Well, this is a new one. Max Homa was on the 8th hole at Augusta National Thursday when he hit a marshal who was standing in the middle of the fairway. It looks as strange as it sounds.
Homa’s drive went hard left off the tee. So, his second shot was a punch-out rather than an attempt to get to the green. The marshal is standing in the middle of the fairway, with a flag in his hand as a warning to players hitting up to the green. No. 8 goes straight uphill. Due to the elevation gain, the second shot is blind. Players going for the green in two aren’t able to see if the green is clear or if the group ahead of them is still putting. So there is a marshal farther up the hill, standing in the fairway while the group ahead putts. He walks back over to the side once the group leaves the green, signaling that it’s safe to approach the green.
In the video, you can see the marshal facing the green while Homa punches out from the trees. This is a tough situation. If you’re the marshal, you need to be watching the group coming up and know if someone’s going to be hitting towards you instead of the green. If you’re the player punching out, you’re assuming that the marshal is paying attention. But it can’t hurt to give a courtesy signal to someone you’re aiming at.
This was Max Homa on the par 5 8th hole at Augusta today. There’s just so much to unpack here…I can’t stop laughing😭😭 pic.twitter.com/cwv9I4cWrM
— Braiden Turner (@bturner23) April 11, 2025
The fact that you can hear someone call out, “Come on, dude!” makes it seem like the marshal should have known the punch-out was coming.
Either way, it looks like the marshal is okay. Despite the kerfuffle, Homa parred the hole. But it has not been Homa’s year, to say the least.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
