THE 152ND OPEN

July 20, 2024

Max Homa

Mixed Zone

Q. I wanted to ask you a little offbeat question about the planes and how close they get to where you guys are. When you were on 13 on Thursday, there was a pretty enormous one that came flying over your head. Have you experienced anything like that, and do you find yourself having to stop and stare at the landing gear above you?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, I usually stare up and they're pretty awesome. You rarely get that close on the ground. Especially like the 9th hole if you catch one coming up or going down, that one is very concerningly low.

Q. So it's a little unnerving?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, but it's cool. It's not going to just fall out of the sky. So I feel pretty comfortable. But it is quite loud.

Q. Have you ever seen anybody play through it and ignore it?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, I kind did the first day on the 3rd hole, but I was putting. If you want to get a ball in the air, I think there's a real possibility if you time it right you could hit a plane, so I think a lot of people are just going to hold off.

Q. They're 350 feet in the air.

MAX HOMA: Okay, so probably couldn't get to it. Looks like you could pretty easily.

Q. Have you ever sat at the In-and-Out Burger at LAX and watched them go over your head?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, that's a good one. There's some spots, if you're at TPC Scottsdale on the Champions course, a lot of planes will fly over there, and Papago. You do see it, but this does feel the closest I've been.

Q. Can you start off by the scene on 18 last night? We saw the emotion when you made that birdie. How much does it mean for you to play in these major tournaments?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, they're just great events. You just feel like you fight for 35 holes not playing great golf but hanging in there, and sometimes you just feel like you deserve it, and I kind of just felt like I deserved it. I think that's where the excitement came from. I enjoy being over here. Yeah, just to know I was going to get to play two more days just was really good.

Q. Relief perhaps because on links courses you get a lot of bad breaks, the conditions aren't great, and the fact you're coming back for another two days, what was the emotion when you saw that ball go in?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, I guess all of the above. Also I was just excited, I feel like I found a little something Thursday night with my golf swing, and I wanted to get a couple more reps with it. We have our Playoffs coming up here in a few weeks, so I just wanted to get to keep trying it on the golf course because it's quite a bit more difficult, so I was also just excited for that.

Q. How much confidence does today give you?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, I definitely think it's getting there. I definitely think we're on the right track, which feels good, because for a little bit it didn't feel like that. So it does feel like there's something to build on, and I feel like this might be kind of the start of kind of starting to move forward a little bit.

Q. An idea of conditions out there; how did it play for yourself?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, it's significantly easier. You still need to hit great shots and you still need to be good off the tee, but it is significantly easier today. The winds -- it's even died down more than when we started, and it wasn't much when we played. It'll be quite a bit easier if you can avoid the bunkers.