With just one hole remaining between him and the greatest moment of his life, there were only two ways he could lose the PGA Tour card that was now all-but his: He could melt down and play a stinker of an 18th or the guy two strokes behind him on the leaderboard could eagle the final hole.

So, of course, the guy eagled.

Somehow it never seems to come easy for Mackenzie Hughes. When things have gone gloriously well for the 25-year-old golfer from Dundas, it's often required an implausibly wondrous shot somewhere along the way to make it happen. When things have gone sideways, it's seemingly always in the most-excruciating fashion.

Now here he was on Sunday afternoon in Missouri, with his life's dream so incredibly close, yet again staring at the same type of agonizing psychological test he's faced so many times before: How to stay calm and finish strong when everything was on the line.

All week at the Web.com Tour's Price Cutter Charity Championship, Hughes had been terrific. If he'd ever played better golf it's hard to imagine when or where. He opened with a 67, followed that up with a matching score and then carded a scorching 64 to put himself in front by one heading into the final round.

Hang on to win and he'd earn the right to jump from the minor leagues where he's played since 2013 — he's spent time in both PGA Tour Canada and the Web.com Tour — to the bright lights where he'd tee off on TV with the superstars of the golf world.

He'd have big-time sponsorship opportunities, fame and all the other stuff that comes with being one of the game's big shots.

At times over the past few years, he truly questioned whether this would ever happen. Never more so than earlier this season when he was in second place midway through the second round of an event only to see everything fall apart and miss the cut.

"I was thinking, 'How much longer do I want to do this, to struggle?'" he remembers thinking.

Two weeks later he failed to qualify for a tournament and was truly down. Then a bunch of guys pulled out and he was invited to play after all. That weekend he finished fifth and never looked back. He calls it his miracle.

Sunday wasn't a miracle, though. It was a trial.

Hughes says it had already been his hardest-ever day on a golf course, when he got to the 18th tee. Trying to stay calm and not let his mind wander to all the great things that would come with a PGA Tour card was absolute mental warfare.

"When you've played and practised all your life to get there, it was definitely on my mind," he says.

After his opponent's eagle fell, he now needed a birdie on the 542-yard par 5 18th to get that card. Concentrating solely on his breathing, he steadily drilled his tee shot right down the middle. Then chose not to go for it all in two but lay up. This reduced his risk, but meant his 110-yard wedge to the green had to be great to give himself a chance.

It was. When he got to the green, the ball was sitting within two feet of glory. Leaving him the kind of putt you'd tap in backhanded if you were out playing with your buddies. The two-time Canadian amateur champion and 2013 Golden Horseshoe athlete of the year was suddenly a gimme away from not just pocketing a nice cheque for $121,500 US but becoming a PGA Tour player.

The first born and raised Hamiltonian to earn full Tour status.

Even so, when it fell he looked stunned.

"Relief, excitement, disbelief, joy, shock, you name it," he says. "I just felt everything under the rainbow."

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He'll start playing with the big boys in the fall. Meanwhile, he gets married in October. Could this be leading to an awkward scheduling problem?

Actually, no. Way back at the start of the year — long before a Tour card became a reality — he and his fiancée chose a Saturday that didn't have a PGA tournament. Despite all the struggles and ups and downs and moments of doubt, he really believed it could all work out.

Of course, he says.

"You always plan for the best."

Scott Radley Scott Radley is a sports columnist for The Hamilton Spectator. Email | Twitter

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