Max Homa posted one of the best rounds in the history of the Tour Championship on Friday.
He’s still 10 shots back of Scottie Scheffler heading into the weekend at East Lake.
Homa fired an 8-under 62 on Friday, thanks to five birdies on the front nine and then an eagle to close his day at the par-5 18th.
It marked his career-low and the second-best round ever at the Tour Championship.
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But, thanks largely to the unusual staggered scoring start at the event, Homa is still 10 shots back. While he wasn’t willing to criticize it, as he doesn’t have a better solution, he doesn’t think it’s necessarily fair.
“I don’t know. We talk a lot about it… I think that we’re not football, we’re not basketball, we’re not baseball,” Homa said. “Just because the [New England] Patriots are undefeated do we need to then start them with a two-touchdown lead? Because it feels like that year they should have won the Super Bowl; they didn’t. That’s football.
“But golf is different, and I don’t think this is awful.”
It’s easy to understand where Homa is coming from.
Scheffler received a massive advantage starting the week at 10-under par thanks to his lead in the FedExCup standings. That gave him a two-shot lead over second-place Patrick Cantlay, and an eight-shot lead over Homa — who entered play at 2-under.
If players started at even like they normally do, Xander Schauffele would be leading the event at the halfway mark at 11-under, with Jon Rahm at 10-under and Scheffler at 9-under.
While it’s frustrating, Homa isn’t too upset. He had a career day, after all.
And, most importantly, he doesn’t feel completely out of it with 36 holes to go.
“I started eight back yesterday to the No. 1 player in the world, so it’s not like the greatest spot to be in,” Homa said. “However, you could still do absolutely — you could do what you need to do and then at least put pressure on him. So I had my goal in my head of what I was trying to get to, and took care of it today and going to try to take care of it the next two days.
“It’s obviously a tall task. I’m not out here thinking if I just go out there and play perfect I can win. I still would need some luck for Scottie not to play great and then Xander and Cantlay. So it’s a tall task, but at some point this week especially you have to just kind of go out and just do your job and see where that gets you.”