Max Homa

Homa began playing golf at age 2 when his father, an acting teacher, brought him to the driving range with him. He also played basketball and is a big fan of the Los Angeles Lakers. He was inspired by his good friend David Stroud, who passed away from non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2011. Homa is one of the wittiest and most honest pros in the game, which is old news to those who follow him on Twitter, where he has 556,000 followers.
Three days before qualifying for the U.S. Open, he won the 2013 NCAA Men's Golf Individual Championship by three strokes in Woodstock, Ga. He was named first-team All-American in 2012-2013 and third-team All-American in 2011-2012. Earned medalist honors at the 2013 Pac-12 Championship. Recorded a career 70.80 stroke average at UC Berkeley, was named to Ben Hogan Award watch list, and played on the 2013 U.S. Walker Cup team.
After the Walker Cup in 2013, he turned professional and used up his eight slots on the PGA Tour. In his first professional start, he finished T-9th at the Safeway Open and earned $135,000. Played the following week at the Shriners Hospitals and finished T-30th. At the end of the year, he went to Korn Ferry Tour qualifying tournament, where he finished T-6th, thus getting his Korn Ferry Tour card for 2014.
2014 Notes: He continued pursuing Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour early in the season but made only two cuts in six starts and came up short of qualifying for membership, so he turned his attention to the Korn Ferry Tour full-time. In his fourth start of the year on that tour, he finished 7th at the South Georgia Classic, was one stroke back going into the final round, but shot 73. Two weeks later, he shot a final-round 63 at the BMW Charity Pro-Am to overtake the leaders and win his first title. Homa played in 18 events on the Korn Ferry Tour, and with seven top-25 finishes, he closed the year with $192,350 in earnings, 17th in the rankings, enough to get his PGA Tour card for 2015.
2015 Notes: He played in 27 PGA Tour events, making 12 cuts and had only one top-10 finish, a T-6th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He missed the FedExCup playoffs after finishing 163rd in the FedExCup standings. He opened with a T-52nd at the Hotel Fitness in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, then missed two cuts and withdrew from the finale at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Finished 95th on the Finals money list, so it was back to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2016.
2016 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 21; Rounds Played - 62; In Money - 10; Top-10 Finishes - 2; Scoring Average - 70.26 (rank 65th); Regular Season Money - $155,653 (rank 23rd); Playoff Money - $19,000 (rank 44th), Priority Rank- 42. He won the Rust-Oleum Championship, and with his 23rd-place finish on the money list, he earned a return trip to the PGA Tour for 2017.
2017 Notes: At best, the year was dreadful. In 17 starts, he only made the cut twice: 71st in the Barbasol Championship and 85th at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Things were so bad in his last event of the year, the Wyndham Championship, he missed the cut by 15 strokes. He went back to Les Johnson, his swing coach during his college years, and they worked on the worst part of his game, hitting fairways.
2018 Notes: After finishing T-7th in the year's first Korn Ferry Tour event, he struggled. He missed half the cuts in his next 22 events and didn't finish higher than T-17th at the Panama Championship. He turned the corner in the second round of the WinCo Foods Portland Open. Before the event, he had a tattoo put on his right arm with the word "relentless." He needed that because he had to birdie his final four holes in Portland's second round to make the cut. If he hadn't, he would have failed to reach the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and had to go to Korn Ferry Tour Q-school to earn back his Korn Ferry Tour status. In the four finals events, he finished T-21st at the Nationwide Children's, T-6th at the DAP Championship, and 7th at the Albertsons Boise Open. He missed the Korn Ferry Tour Championship cut, but it didn't matter. He finished 15th on the Korn Ferry Tour Finals money list and was 26th in the final priority ranking, giving him his PGA Tour card for 2019.
2019 Notes: Played in 25 PGA Tour events, making 16 cuts with two top-10 finishes. Was 60th in the FedExCup standings. After a T-60th at the Safeway Open, things didn't look good, as he missed his next six cuts. He broke out of the rut with a T-26th finish at the WM Phoenix Open, followed by a T-10th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Coming into the Wells Fargo Championship, Homa was 138th in the FedExCup race and 417th in the Official World Golf Ranking, a serious rise after beginning the year 840th. He opened with 69-63 to be a shot out of the lead and played with Rory McIlroy in the second-to-last Saturday group. Homa shot a 70-67 over the weekend to cruise to a three-stroke win over Joel Dahmen and eight over McIlroy. With the victory, Homa climbed to 35th in the FedExCup standings and 102nd in the World Ranking, and with the win, he got into the PGA Championship, along with the Masters and the Sentry TofC in 2020. More importantly, he got a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour. Going into Wells Fargo, Homa had $967,555 in official PGA Tour earnings in his 68 PGA Tour starts. He won $1,422,000 at Wells Fargo. His check for the week was $454,445 more than his PGA Tour career earnings. In the FedExCup playoffs, he was T-38th at the Northern Trust and T-61st at the BMW Championship.
