Canadian Mackenzie Hughes hits an approach shot during third round of the Canadian Open, in Hamilton, Ont., on June 1.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Herb Page was going about his business on a Tuesday morning when Mackenzie Hughes, one of his former star players on Kent State University’s men’s golf team, reached out to him on FaceTime.
Hughes said he just wanted to say hi because he was killing time at the kind of corporate function PGA Tour players are often invited to speak at. But just as Page bit on his story, Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners leaned into the frame on Hughes’s phone.
All three were in the midst of a practice round at Royal Montreal Golf Club, scouting the course ahead of the Presidents Cup. The three Canadians, all Kent State grads, would be named captain’s selections to the International team a few hours later and they wanted to surprise their collegiate coach with the news.
“I just about cried,” Page said, adding that he had goosebumps from retelling the story. “They’re better people than they are golfers. I know that’s a kind of a catchphrase, but even after they graduated, they keep me in the loop. I’m still part of their little journey.”
Hughes was a year ahead of Pendrith and Conners on the Golden Flashes, but they all overlapped at the university in northeastern Ohio in the early 2010s. They all turned pro and are now three of the top Canadians on the PGA Tour.
Canadian golf legend Mike Weir made them three of his six captain’s picks on Sept. 3 for the Presidents Cup which starts this Thursday at Royal Montreal. Their inclusion on the International team’s roster is the first time three Canadians have played in the best-on-best match-play tournament, with Hughes from Dundas, Ont., Pendrith from Richmond Hill, Ont., and Conners from Listowel, Ont.
It was the morning of Weir’s announcement that Hughes played his small “prank” on Page.
“It just meant so much to me. I couldn’t have been happier,” said Page, who retired from coaching five years ago. “It’s just the way these three young men are, who they are and what they stand for. It was pretty cool.
“He got me so bad. I cannot believe how he did it. It was crazy.”
Hughes said that Page, who is from Markham, Ont., left an indelible mark on him, Pendrith and Conners and there was no way they wouldn’t tell him directly about being named to the Presidents Cup.
“My time at Kent State really helped shape the player I am,” Hughes said. “[Page] was like a father figure to me at Kent State, someone that I really trusted and really respected his opinion.
“He’d be the first to tell you that there was lots of tough love, and some tough conversations that we had, and that’s what I think helps you grow and evolve as a person and a golfer.”
An argument could be made that the Kent State Golden Flashes of the early 2010s is one of the most well-rounded men’s golf teams in NCAA history.
Although other teams can claim more PGA Tour wins – the 1995 Stanford University team, for example, went on to win 86 titles on the PGA Tour, but 82 of them are thanks to Tiger Woods with Notah Begay III adding four – the Canadian trio at Kent State with American John Hahn has arguably been the most successful collectively with five wins between Hughes, Pendrith and Conners.
“It was a pretty stout team,” Hughes said, adding that Hahn went on to play on the European DP World Tour. “Now, at the time, I don’t think we quite had it all together and everyone clicking as a team.
“But you look back on it and individuals that were playing and what they’ve achieved it was a pretty awesome group.”
Page, who recruited and coached that team, is more effusive.
“That era was pretty darn good, pretty darn good,” he said. “Of course, during that era, Alabama was making runs with Justin Thomas and Texas was making runs with Jordan Spieth.
“The thing about all three [Kent State golfers], they just got better and better and better. They weren’t superstars, nationally ranked, coming out of Ontario. I don’t want to say this in a bad way, but it’s not like I had to fend off tons of schools to get them to come to Kent State.”
Hughes has added Page to his VIP guest list at Royal Montreal Golf Club so that his old coach won’t miss a single swing by his former student-athletes when play begins on Thursday.
“I’m flying in Monday night because I’m going to be there the whole damn week,” Page said with a chuckle. “And I’m not flying out until Monday morning because when they raise that cup, I’m going to be there.”