Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented By Mastercard 2025 - Round Two
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PONTE VEDRA, Fla. -- Since returning to the PGA Tour, Max Homa has improved almost every season. From winning the Wells Fargo Championship in 2019 to capturing multiples titles in the same season to contending on the second nine at the Masters last year, Homa slowly but surely climbed his way near the top of the golf world.

That ascension came to a screeching halt in the second half of 2024, however, as he recorded just one top-10 finish across the final eight months of the season and limped to the end of the year. Homa missed out on the Tour Championship for the first time since 2021 and spent the offseason searching for answers. 

Having since switched swing coaches, apparel companies and club manufacturers, Homa's struggles have persisted into the new year as he entered the PGA Tour's flagship event, the 2025 Players Championship, with high hopes only to instead miss his fourth straight cut.

Homa is not currently qualified to play in two major championships and has dropped to No. 76 in the Official World Golf Rankings, but he is keeping a long-term perspective on the ebbs and flows of his career. Homa contends that he is hitting the golf ball as well as ever and doesn't care how crazy that may sound.

He believes in the process and what he and his new swing coach, John Scott Rattan, are working on. He also believes, once he starts to play golf instead of golf swing, the results will follow.

Below are five of the many topics Homa covered during a 30-minute conversation with CBS Sports. You can watch the interview in its entirety below or on the Golf on CBS YouTube channel.

On his relationship with Tiger Woods

What has it been like to to further your relationship with someone you admire so much? 

Homa: "It's pretty cool. I mean, I've been lucky. The first time I met him was very briefly back in like 2013 and then in 2019 after I had won, I feel like I started to talk to him a bit more like he came up to me and ended up seeing him twice that week at Memorial. Got to actually have, like, a conversation, and that was awesome. And then, as time has gone on, I won his golf tournament. So, then we got to hang out like that whole afternoon, which was sweet. And since then, I've played with him twice, but he's just become very helpful. I know he's been more helpful to the young guys, but it feels like I've been on the lucky end of that. Chatted to him a lot about golf, also just chatted about nothing, which is fun. 

"But you know, you talk about never thinking you're going to be on the cover of a video game. No, I definitely didn't think I'd ever be like having these cool conversations with Tiger Woods, especially about golf, and ask him certain questions about even just like specific shots playing practice rounds with the majors. That stuff's really awesome, and truly, like, pinch me. I think the most fascinating thing about him is he's just a very normal guy. He just, you know, he's a dad. And we've just talked a lot about just sports and things, and that stuff, it's getting more normal, but it's still like you take a step back and it feels kind of crazy."

On his TGL team's group chat

What's the group chat dynamic like? Is Kevin Kisner sending memes? I feel like Tiger is just like a thumbs up reaction guy mostly. 

Homa: "No, Tiger, he's the boss, so he's firing everybody up. I mean, he was pretty funny. Like we were out, you know, we couldn't make the playoffs anymore. So I was texting the group kind of like, 'What the hell is the point of this?' And Tiger's like, 'Well, you know, let's take this anger out on them.' Like, 'Let's go beat them.' I was like, 'Man, you really got nothing to do right now. This is probably a big day for you.' I was like, 'I got to play Bay Hill in like two days.'

"So, that was funny. So no, he actually leads the chat. Kiz obviously is very funny in there. I think me and Tom [Kim] more or less are just just along for the ride. Wherever they take us, they both like to talk a lot of trash. So, you know, the match we play without Tiger, he was none too pleased. So that's always funny."

On why he switched swing coaches

 I'm wondering what went into the decision to change coaches.

Homa: "I had a really great run with Mark Blackburn, and I love and respect that dude. He's very brilliant. But somebody a long time ago told me that a coach could be saying the exact right thing, but if the student isn't hearing it right, then it's kind of a moot point. I just felt like it got to that. I just feel like I was running in circles, so I wanted to make a change."

On why he believes he is close to playing better

What are you guys working on specifically? Really nerd out for us. 

Homa: "I hit it so unbelievably well at the practice at Waste Management. I know I shot a million the first day, but I haven't driven the ball like that in my life. I mean, I only got two rounds, but I drove the hell out of it and just like my golf just isn't very good. Golfing the ball isn't very good. I've spent the last, I would say, a year and some change working on my golf swing and that's a me problem. I haven't spent enough time on my touch and on my like on all the little things.

"So that's where this season's kind of taken a left turn, even though, you know, since Waste Management, my golf swing feels like it's in a whole new place in a good way. So, it's been very frustrating and a lot of deep conversations. But like last week was kind of [a paradigm of] exactly what my issues are in the season. I mean, I went out in the first round at Bay Hill, and it's blowing like 30 [mph]. It's freezing. And I think I hit my first eight of my first nine greens, and I was four over with like four or five three putts.

"And it's just like all the little things you just kind of forget to do in a way because you're so hyper focused on fixing something. And I think I finally got to the point where I don't need to fix anything. I just need to work on winning a golf tournament. So, hopefully that starts to start to shape up a little bit."

On his ability to rise to the moment

What I've been most impressed with is your sense of the moment. It seems like you really rise to the occasion, whether down the stretch of the tournament, Ryder Cups, Presidents Cups. Is there any calming technique that you use or how do you explain that -- is it experience, practice or just putting yourself through the ringer?

Homa: "I really think it just nets out to like you can look at anything as a positive and a negative. So, you can look at a putt you have to tie a hole or to win a hole or whatever as, 'Man, if I missed this putt, then it's doomsday and now I'm one down or maybe I lose the match.' In my case, it was like, 'We lose the Ryder Cup.' Or you can look at it as, 'Man, I've worked my ass off for 30-some years, and I have this opportunity to do about the coolest thing I could ever dream of.'

"If you're leading on the back nine or one back, you look at it as a lot of pressure and that's like crippling or you can look at it as, 'This is like truly what I wake up for.' So I just feel like, when you put it in the right light, in the positive light, your body's able to just react and enjoy. I mean, if it's just like a money game at home with your buddies, if it's just like to break your personal record, break 80 or something, like you want that feeling.

"I think Tiger said it like he still gets nervous on the first tee, and when he doesn't get nervous anymore, then what's the point of playing like it? If it means something to you, that's a good thing. I think a lot of people get really nervous on a Sunday on the first tee with the leader around the lead because they don't want to mess up, and I truly understand that. 

"But at the same time, OK, cool. Then, you know, I always go back to my year in 2017 where I played awful. I wasn't nervous for like an entire year. So, I was never in a position where it mattered. Like that sucked a lot more than being really nervous that I might mess up.

"It's OK to have that thought you might mess up, but like, why don't you spin it into, 'This is why I wake up early. This is why I go to the gym. This is why I hit so many golf balls,' is to just be standing right here. So, I embrace the fear of it and go, Just do your best and see what happens.

"So, that's always helped me is just trying to spin it in the positive light."