2020 Notes: Played in 21 PGA Tour events, making 14 cuts with four top-10 finishes. Was 70th in the FedExCup standings. Was T-9th at the Farmers Insurance Open and T-6th at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, four strokes behind winner Webb Simpson. Was T-5th at the Genesis Invitational, three shots behind winner Adam Scott, and T-3rd at the 3M Open, three behind winner Michael Thompson. In the FedExCup playoffs, he missed the cut at the Northern Trust and T-59th at the BMW Championship.
2021 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events making 19 cuts with five top-ten finishes. Was 35th in the FedExCup standings. Was a co-leader going into the final round of the American Express, shot 76 to finish T-21st. T-7th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am, five shots back of winner Daniel Berger. He defeated Tony Finau in a playoff to win The Genesis Invitational, earning his second PGA Tour title. The victory came in his 110th career start at 30 years, 3 months, and 2 days. He missed a 3-foot, 4-inch birdie putt at the 72nd hole before advancing to the playoff. He was the only player in the field to record four under-par scores. He was T-10th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Shot 74 in the final round of the Valspar Championship to finish T-6th. He also finished T-6th at the Memorial, seven shots back of the Cantlay/Morikawa playoff. In the FedExCup Playoffs was T-47th at the Northern Trust and T-63rd at the BMW Championship.
2022 Notes: Played in 24 PGA Tour events making 21 cuts with five top-ten finishes. He was 5th in the FedExCup standings. He won the season-opening Fortinet Championship, earning his third career PGA Tour title in his 128th start at 30 years and 10 months. He entered the final round trailing by two shots and played the final seven holes in 5-under en route to his second career come-from-behind victory. It marked the second win in his home state of California. He finished T-10th in defense of his Genesis Invitational title. Shot 66 in the final round to finish T-13th at the Players Championship. He won the Wells Fargo Championship for the second time, earning his fourth PGA Tour title and second of the season. The victory came at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm (won at Quail Hollow Club in 2019), with the tournament moving for one year to accommodate the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow. He won by two shots over Keegan Bradley, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Cameron Young. He was T-5th at the Memorial, seven shots back of winner Billy Horschel. In the FedExCup playoffs, he was T-42nd at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, T-23rd at the BMW Championship, and T-5th at the Tour Championship. He played in his first Presidents Cup and won all four matches. In the singles, beat Tom Kim 1 up.
2023 Notes: Played in 25 PGA Tour events, making 21 cuts with 13 top-ten finishes. He was 9th in the FedExCup standings. Defended his title at the Fortinet Championship, chipping in for birdie at the 72nd hole from 32 feet, and when Danny Willett three-putted from just over three feet, Homa won by a shot. He became the second player in tournament history to win back-to-back, joining Brendan Steele (2016, 2017). He became the first player to win after holing his final shot from off the green since Sam Burns at the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge. Shot 63-66 on the weekend at the Sentry Tournament of Championship. With the 17-under finish, Homa was T-3rd, four shots back of winner Jon Rahm. He won the Farmers Insurance Open by two shots over Keegan Bradley, earning his sixth PGA Tour title and fourth in his native California. He entered the final round trailing Sam Ryder by five shots and shot 66, winning in come-from-behind fashion for the fifth time on the PGA Tour. He finished 2nd at the Genesis Invitational, two shots back of winner Jon Rahm. It was his first runner-up finish on the PGA Tour and fourth consecutive top-10 in the Genesis. Shot 67-69 over the weekend to finish T-6th at the Players Championship. It was his second top-ten in 14 career starts in Florida (T-6th, 2021 Valspar). At the WGC-Dell Match Play was 3-0-0 in group play but lost to Mackenzie Hughes 3 & 2 in the round of 16. Was T-8th at the Wells Fargo Championship and T-9th at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Ended the Season T-10th at the British Open, T-6th at the FedEx St. Jude, T-5th a the BMW Championship and T-9th in the Tour Championship. Played in his first Ryder Cup and was 3-1-1. Beat Matt Fitzpatrick 1 up in his singles match. In the fall defended his Fortinet Championship title finishing T-7th.
2024 Notes: T-8th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.