ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 7, 2021

Max Homa

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. How difficult were those conditions out there today?

MAX HOMA: Pretty difficult. The greens are just, they're white, they're as fast as I remember putting on greens before and you just can't really hold them, even from the fairways at times, if it's downwind. But it's fun, it's good, you got to work the angles, you need to hit some really quality shots, you really just need to focus on where you're leaving it, which is fun.

Q. How good was the round you played today?

MAX HOMA: It was great. I putted out of my mind. Got off to a really good start and then kind of made some, two kind mental errors and then just played really solid golf. I felt like I was leaving it where I needed to, I felt like I was hitting good shots when I needed to and I just had kind of like the absurd magic type stuff that you get here and there, chipped in and made a bunch of putts. But I thought did I a good job of staying patient, especially after the start, not trying to force it.

Q. Beer going back to the PLAYERS next weeks, a year removed from the shut down. When you think back to what you knew about the coronavirus last year at THE PLAYERS what were your thoughts of it at that time?

MAX HOMA: I think I didn't know much, like everybody. I knew it was obviously a big deal, I knew it was going to be not good for awhile. I didn't know that we would still be doing this a year later. But at the same time even at that time I felt very fortunate that my family was doing all right and we were going to be able to get home and chill, I guess. If that was the worst thing my wife and I had to deal with was just being with each other 27/7 for awhile it was all right. But yeah, it was definitely a crazy time. I definitely understand the gravity now and even at the time you could feel how big of a deal it was, but it's hard, I mean I don't know a whole lot about viruses and whatnot, so you just tried to listen to what the CDC was saying and just try and take as many precautions as you could.

Q. Do you feel like you've over this last year, do you feel like you've learned kind of a lot more about the virus?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, definitely learned how fast things can spread when something's contagious. It's pretty amazing how quickly people can get it and transfer it to someone else. So even looking at something that's a shade more mild, you understand how careful you need to be.

But, yeah, I learned, I feel like I learned a lot and you kind of learned about even in a weird way just like a little bit of gratefulness and appreciation for your own health.

Q. Since the TOUR came back in June there's been no shutdown of the TOUR since then. How great of a job has the PGA TOUR done with everything that they have had to deal with?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, I think they have done a phenomenal job. I feel like I never felt unsafe, I felt thankful we could be working and playing, but I definitely was very impressed by the TOUR and all the precautions they went through to make sure that we felt okay. And I don't feel like we had any major issue out here, which is really good. They did a lot of stuff to help that, we started getting charters from events, we started, we had a lot of hotels that would only do the food or room service type stuff for us or just leave the restaurant open for us. So I thought the TOUR did a fantastic job.