[PHOTO: Andy Lyons]
Max Homa talked all week about how his goal at the John Deere Classic was to be happy. No matter the result, he wanted to realise that the work he’s put in over the past few months has him heading in the right direction after, frankly, an abysmal first six months this year on the PGA Tour.
He accomplished his goal for most of the week.
The six-time PGA Tour winner was in contention after shooting 63-68-68 the first three days, then rifled off birdies on holes two to four to start the final round at TPC Deere Run. At that point he was leading by two shots. But he played the final 14 holes in one-over-par to shoot 69 and settled for a fifth-place tie, two shots out of a playoff that Brian Campbell ultimately won.
“Super-disappointing,” Homa told PGATour.com. “But game felt good, so that’s nice.”
An understandable reaction for the 34-year-old who has been open and honest about his struggles for the better part of a year.
After starting the year ranked 41st, he’s dipped to 98th in the world, although the finish in Illinois will move him up a few spots. The last time Homa had a finish this high was a third-place tie at the 2024 Masters, 15 months ago. He tied for eighth place the next month at the Wells Fargo Championship but hadn’t had a top-10 finish since. The 12th-place tie at the Masters this year is his best finish and he also has collected seven missed cuts, including a stretch of five straight beginning in February. He missed the cut last week at the Rocket Classic.
While this was a winnable tournament for Homa – his most recent coming at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open – there was an insanely packed leaderboard on the final day. At one point 19 players were within two strokes of the lead. Nine different men held at least a share of the lead at one point.
Bogeys at holes five and nine moved Homa back and he turned in one-under 34. A birdie at the 12th helped, but a bogey on the par-4 15th hole was a dagger when he three-putted from 58 feet.
So while there weren’t as many smiles on Sunday as Homa was hoping for, the result showed him that he is making progress.
“Made a lot of good swings, so could have made some better, I guess, decisions, but for the most part executed about how I wanted to,” Homa told the tour’s website. “Game feels good.”
