Max Homa on the range during the FedEx St. Jude Championship. | Photo by James Gilbert/PGA Tour via Getty Images
After Scottie Scheffler’s dominating opening round, Max Homa took to social media and took a shot at his latest PGA Tour “record.”
Max Homa did not make it to the Tour Championship this year, which means he can entertain the masses on X, formerly known as Twitter.
His first comment involved Scottie Scheffler and his first-round score. Scheffler shot a 6-under 65, which pushed him to 16-under after Round 1 since he started the tournament at 10-under.
The PGA Tour Communications team posted that Scheffler became the first player to hold a lead of seven shots or more after 18 holes since they started keeping records in 1983. This statement caused Homa to call them out.
“The Chiefs score two touchdowns in the first quarter and lead by 30, a new record,” Homa wrote.
His response makes no sense because it is not supposed to— that is his point.
If the Chiefs score twice, that is 14 points. For them to lead by 30, they would have started the game with 16 points — it is virtually impossible. Not to mention, that is not how most sports conduct their playoffs or Superbowl.
The staggard stroke start is unique to the PGA Tour and how they chose to do their FedEx Cup finale. Some players and fans like and accept it, while others dislike it. Even Scheffler did not like the format and called it silly at one point.
However, it is hard to say that Scheffler set a scoring record. Are they stat-padding his 2024 resume? After this tweet, it feels weird because they did not add any context about the staggered start.
If it were regular stroke play, his 6-under 65 would not mean he leads by seven but one.
For Scheffler to lead by seven after 18 holes, he would have had to shoot a 12-under 59. He did not do that.
Homa was on the mark with his comment. He put it into perspective for others to see how silly it was for the communications team to say Scheffler set a record.
The post should be reevaluated or redone. Maybe The Tour should add an asterisk to the record to signify the unique start to this event.
Context is so crucial, and they missed the mark with this one. This record would not have happened without the staggered start, one of the most essential pieces of information.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
