Products You May Like
He didn’t make it easy on himself, but Max Homa claimed his second win of the season on Sunday afternoon in Maryland.
Though he nearly blew a late three-shot lead, Homa held on to win the Wells Fargo Championship, the fourth of his career.
“I just feel like life’s good,” Homa said on CBS after posting a final-round 68 to get to 8-under on the week. “I’ve got a good life, and I’m playing some good golf.”
Homa started the day at TPC Potomac two back of Keegan Bradley, who was one of just four players in the entire field to shoot under par in the third round on Saturday.
Homa didn’t waste any time closing that gap in the final round. He birdied the first hole of the day, and then jumped into the solo lead on the second hole after Bradley made a double.
While Bradley recovered and eventually retook the lead, it didn’t last long. Homa made back-to-back birdies at the turn to jump ahead while Bradley made another double at the 11th.
Homa then easily made another birdie at the 15th, which pushed his lead to three strokes after yet another bogey from Bradley.
That, though, is when Bradley tried to make one final push. Bradley birdied the 16th while Homa bogeyed after missing the green in regulation, which cut the lead back to just one. Homa entered the final hole with his slight lead in tact, and found the fairway off the tee while Bradley landed in a fairway bunker off to the right.
Homa hit the green on his approach, though Bradley topped his shot in the bunker and landed well short of the green — which paved the way for Homa to close out his par and the win.
“It’s really hard. Keegan is a really good golfer,” Homa said of his battle with Bradley on CBS. “He hits it so well, and he holes some really good putts. I was just trying to play my game and see what happened … I just knew he was never going to go away.”
Defending champion Rory McIlroy — who jumped more than 40 spots on the leaderboard on Saturday — was in position to make a final run on Sunday after making three birdies in six holes at the turn. McIlroy, however, bogeyed No. 11 and then never recovered. He finished at 4-under on the week and came in fifth. Matthew Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young tied for second at 6-under with Bradley.
Bradley finished the day with a 2-over 72. The 35-year-old hasn’t won on Tour since the 2018 BMW Championship, and he’s failed to win all four times that he’s held at least a share of the lead after 54 holes in his career.
“It was weird. I didn’t play my best golf today,” Bradley said. “It was choppy and then I had a couple good stretches. But I had a chance there at the end, so I’m proud of that aspect of it.
“But I’m pretty bummed. I felt pretty good about this one.”
Homa now has four Tour wins in his career. He won the Fortinet Championship in September to kick off the season, and has seven top-25 finishes on the year — including a T10 finish at the Genesis Invitational and a T13 finish at The Players Championship. Homa entered the week ranked No. 38 in the Official World Golf Rankings, too, just shy of his all-time high.
Homa’s inaugural win came at the Wells Fargo Championship during the 2018-19 season. He’s now just the second multiple-time winner in tournament history, and the fifth golfer on Tour to record multiple wins so far this season.
“I just feel like I’m coming into my own,” Homa said on CBS. “I’m starting to believe in myself a lot, and that’s all I can really ask for.”