Confessions of a Tour Pro: Part 5
Mackenzie Hughes is a 23-year-old Canadian professional golfer who plays on the Web.com Tour. theScore is sponsoring Mackenzie, and he’ll be sharing his experiences through his bi-weekly tour diary, “Confessions of a Tour Pro.”
After the past few weeks of speaking Spanish, dealing in pesos and just general chaos, boy was I glad to be back in the U.S. for the Chitimacha Louisiana Open! I had been to Louisiana a few times in college, and remembered how much the people there like to entertain. Well, they did not disappoint. My fellow Canadian Web.com Tour player Albin Choi and I stayed with a couple from Lafayette that he had met after playing a college event there, and we ate like kings all week.
It was really nice to stay in a house rather than a hotel. It gives you a little bit of extra freedom. Plus, we didn’t have to share a bed.
Louisiana marked the first event I had a caddie who could communicate with me in English. What a relief! This was something I took for granted before, but not anymore. This caddie had more than 25 years experience and is someone I'll continue to use this year. We worked well together, and I'm excited to continue to work with him.
I unfortunately ran into a bit of a rough patch in my first round, but despite that I played some really good golf. The wind was steady at 15-25 mph the first two rounds, so there were lots of shots being manufactured in the wind. My second round was one of my more complete rounds this year, shooting 68 despite a double bogey on the ninth hole. So there were lots of positives to take from the week.
My mom was in Louisiana to watch me play, so even though I missed the cut I stayed to spend the weekend with her. We explored on Saturday, and stumbled upon a Frog Festival down by one of the swamps. I have never seen frogs so big in my life, and on the menu were none other than frog legs - with some alligator and turtle as well. I took a pass on the frog legs and turtle, but the alligator was actually really good. Tastes like chicken!
Later that day, the couple we were staying with invited us to a University of Louisiana baseball game. They were the No. 1 team in the country, so it was a fun game to watch. I even managed to snag a foul ball in the first inning!
I'm going to enjoy a nice week off at home, and start to prepare for Mexico. Let's see how my Spanish is one more time. Adios!