Max Homa in Presidents Cup limbo after his season ends at BMW Championship

CASTLE PINES VILLAGE, Colo. – Max Homa’s FedExCup season was over by the time it finally clicked.

For months, his driver has been his downfall. After a standout start to the year, highlighted by a T3 at the Masters, Homa lost the feel with the big stick. He registered just one top-20, lost strokes off the tee in 80% of his starts, and tumbled down the FedExCup standings.

When Homa found the answer Friday evening – a simple but significant setup tweak – it was too late to save his season. He had lost nearly 10 strokes off the tee through two rounds at the BMW Championship and shot himself out of contention to make East Lake.

He just hoped he didn’t shoot himself out of another tournament: the Presidents Cup.

Ninth in the U.S. Team standings, Homa won’t make another start before Captain Jim Furyk finalizes his six captain’s picks on Tuesday after the TOUR Championship. While others will have the chance to make a final impression at East Lake, Homa is forced to wait for others to decide his fate.

“I should be in consideration, it’d be silly if I wasn’t,” Homa told PGATOUR.COM, before starting his stump speech. “I was hoping not to need a pick, but If I'm fighting for myself here, I would say that a not-so-great second half of the year and still being ninth in points should mean something.”

There’s no question Homa is one of the 12 best Americans when he’s in form. He has a sterling record in team events to date, too. Homa went 4-0 in the 2022 Presidents Cup and was one of few bright spots for the U.S. in Rome last fall, going 3-1-1 and winning more than 30% of the Americans’ total points. But, he admitted, he entered both those events in better form.

“Obviously my form hasn't been as good as other people as the last two months, but I also think my body of work's been good,” Homa said. “Captain Furyk has a very difficult decision.”

The weekend at the BMW might not convince the powers at be that Homa is back on track, but he did enough to make himself believe he’s back on course. He played the last two days in 4-under, gaining more than two shots on the field with his driver and ranking inside the top-10 in SG: Tee to Green for both rounds.

“I drove the hell out of it the last two days, which has been fun,” Homa said. “It's the frustrating thing about golf. You got one big problem but the other 10 things I thought I was doing pretty decent at.”

He tried his best not to let those struggles wear on him, but frustration started to build. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. He felt he “really pushed” his workload all season, in part to secure a spot on the Presidents Cup team. He spent his off weeks in the Arizona heat, grinding to find a solution. Nothing translated when he got to a TOUR event.

“It got immensely draining because, until the last couple days, I didn’t feel like I found it or that it was translating,” Homa said.

The frustration peaked last week when he finished last at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. It left him questioning whether that was the end of his Presidents Cup hopes.

“I got pretty down in the dumps, but I looked at the points and was like, ‘Hey, there’s no reason why I can’t still be there,'” he said.

It’s a perspective he’s tried to take for his full year. Yes, he didn’t finish his season like he wanted to, but he limped into the Playoffs and still finished inside the top 50 comfortably. The Homa of five years would kill for that.

“I can live with whatever happens,” Homa said. “I'm very okay with it either way. Obviously, the team events are a big passion of mine. I've loved being on the last two. I hope to see you there.”

It’s all he can do now.