It’s Tough Not to Be Worried About Max Homa

Max Homa made a serious run at last year’s Masters, something fans had been yearning for from the star for years. He finished the week tied for third and was hopeful that was just a taste of what was to come.

But it’s been all downhill since.

Homa finished inside the top 10 just once across 14 starts to close out his 2024 campaign, a stretch that also included three missed cuts and five other finishes outside the top 40.

Coming into the new season, Homa had a new equipment sponsor in Cobra, a new apparel sponsor in Lululemon, and a new swing coach. Homa and Mark Blackburn, his long-time instructor, split in September of 2024.

“It's just a tough year. Time for a change. It's unfortunate, I love Mark. He's basically a part of my family. He's just been an amazing human being,” Homa said at the Presidents Cup. “But at times, the communication gets hard. I think everyone in here has gone through that at some point. It's one of those things, more for me I need a break and sometimes I don't do a great job of taking ownership of my own golf swing so kind of putting the ball in my court a bit, and you know, trying to figure it out myself.”

Prior to this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, Homa hasn’t seen improvements so far this season. His best finish came at The Sentry (T-26) to open the year, and has since withdrawn from the Farmers Insurance Open, tied for 53rd at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and missed the cut at both the WM Phoenix Open and Genesis Invitational. After rising to the top 10 in the Offical World Golf Ranking, Homa is now down to 66th.

And it was an ugly start for Max at Bay Hill Club and Lodge on Thursday. Yes, the wind was brutal and the course was playing firm and fast, but Homa signed for a 9-over 81 that included nine bogeys and a double at the par-3 17th. He was tied for DFL with Cameron Young when he walked off 18.

MORE: Bay Hill is bringing the carnage

Putting his poor form aside, we’ve seen Homa play well at this event every single time he’s teed it up. His worst finish came in his debut back in 2020 when he tied for 24th. Since, he’s posted finishes of T-10 (2021), T-17 (2022), T-14 (2023), and T-8 (2024).

Seeing this kind of play from Homa on a golf course he’s thrived at over the last five years is especially concerning. Again, I understand the golf course is playing tough, but it’s Bay Hill, it’s a beast year in and year out.

He's not the only big name who struggled on Day 1. Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala, and Min Woo Lee shot 6-over 78s. Billy Horschel and Akshay Bhatia stuggled to 79s, while Young limped to a 10-over 82.

We’ve seen Homa grow into being one of the best players in the world and I’m confident that he’ll get his game back sooner or later. It’s wasn’t long ago that he was one of the favorites every time he was in the field. But it’s a bummer watching him struggle through this rough patch that is approaching a year in length.

To his credit, he's taking it all in stride.

"I know that I am quite tough when it comes to this stuff. I've gone through this much worse before where the results weren't coming. I definitely have my low days. I've been incredibly frustrated since April," he said prior to the Genesis.

"But I also see—I find pride in waking up after a hard day and having the energy to go get better. So I do think at the end of all my days, and I would assume most people would think this way about themselves whatever walk of life you're in, whatever job you have, if I never have another good result again that would be a massive bummer, but I could rest easy, maybe in some years I could rest easy knowing I'm doing absolutely everything I possibly can to do that."

We’re rooting for you, Max.