Max Homa’s title defense at Torrey Pines turned into a day he’d rather forget. The defending Farmers Insurance Open champion, who claimed his sixth PGA Tour win here last year, stumbled right out of the gate on the South Course.
What started promisingly with a perfect drive on the opening par-4 quickly unraveled. Homa found the left greenside bunker with his approach, setting off a chain reaction of sand troubles that would plague his round.
The real drama unfolded when his third shot from the bunker sailed clear across the green into another trap. His fourth stayed put in the sand. By the time he finally reached the putting surface and two-putted from inside 8 feet, he’d walked away with a triple-bogey 7.
Name
Events
Top 10
Money
Max Homa
198
34
$27,454,338
Things didn’t get much better. After steadying himself with a pair of pars, Homa’s battle with the bunkers continued. He dropped another shot at the fourth after finding both fairway and greenside sand, then made double at the fifth after yet another fairway bunker visit.
The SoCal native, who’s built quite a reputation with four Tour wins in California, showed a flash of brilliance by chipping in for eagle at the par-5 sixth. But that momentum was short-lived – he gave two shots back with a bogey at the par-3 eighth.
A front-nine 41 left Homa searching for answers. While he managed to stop the bleeding with nine straight pars on the back nine – including a remarkable save at 18 after his ball embedded in the bank – the damage was done.
His opening-round 77 left him hovering just three shots above last place, a stark contrast to the victory celebrations from a year ago.
