Charlotte, NC – Major Max is in motion again.
Max Homa has suffered a season of attempts at the PGA Tour to say the least, but when it comes to the main championships, he has been in his game.
After missing the cut in his previous five tournaments, Homa somehow managed to gather it all last month in the Masters to finish just outside the Top 10. On Friday, he went up to the dispute at the midpoint of the PGA championship behind his best round in a specialty.
Homa began at number 10 and shot at a blister 6 under 30 in the challenging nine of Quail Hollow and ended with a 64, leaving him at 5 under the tournament. He exceeded his previous low round in a specialization in 2024 Masters for three shots.
“I mean, for a long time they told me that I couldn’t play a specialization,” said Homa. “So now, suddenly, they ask me why play well only in the specialties. I really don’t have an answer for that.”
Then he shrugged and added: “It’s just golf, I guess.”
Upon entering the day, Homa, 34, had not been among the 10 best in an important championship classification table after none of his last 15 rounds, even in Augusta.
But it was marked on Friday.
Even their mishits were working in their favor.
That was ever more true that in hole 14 of 347 Yardas Par-4 when Homa wore the trees on the left side of the street outside the tee and his ball bounced in the green and Rolled less than two feet from the cup To configure a Gimme Eagle Putt.
Homa thought he had driven the green when he heard the cheers of the crowd, but did not realize how close he was to record an elusive albatros.
“That was one of the rare occasions in the golf where the closer to Green, the closer he approached,” said Homa.
When asked if it was one of the best photos he has had, he shook his head.
“I was pointing a yard inside the right bunker, so I touched him as the perfect amount,” said Homa with a smile. “I looked a little scared that I was left, but obviously it was still a good trip. I mean, you don’t hit it intentionally unless you are Scottie (Scheffler) or something like that.”
Homa still has work to do this week, even trying to finish among the top four to avoid having to qualify for the US OPEN in Oakmont next month.
But Homa seems to get to the occasion when his back is against the wall. Last month, I needed to finish 12th or better in the Masters to ensure a return to Augusta National next year. He pressed the number on the button, ending in a draw with Harris English for the 12th.
Even so, Homa said he did not take away much confidence to his strong final in the middle of the Azaleas, saying that he felt he did it with “smoke and mirrors.”
He has continued working tirelessly to improve. He worked with a new swing coach, changed his driver and changed his caddie and now feels that he is starting to light things in the right direction. After the Masters, the 70º ended at the RBC Heritage and then tied in 30 last week in the Truist championship.
“It has been difficult because I felt that I was so broken,” said Homa, who entered the 78th place in the world ranking.
What broke now seems to be fixed. And Homa is now watching what he expects will be his first great victory in the championship.
That will require a strong game in the next 36 holes, and maybe a little luck, but Homa said he helps to be in a course in which he feels so comfortable. He won the Wells Fargo championship here in 2019, one of the six victories in his career at the PGA Tour.
“You come in a place where you know something you are going to do all day in almost all the pins,” said Homa. “I think that helps a lot, especially when I began to feel really well, I knew I was going to enter here and balance it well. I just needed to find some comfort. So this place does for me.”
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AP Golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
