Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Homa dominated Olympia Fields to lead the BMW Championship headed into the weekend. He set the course record on Friday with double digit birdies.
Max Homa shot a record-breaking 62 on Friday at Olympia Fields to lead the BMW Championship by two shots. He sits at 10-under after two rounds of play.
Homa broke Rickie Fowler’s 2007 (at Oklahoma State) and Vijay Singh’s second-round 63 score in the 2003 U.S. Open. His score on Friday is the lowest in any PGA Tour or major championship round at Olympia Fields, per The Athletic’s Justin Ray.
“I felt like I was able to attack kind of all day,” Homa said. “I was able to be aggressive when I wanted to, and if I didn’t, I could just play to the middle of the green. It was a major bonus to make as many putts as I did, but it was all really good. I think that out here when you’re in the fairway, it becomes significantly easier, more so than other golf courses.”
Homa had a couple of bogeys on the day, but he made 10 birdies to tie his career high. He also gained 4.32 strokes on the field Friday. That was a season-high for any round this season.
For the tournament, he leads the field in strokes gained putting with 6.701, in birdies with 13 and in strokes gained total at 9.04. The Burbank, California native made 135 feet of putts Friday, showing his prowess on the greens.
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
He did much of the damage on the back nine.
“I was thinking to myself, I’ve birdied most of the holes on the back nine, and that was quite a nice feeling,” Homa said. “Sometimes you’re just zoning, but I knew I was making a lot. I heard the standard bearer say something about how he’s getting tired because he had to change the numbers on our thing so much because Pat was making a lot, too. It was just a crazy day.”
Homa’s FedEx Cup projection has him jumping from No. 6 to No. 1 in the standings. It seems the 32-year-old is making sure to show out not just for a better starting position in Atlanta next week at Tour Championship. He is also trying to impress for the Ryder Cup too.
“I told Zach [Johnson] last year I was kissing up to him, but then he also said, well, I’d like to not have to pick you, and I said, all right, there’s my promise, I’ll try to get an automatic,” Homa said. “That would be really cool. That’s been kind of my goal since these Playoffs started, to get into that top 6.”
He can earn an automatic bid on the Ryder Cup team with a solo 9th finish or better this week. That would jump him ahead of Brooks Koepka, who could fall out of the top-six entirely.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and on Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
