Max Homa wins 2022 Wells Fargo Championship
Homa's 4th PGA Tour title puts him just one behind Collin Morikawa on the Cal Men's Golf alumni leaderboard
Entering the final round of golf of the 2022 Wells Fargo Championship, Cal fans got two Golden Bears in prime position. Max Homa, the lone Cal Bears to win the NCAA individual championship, was 2nd at -6, a mere two shots behind leader Keegan Bradley. Just behind at T3 was James Hahn, the first Cal Bears to have won a PGA Tour event, at -4.
When all the golf has been played at the end of Sunday from TPC Potomac outside Washington, DC, Max Homa was the one triumphant, winning his 2nd career Wells Fargo Championship and the 4th PGA Tour title in his career.
The four PGA Tour titles put Homa 2nd on the all-time Cal list behind two-time Major winner Collin Morikawa who has five PGA Tour titles. James Hahn, who faded to T9 on Sunday, is next with two titles. Michael Kim is the lone other Cal Bears to have won a PGA Tour event. All of these PGA Tour achievements by Cal Men’s Golf alumni have only started with James Hahn’s first title back in 2015.
It was a tight two-way race at the top between Homa and Bradley. You can (and should) check out the highlight video below for all the great Max Homa shots and putts. Homa eventually won by two shots with a -2 (5 birdies but also 3 bogeys) final round while Bradley had a +2 round.
For the back 9 of the final round, Homa had mostly a two-shot lead. After Homa bogeyed on the 16th, Bradley was merely a shot behind. A tremendous drive on the 18th hole put Max Homa in a great position. He was able to capitalize and win by two strokes.
Link to extended highlights of all rounds.
Around to see Max Homa’s win in person were two more Cal Bears in Ron and Stephanie Rivera.
UPDATED: The Riveras also found fellow Cal alum James Hahn.
Winning on Mother’s Day, soon-to-be dad Max Homa dedicated this win to his wife.
Homa, who already has endowed a Cal Men’s Golf scholarship, will take home quite a paycheck for this win.
In case you missed it, ESPN had a great feature story on Max Homa earlier this year. It chronicles how Homa has found a new mindset after struggling in 2021 after winning his 3rd PGA title in February.
Homa wants to prove that he's more than a former NCAA individual champion, more than just a three-time winner on tour.
He also wants to prove he's more than a Twitter sensation.
"I definitely feel like in the last year or so I probably shouldn't continue to be looked at as a 'Twitter guy' -- but I guess that's just what it is," Homa said. "I don't mind it. It's been really cool meeting and kind of engaging with a lot of people who are in the golf world and who watch golf and just fans of the game.
"So, it's cool to be a part of that. At the same time, it's like it's just not exactly what I'm going for. It just kind of fell in my lap."
PART OF HOMA'S journey has been a reassessment of his mental game.
The old Homa was in his own bubble on the course. He critically judged every shot he took. He didn't like that.
"I always wanted it to change a bit because I was kind of tired of being like a sourpuss at times, I guess, about how I'm playing," Homa said. "It should not affect your life so much every time you hit a golf ball. It just shouldn't."
Homa started reading books about mental health and leaned on his wife, his caddie, Joe Greiner, and friends to talk through it. Now when he starts to get frustrated, he tries to break down what's causing it.
His goal is true happiness, not fake happiness. To Homa, true happiness means a bogey won't mess him up.
"There's like almost no reason to get mad," Homa said. "I've never seen a benefit of getting mad. I do it all the time, but I never see a benefit of it later. It's not like it spurs you along. You just get pissed off."
Despite some hiccup in his playing level recently, Max Homa managed to win his 3rd title in a span of 15 months, an achievement only bested by three others and tied by three additional golfers, including Cal alum Morikawa. Today’s win put Homa in a good position to make the USA Presidents Cup team.
Max Homa will next attempt to win his first major at the PGA Championship, May 19–22 from the Southern Hills Championship course.
It was also great to see James Hahn back on top of the leaderboard. Hahn had a viral moment on Saturday for scolding a fan for eating too loudly during his putt.
This T9 is Hahn’s first top-10 finish of the 2022 season. He had 5 of those in 2021.
Lastly, both Max Homa and Collin Morikawa are participants in a Netflix documentary from the producers of Drive to Survive. The Drive to Survive series did wonder for Formula 1 auto racing in the US and created this weekend’s spectacle which was the Miami Grand Prix. Maybe Max Homa’s win this weekend will be nicely featured on that show.
Congratulations to Max Homa on this victory and best of luck to all of the PGA Tour Bears this season. GO BEARS!
As far as golf recruiting, which I assume exists, I did not hear “Cal” mentioned once in this weekend’s coverage. Some weeks, they’re all over what schools various golfers attended, sometimes even putting them up along with the names on the leaderboard. East coast bias!
I was just looking at the results to see how much he won. I'm not enough of a golf fan to have gone out, especially with the crappy weather we've had lately. Congrats Max. And James Hahn.