Max Homa was reminded of a few extra benefits that came with winning his second Wells Fargo Championship when he sat down in front of the assembled media at TPC Potomac on Sunday.
One stood out from the crowd: he was on track to make a significant improvement in the US Presidents Cup standings.
“Making that Presidents Cup squad is everything to me,” Homa added. “I’m hoping captain Davis Love III was watching today, or at the very least that someone messaged him about it, but that’s all I’ve worried about.” … This is quite beneficial.
He was correct. Homa moved up six spots in the most recent point standings after his two-shot victory on Sunday, which he sealed with a 2-under 68. He’s tied for second place with Justin Thomas and slightly ahead of Jordan Spieth, two of Homa’s college classmates and fellow Walker Cup players who have combined for 27 PGA Tour victories and four majors.
Homa currently has four Tour championships, the first of which he won in 2019 at Quail Hollow. Last year, Homa also won in Napa and the Genesis at Riviera, two of the Tour’s best invitationals. With his victory on Sunday, he’ll likely break into the top 30 in the world rankings, at No. 29.
However, as a professional, he has failed to make a Cup team.
“I definitely knew I was capable of being a regular PGA Tour player when I won this event in 2019,” Homa said, “but all of a sudden last year I got in the top 50 in the world, and you start looking around and it’s a new crop of people, and you start thinking to yourself, ‘Am I as good as these guys?’ Then I want to be in the top ten in the world, play in the Presidents Cup, and the Ryder Cup. Is that something I’m capable of?
“So, I’ve always fought with it, but I have wonderful people in my life who constantly remind me that I am that guy.”
Few of those players, though, are as talented as Homa, a social media celebrity and world-class talent who also understands how harsh his game can be. Homa was a standout at Cal, winning the Pac-12 and NCAA individual titles as a senior, and following a debut year on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2014, he progressed to the PGA Tour. However, he lost his Tour card twice, the second time after missing just two cuts in 2016-17 and earning a meager $18,008.
Now that he’s established himself on Tour, Homa believes he has something that the Scottie Schefflers and Collin Morikawas of the world don’t. And he wears his competitive scars like badges of glory on his chest.
Homa already has a fair dose of perspective, much to the joy of Golf Twitter, as it relates to his future fatherhood (his wife, Lacey, is pregnant with their first child, a boy).
“It’d be fantastic if I wasn’t Rory McIlroy and didn’t do that (lose his card twice),” Homa remarked. “I have the impression that other guys don’t have that, which is fine; I’m pleased they don’t.” But in a year out here, I made $18,000. I remember feeling very small and having no chance of making the cut, let alone a top-10 finish that season.
I carry that because I’ve seen it before, and if you come out in front and I’m three strokes ahead and you’re one stroke ahead, it doesn’t bother me as much as it might because I know what horrible is.
“And my bad today was going to be getting a ton of money and moving on to the PGA Championship in two weeks with a fair chance of winning if I keep playing like this.”
And there’s a high chance he’ll be on his first Cup team.
