Max Homa was limping so badly on Friday in Utah that it looked like he’d gotten his ankle rolled on while blocking at the line of scrimmage. We rarely see golfers exhibit their aches and pains, but Homa couldn’t help when an injury reared its head during the second round of the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins.
MOREL 8 players to watch in the PGA Tour fall events
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On the tee at the 12th hole, Homa said he was fine; by the time he reached the green, he was in severe pain, dragging his right foot and basically using his golf club as a cane.
After toughing it out to shoot a five-under 66 that got him into a tie for eighth, Homa explained that he has had issues with bone spurs on an ankle that has “terrible dorsiflexion,” but the issue hasn’t flared up in a tournament. Homa planned on having the spur taken care of in what’s left of the offseason.
“It almost never gets inflamed, but I think this place is pretty hard to walk,” Homa said of the course that winds up and down through lava fields. “Walking down just a small hill on 12, like I didn’t feel anything, But as we were walking down the fairway on 12 I could feel it getting swollen. Then when we were done on 12 it was very, very tender.
“Then I don’t know, just not a good golf course to walk. Walking uphill is really hard because I can’t flex it, so that sucked.”
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Homa, who said this will be his last start of the season, had returned to Black Desert early on Friday morning to finish off his delayed second round with a 24-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole. His playing partners decided to finish on Thursday, so Homa was out there by himself, and he ended up two-putting for a birdie and a first-round 70 that included a double bogey.
“My thinking was I couldn’t see and putting is hard enough, so, yeah … I just was glad that other boys in my group didn’t have to come out in the morning. That would’ve been the only reason I would’ve putted to be honest.
“I couldn’t really see much. The sun doesn’t come up too early here so wasn’t really that early of a wakeup. Yeah, I was glad I did. Kind of was anticlimactic, but I just wanted to feel like I was the aggressor, not on defense.”
Impressively, Homa, who started his second round on No. 10, made it through the final 15 holes with no bogeys while making four birdies. Beware of the injured player?
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“Yesterday I played so well, and I just get in my own way so much,” Homa said. “It honestly helps to get hurt at times because I don’t remember thinking about my golf swing, I don’t remember thinking about really anything much. Just get it through. Get it to the house. If I hit a bad shot but it was in play, I was happy with it.
“I think you learn a lot from that. Hopefully I can get this thing figured out. Just was like not very fun walking.”
Homa, 34, is cautious not to whine too much. In October of 2023, his wife, Lacey, gave birth to their first child, Cam, and Max later shared on social media that Lacey had complications during the birth that required multiple surgeries and time in the ICU. The Homas welcomed their second son, Austin, in August of this year.
“I kept thinking about my wife had a horrendous birth with our first son and she had major, major surgery, and there is just no way I could complain about a hurt ankle while I walked. That one really … she gets me through a lot. She couldn’t look at me the same.
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“Yeah, this is nothing. It’s just more of a pain.”
Homa, who has struggled this season and has just one top-10 finish in 23 starts, entered the Utah event at No. 100 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings, which is the cutoff for players to retain their PGA Tour cards for next season. But he’s not concerned about the bubble because of the three-year exemption he earned by winning the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open. With 36 holes left to play, his current place of T-8 at the end would vault him to 95th in the standings.
The Californian has shown signs of life in the fall with two top-20s in his last three starts.
“I’s not an important week … other than I just want to keep improving for myself.”
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In other Homa news on Friday, Golfweek reported that he has split with coach John Scott Rattan, who confirmed the separation to the website. Golfweek reported that Homa was seen on the range with his previous coach, Mark Blackburn. Homa and Blackburn declined to speak to the website about the circumstance.
