ATLANTA — The day-to-day difference in a golfer’s attitude and output can be startling.
To wit: By the seventh hole Friday at the Tour Championship, Max Homa had more feet in made putts (64 feet, 11 inches) than in his entire first round Thursday (57-10). He was 25th in the 29-player field in strokes gained putting Thursday, and first Friday.
And his resulting swing of fortune was even more dramatic. Buffed nicely by a virtual gimme 4-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole, Homa fashioned an 8-under 62 on Friday, a full nine shots lower than his opening 71. More than the low round of the tournament to date, his 62 was the lowest score shot at East Lake since Zach Johnson’s 60 in 2007.
Homa credited a stern talk with himself coming off the course Thursday, in an attempt to release the pressure that he felt he was heaping upon each shot. That’s something of a personality flaw, he recognizes.
“I get over, hit a great drive, a great 9-iron to 10 feet and think, I have to make this. (Instead of realizing) you just did two great things. Why don’t you just see what happens and trust that you’ve put in the work?” he said.
Then he went looking for some reinforcing opinions. “I talked to my wife about it yesterday a bit. Man, she knows. This is how I am, unfortunately. But I think a lot of us are.
“Had a nice conversation with my wife on the car ride home yesterday and had a great talk with my caddie, and then a really good one when I asked my coach if we could just talk five minutes before we warmed up today to just get some advice. Because I think I know what I do. I just needed advice on how to not do it,” he said.
Where Thursday he could convince no ball to drop into the hole — “It felt like the ball was afraid of the dark,” Homa said — he began his second round with birdies of 23 feet and 15 feet. Just as crucial to a bogey-free round was a par-saving putt of 17 feet on No. 7.
At 9 under for the tournament, Homa still is 10 shots in arrears of leader Scottie Scheffler. But after a scintillating and singularly low round, he’s feeling much better about himself than a day ago.
Self-awareness obviously is one of Homa’s strengths. Before leaving for the day he applied that to another question about the PGA Tour’s ramped up Player Impact Program (where beyond their performance top players can earn millions more for their personality and fan appeal).
“I think the Tour is doing its best to be creative and provide like a different stream of income to the 20 guys now who are driving the revenue,” he said. “Part of it’s silly in my opinion, but also part of it’s not.
“I tied Tiger Woods two or three years ago at Torrey Pines, and I realized we got paid the exact same amount of money, and I provided zero dollars to that event, and he provided — I can’t even come up with a number. So you would think, man, Tiger should get a bit more.”
As to whether he is becoming more recognizable out on Tour, he added, “I will say this: I would win this PIP (bonus) if it was about who gets yelled at in the weirdest ways possible.”
Plenty of clean cards in Round 2
The low scoring continues at East Lake, the field averaging 67.966 on Friday. Better than a fifth of the field, six players, posted bogey-or-worse-free rounds Friday.
Rory’s relationship with No. 1 improves
No way Rory McIlroy was going to hit his opening drive out of bounds this time. The memory of his wet-and-wild tee shot over the fence at No. 1 on Thursday still fresh, he overcorrected and dumped his drive into the right rough in the shadow of the trees to start his second round. McIlroy steered his approach well short of the green, but got up and down for his par. Certainly a better experience than the triple-bogey 7 of a day earlier.
His overall round of 67 was far less eventful, too. While his card Thursday featured but four pars, this day he stacked up 14 of them around three birdies.
Smith’s long slog
British Open and Players champion Cam Smith sat out last week’s playoff event to care for a lingering hip injury. He paid the price in the FedEx Cup points standing, dropping from third to sixth before arriving at East Lake.
Thursday in the rain his walk was noticeably wobbled by the injury. Off the tee, he strayed as he was unable to drive through his swing. “It’s probably the first time in a long time that I feel like it’s affected my golf,” Smith said at the time.
And he looked worn out by the end of his round Friday, posting four bogeys on his back nine and finishing the day at 1-over 71. At a net 6 under, he has dropped back to T-15 going into the weekend.
Wise impresses
Aaron Wise entered East Lake as the the lowest seed, but shot 5 under Thursday to improve his standing to T-14. His ascent continued Friday, with Wise shooting 67 in the second round. He’s T-11 at 8 under, a nice showing thus far for the 26-year-old.
This is Wise’s second appearance in the Tour Championship. He was T-15 in 2018, his rookie-of-the-year season.
Wise went solo Thursday because of the shortened field after Will Zalatoris withdrew. Corey Connors, who was 4 over Thursday, dropped to 29th and went solo Friday. He shot 66 and sits 1 under on the weekend.
Local update
Georgia product Sepp Straka shot 68 for the second consecutive day and sits at 8 under. He struggled on No. 4, twice finding the rough en route to a bogey. He had another bogey on 12 after missing a 13-foot putt. He had three bogeys and five birdies Friday. Straka, who spent his teen years in Valdosta and attended UGA, is experiencing his first Tour Championship.
Bottom of the board
Scott Stallings had the worst second round, shooting 74. He had six bogeys and only two birdies. Stallings is one over this weekend, dropping from T-11 to 28, two strokes ahead of Sahith Theegala (3 over). Both players are making their Tour Championship debuts.
