After a slow first day at the Tour Championship, Max Homa shot the round of the tournament thus far with an 8-under-par 62 on Friday in Atlanta.
In addition to six birdies and no bogeys, Homa played a sterling final hole, driving the green at the par-5 18th in two to set up just a 4-foot eagle putt. The round vaulted him to 9 under for the event.
Homa’s round tied the second-lowest score since the event came to East Lake Golf Club, according to Golf Channel, coming up shy of Zach Johnson’s course record of 60 in 2007.
Although he qualified for the final leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time in his career, Homa said he’d had a rough couple of weeks leading up to Atlanta.
“Everything felt like it was the end of the world. My fuse just felt too short,” Homa said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “So I had a nice talk with my wife last night, my coach this morning, my caddie, and I felt like if I just freed myself up to play some golf, I could go play good golf.”
That he did. Homa sank a 23-foot birdie putt at the first hole on his way to birdieing five of the first eight. He added a birdie at the par-4 16th before his picture-perfect final hole.
Homa’s drive traveled 353 yards to the edge of the fairway, and he lofted his second shot over greenside bunkers and onto the surface, setting up the simple eagle putt.
When Homa walked off the course, he was still nine shots back of runaway leader Scottie Scheffler.
“It’s really hard to be chasing Scottie Scheffler,” he laughed. “He doesn’t go backwards ever.
“But it’s still a really cool opportunity to do whatever I possibly can to put some kind of pressure on them up top. But at some point, you kind of look around, smell the roses, appreciate being at an amazing golf course, at an amazing golf tournament and try to just ball out at some point.”
–Field Level Media
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