to have to let that come to a captain's pick next time when that comes around."

Yes, the next Presidents Cup in two years will be in Hughes' home country of Canada.

Obviously, he's got a great start toward that goal on Sunday, but he will have to continue to play well to have a shot.

Hughes had recorded only one top-10 in 2022 before this win. He wound up 57th in the FedExCup Standings and made it to two playoff events. But he fell outside the top 80 in the world, so the season could not be viewed as a success.

This win moved Hughes back to the brink of the top 50, at No. 51. As mentioned, he's got a great short game -- he ranked 29th in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and 14th in SG: Putting on Tour last season. But he's short off the tee and in inaccurate with his irons, and consistently has been ranked outside the top 150 on Tour in both SG: Off-the-Tee and Approach.

That's not going to get you on many Presidents Cup teams. And it won't get you many high finishes on the PGA Tour. Don't be too surprised if this is another aberration for Hughes.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Sepp Straka
What a roller coaster Straka has been on the past few months. This runner-up was his second in four tournaments – the other being the FedEx St. Jude. And then he was sixth at the Tour Championship using the low-72. But just before that heading into the playoffs, he had missed six straight cuts. So this has been quite a reversal for Straka. Unlike Hughes, he has strung together multiple excellent results – even if there are only three of them. He's now up to a career-best 26th in the world rankings, and with continued good play could make a real run at next year's Ryder Cup team.

Garrick Higgo
The South African is still only 23. He was bidding for his second title since coming out of nowhere to win the Palmetto Championship in 2021 – and that win followed quickly after a couple of DP World Tour titles. Higgo appeared to be on a fast track to stardom with a move inside the top-40 in the world. But he had been terrible since then. He had missed 14 of 16 cuts entering Sanderson week and fallen to 166th in the world. So it will take more than one good week to change the Higgo narrative.

Dean Burmester
Higgo's countryman – 10 years older at 33 – is an interesting newcomer to the PGA Tour, having advanced through the Korn Ferry playoffs. Burmester finished top-5 in two of three playoff events, and that followed a tie for 10th at the loaded Scottish Open and a tie for 11th at the Open Championship. So Burmester is no slouch. He's been ranked in the 60s OWGR. This was his first event as a Tour member, so he surely is someone to keep an eye on.

Emiliano Grillo
Grillo had a great putting week – ranking 15th in the field – and he doesn't have many of those. His ball-striking has long been great, so it doesn't take much on the greens for him to have a good week. Grillo had runners-up at the John Deere and 3M Open late last season, then had a top-20 at the BMW. He could be a top guy the rest of the fall season.

Nick Hardy
Hardy turned in his best PGA Tour finish with a tie for fifth. He was a rookie last year but couldn't keep his card, went to the KF playoffs and made it back. He led the Sanderson field in SG: Approach. That was not a strength last season, so beware that this week could be a one-off. But it was a great week and will go a long way to helping hardy keep his card in a more conventional way this season.

Keegan Bradley
Bradley's putting got a lot better last season. At the Sanderson, he ranked third in the field. Along with his usual great ball-striking – he ranked fourth in SG: Off-the-Tee – Bradley tied for fifth. After years ranking around 180th in SG: Putting, Bradley was 88th last season. If he can continue that upward trend, this could be a very good season for Bradley.

Greyson Sigg
Sigg was a rookie last year, showed some real promise with some very good weeks and was able to keep his card – albeit with a little help from all the LIV defections. He won't have such a luxury this season. He'll have to earn it completely on his own. Tying for ninth at the Sanderson was a good start.

Thomas Detry
The Belgian is another international player who gained his card via the KF playoffs. Detry tied for ninth at the Sanderson, after opening his PGA Tour career with a tie for 12th at the Fortinet. Things will get far tougher when the fields get stronger, but Detry may be up to the challenge.

Taylor Montgomery
Montgomery followed up his solo third at the Fortinet with another top-10 at the Sanderson Farms (T9). He led the Fortinet field in putting and was fifth at the Sanderson. The research shows that approach play is the number one key to success on Tour. But sinking putt after putt ain't a bad thing.

Sahith Theegala
It was a surprise to see Theegala not make it to the weekend after nearly winning the tournament a year ago. But it is nothing to concern ourselves with. Theegala played his way to the cusp of the top-50 in the world rankings last season and he should have no trouble breaking that threshold in short order.

Justin Suh
Suh won the Korn Ferry Tour Championship to get fully exempt for this season. After missing the cut at the Fortinet, he did it again at the Sanderson Farms. And that can't help but be concerning as we recall the former USC star struggling so mightily on Tour after coming out with the big wave of 2020 with Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff. The next few tournaments for Suh could be very telling.

Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

Ryan Fox -- the New Zealander who was a strong contender to be a Presidents Cup captain's pick -- held on to win on the Old Course at St. Andrews for the biggest victory of his career. Unlike Hughes, Fox really should've been on International team. He began the year outside the top-200 in the world rankings but now sits a career-best 25th. This was his second European win of 2022, to go along three runners-up and a third. Always a long hitter, Fox is now doing some of the little things to get over the hump. Alex Noren finished only one shot back and missed three very short putts on Sunday. The co-runner-up will move him back into the top-50 in the world at 50th. Rory McIlroy continued his great run of results – although he did have more trouble on the Old Course in tying for fourth. There were some LIV guys in the field. Among them, Louis Oosthuizen tied for 10th and Talor Gooch missed the cut.