Max Homa didn’t need to shoot a good score at the Memorial to validate progress but a 68 ‘feels nice’

DUBLIN, Ohio – Max Homa hasn’t felt this comfortable with his golf game since before the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, where he was one of the few bright spots for the American team as a rookie.

The best part about this news is that Homa posted a score to reflect that.

“I felt like I had—my game feels about as good as it has in a very, very long time, and I knew that I think that brought some peace, which was nice, not feeling like I needed to do much. Then, yeah, you get off to a good start like that and it just kind of calms some of the nerves,” Homa said Thursday after an opening four-under 68 in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.

“I didn't need to shoot a low number to validate that, but I just, it just feels nice. Because it really does. I was texting [swing coach John Scott Rattan] about it; it just felt good, looked good, felt like I could hit the shots I wanted to hit,” Homa added. “So, yeah, I guess it's not a justification, I guess, but you still want to get something out of it when it feels that good. Because this game, I mean, there's so few chances for most of us to play a stellar round of golf, so you would like it when it feels good to go out there and actually post a number.”

A six-time PGA Tour winner, Homa has been showing signs of breaking out of a deep slump the last few weeks, but his confidence has never been as high as it is on one of the more challenging layouts on tour.

With fairways bordered by deep rough, Muirfield Village wasn’t surrendering many low scores. Homa capped his round by collecting birdies on the final two holes, which are two of the most demanding at Jack Nicklaus’ prized layout. Those birdies were set up by missiles off the tee of 323 and 340 yards, respectively.

“Yeah, helps when you hit those two drives I did,” Homa said. “I had pitching wedge into 18, which doesn't happen often. I had 9-iron into 17, so that I just think helps a lot.”

It also helped that he converted more than 123 feet of putts, which ranked second on the day after holing out from 23 feet on the final green.

Homa, 34, has his game trending at just the right time. Well, maybe the right time. It depends on he chooses to look at the bigger picture.

Trailing leader Ben Griffin by three strokes, Homa appears to need no worse than a two-way tie for second to move from 87th in the world rankings to creep inside the top 60, which would earn him an exemption into the U.S. Open at Oakmont in two weeks. He also could get to Oakmont with a strong finish in the Canadian Open to breach the top 60.

In between, depending on his fortunes at the Memorial, he intends to stick around the Columbus area Monday for the 36-hole U.S. Open final qualifier at nearby Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club. Homa admitted having a hard time accepting that he wasn’t qualified yet for the year’s third major.

“Was it an eye opener? I guess it wasn't an eye opener. It was just a bummer. Just because you don't start the year whatever I was in the world and think you're going to fall that far,” said Homa, who entered 2025 ranked 40th in the world. “But just, that's golf, so you just keep plugging along. I worried about it probably too much early in the skid and then stopped worrying about it late. So I'll play some other tournaments to kind of make up for it. I never play well in the U.S. Open anyway, so at that point I probably would have missed the cut.”

He’s right about that. In six U.S. Open appearances he’s missed the cut five times.

“If I don't get in it's all good,” he said. “I just wanted to play because now that I'm a dad, I would like to win or something on a Father's Day. But if not, I'll just hang out with my son and it will be a great day.”

Dilemmas, dilemmas.