PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – For the second day in a row, Mackenzie Hughes ended his round with a little bonus.

Hughes, who shot a 6-under-par 66 Saturday to move into the top-10 in Punta Cana, chipped in for birdie on the par-4 18th for his seventh birdie of the day.

This came after he ended Friday’s round with a chip-in birdie on the par-3 9th.

“I was walking up 18 thinking about what that round could have been,” admitted Hughes, who missed three birdie putts inside of 10 feet on the back nine. “I was kicking myself thinking, ‘man, if I had got a couple more I could have been right there.’ That, on 18, erased a couple of those.”

The 66 matched Hughes low round of the season. His first round of 2018-19 at the Safeway Open was also a 66.

Hughes finished T-13 last week at the Valspar Championship, which was his best result on TOUR since a T-8 at the 2018 RBC Canadian Open. This year’s Canadian Open is at Hamilton Golf and Country Club, where Hughes – who’s from nearby Dundas, Ontario – has played upwards of 50 times growing up.

Although he’s looking forward to a home game that week, he said it was nice to reflect back on a solid result in Tampa as well, which came after missing four-straight cuts.

“It’s not like if I miss four cuts in a row I was playing poorly. But you get a little down and the self-talk gets going the wrong way,” said Hughes, who won The RSM Classic in 2016. “Last week I flipped that self-talk around a little bit. Playing with those guys – like Bubba (Watson) on the weekend – seeing your game up against those guys … they’re not doing things much different than I am. It’s a putt here and there, and I felt like I was close.

“Seeing that result definitely gave me a boost coming in here.”

Hughes admitted he hasn’t yet got fully adjusted from last week’s tight Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort to this week’s wide-open Corales Golf Course. He said Sunday at the Valspar Championship putts that were downhill and down-grain would be rolling about 18 on the stimpmeter. He said this week there likely isn’t a putt over 10 on the stimpmeter.

“The greens are good, it’s just a mater of getting yourself to hit it that hard. I’ve left putts inside of 15 short. It’s hard to do on a normal week,” said Hughes. “It’s been the biggest adjustment … a bit more aggression and committing to getting to roll the ball past the hole.”

Away from the golf course Hughes has had to make an adjustment to his family’s new normal.

The 28-year-old and his wife, Jenna, welcomed their first child (a boy, Kenton Robert) in 2017. He credits Jenna – his “rock-star wife,” he says – for allowing him to do what he needs to do to keep working on his game.

After last year, he said he’s in a fun stage of life with Kenton, who is about 18 months old.

“He’s talking and walking like a little man,” said Hughes, “it’s been really fun. It’s been a lot easier this year for sure.

“It seems very normal, and I couldn’t imagine it any other way than it is now.”

Although he admitted it was a steep learning curve last year, Hughes has turned a corner as he looks to build off of a good result last week, and some good play so far in Punta Cana.