Comfortable at Quail: Max Homa shoots 7-under, vaults up PGA Championship leaderboard
Charlotte has become the softest target in sports this week. Want to dunk on the Queen City? Want to poke holes in its most prestigious golf course? Want to be the millionth person to explain how Quail Hollow is a solid PGA Tour course but a disgrace as PGA Championship host? Few will push back.
And that has only enhanced Maz Homa’s standing as a fan favorite this week.
Few, aside from four-time Wells Fargo champion Rory McIlroy, speak about Quail Hollow with as much reverence as the 34-year-old Southern California native. The course was the site of his first PGA Tour win in 2019 — and his fourth, when he won the Wells Fargo again in 2022.
That September, he was back at Quail Hollow again for the Presidents Cup and, as Tony Finau said then, turned into “Superman,” drilling clutch putt after clutch putt en route to a 4-0-0 record in what became an American victory.
So perhaps there’s little surprise that we have another event at Quail Hollow where Homa is sitting pretty near the top of the leaderboard. After shooting a 2-over on Thursday, Homa did not so much settle in Friday as he let loose, blasting some of the most impressive shots you’ll see from any pro.
It led to a 7-under 64 — just three shots off McIlroy’s course record (61) — and vaulted Homa nearly 70 spots up the leaderboard, setting up another weekend at Qauil Hollow where the Charlotte crowd is surely going to be behind him.
“I know the leaves. I feel comfortable on the greens,” Homa said after the round. “I knew I was going to come in here and swing it nicely. I just needed to find some comfort. So this place does that for me.”
For Homa, it’s comfort after chaos.
Over the past few months, Homa has tweaked basically every version of his golf game. He’s changed his gear, his coach, his caddie, and, well, his golf swing. He’s played in 11 events this year, missed five straight cuts at one point, recorded no Top-10 finishes and, impressively, his lone Top 25 was a T-12 at The Masters.
He has been searching — for feel, for results, for happiness on the golf course.
“It’s been difficult because I felt like I was so broken, and whatever the swing change was going to be was going to be some grand thing,” Homa said, before explaining the new swing he and coach John Scott Rattan crafted: “It feels more like me. It looks more like when I swung at my best, I think.”
If Friday wasn’t Homa’s swing at its best, don’t tell that to the fans who spent the day fawning over some of the shots he hit. On the third hole, with a massive tree in front of him, Homa blasted his iron out of the rough. His ball sailed 100-something feet in the air, over the tallest branches, and landed on the green. For good measure, he drained a ridiculously fast 33-foot downhill putt for birdie.
And that wasn’t even his most impressive hole of the day.
That came on the 340-yard, par-4 14th, where Homa’s drive landed on the front of the green and rolled — and rolled and rolled — less than two feet past the hole. Just before Homa’s shot, ESPN commentator Andy North was explaining how a back tee position was going to make it difficult for guys to drive the green on Friday. Then he went silent.
“Holy smokes, Max,” North said. “Was that any good? You’ve gotta be kidding me. Oh! Thank you very much, I guess it won’t be so tough to drive it on 14.”
Homa sunk one of the easier eagle putts you’ll ever see in what became a back-nine score of 30.
Comfort can go a long way.
Weather-altered Saturday tee times
A line of thunderstorms moved through Charlotte on Saturday morning, and it altered the playing schedule for the third round.
The revised schedule will have players in threesomes, rather than twosomes, and groups will start from both the No. 1 and No. 10 tees.
The first group will go off at 11:43 a.m.
Here is the revised schedule:
From No. 1 tee
11:43 a.m.: Wyndham Clark (-1), Tyrrell Hatton (-1), Joaquin Niemann (-1)
11:54 a.m.: Keegan Bradley (-2), Lucas Glover (-1), Marco Penge (-2)
12:05 p.m.: Tommy Fleetwood (-2), Viktor Hovlan (-2), Jon Rahm (-2)
12:16 p.m.: Cam Davis (-2), Joe Highsmith (-2), Adam Scott (-2)
12:27 p.m.: Eric Cole (-2), Tony Finau (-3), Ben Griffin (-3)
12:38 p.m.: Ryo Hisatune (-3), Alex Noren (-3), Davis Riley (-3)
12:49 p.m.: Richard Bland (-3), Bryson DeChambeau (-3), Taylor Pendrith (-3)
1 p.m.: Garrick Higgo (-4), Aaron Rai (-3), J.J. Spaun (-3)
1:11 p.m.: Ryan Gerard (-4), Denny McCarthy (-4), Sam Stevens (-4)
1:22 p.m.: Robert MacIntyre (-4), J.T. Poston (-4), Alex Smalley (-4)
1:33 p.m.: Christiaan Bezuidenhout (-4), Ryan Fox (-4), Michael Thorbjornsen (-4)
1:44 p.m.: Max Homa (-5), Si Woo Kim (-6), Scottie Scheffler (-5)
1:55 p.m.: Matthew Fitzpatrick (-6), Matthieu Pavon (-6), Jhonattan Vegas (-8)
From No. 10 tee
11:48 a.m.: Rafa Campos (-1), Tom McKibbin (-1), Matt Wallace (-1)
11:59 a.m.: Corey Conners (-1), Luke Donald (-1), Beau Hossler (-1)
12:10 p.m.: Austin Eckroat (E), Harry Hall (-1), Nicolai Hojgaard (-1)
12:21 p.m.: Byeong Hun An (E), Collin Morikawa (E), Cameron Young (E)
12:32 p.m.: Daniel Berger (E), Brian Campbell (E), Taylor Moore (E)
12:43 p.m.: Nico Echavarria (E), Harris English (E), Stephan Jaeger (E)
12:54 p.m.: Rasmus Hojgaard (E), Maverick McNealy (E), Thorbjorn Olesen (E)
1:05 p.m.: Sergio Garcia (+1), Tom Kim (+1), Justin Lower (E)
1:16 p.m.: Brian Harman (+1), Elvis Smylie (+1), Kevin Yu (+1)
1:27 p.m.: Bud Cauley (+1), Michael Kim (+1), David Puig (+1)
1:38 p.m.: Chris Kirk (+1), Rory McIlroy (+1), Xander Schauffele (+1)
1:49 p.m.: Sam Burns (+1), Max Greyserman (+1)
How to watch: PGA Championship
Saturday’s and Sunday’s rounds will be on ESPN and CBS. Coverage begins each day at 8 a.m. on ESPN+, moves to ESPN from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., and then to CBS from 1-7 p.m.
This story was originally published May 16, 2025 at 4:10 PM.
