Without a swing coach, Max Homa seeks new direction at Presidents Cup

MONTREAL – Max Homa has endured far worse stretches in his PGA TOUR career, which makes him optimistic that he can escape his recent struggles. But his play during the second half of 2024 was poor enough to motivate him to make a big change before the Presidents Cup.

Homa said Wednesday that he has split with swing coach Mark Blackburn. The relationship ended after Homa’s last-place finish in the first FedExCup Playoffs event, the 70-man FedEx St. Jude Championship in August. Homa advanced to the next week’s BMW Championship but his FedExCup season ended after he finished 33rd in the 50-man field.

“It's just a tough year," Homa said. "Time for a change. It's unfortunate, I love Mark. He's basically a part of my family. He's just been an amazing human being.

“But at times, the communication gets hard. I think everyone in here has gone through that at some point. It's one of those things, more for me I need a break and sometimes I don't do a great job of taking ownership of my own golf swing so kind of putting the ball in my court a bit, and you know, trying to figure it out myself.”

Homa was near the bottom of the leaderboard until a final-round 67 at the BMW Championship, a round that spurred optimism about his future and followed several changes to his address position. He continued to work on those tweaks while working on his game at home in Arizona over the past few weeks.

He arrived at Royal Montreal, however, after missing the cut at the Procore Championship, the only PGA TOUR event between the TOUR Championship and Presidents Cup. It is a concerning result considering he won the Northern California tournament in 2021 and 2022. He also finished T7 there last year. Homa said his golf swing “feels great,” though.

“I just needed some time,” Homa said. “I just don't think people understand how impressive it is when golfers like a Scottie (Scheffler) or a Wyndham (Clark), or anyone on our team goes through a slump and then it ends. It's just not that easy. The back end of our season, it goes from The Open and the Playoffs and you just don't get a lot of time to go through and work things out as fast.

“I used (Procore) as a check … of, okay, how is this going to be in competition, and I was really pleased with how I drove the ball there. So it was good.”

Homa said he is not currently working with a coach. He has sent some videos of his swing to a friend and also leaned on Joe Greiner, his longtime caddie and friend since childhood, for advice while navigating his changes.

“As much as a coach can be brilliant, a genius like Mark, I know my golf swing better than anybody, and I can see it and feel it,” Homa said. “Just trying to take some ownership like that.”

Homa, who finished third at this year’s Masters, had just one top-25 finish in his final nine starts to end the FedExCup season. After finishing 46th in the FedExCup standings, he had to sit at home while other candidates for Jim Furyk’s six captain’s picks competed at the TOUR Championship. Furyk ended up picking Nos. 7-12 in the U.S. Presidents Cup standings and Homa was given one of those picks as the 12th-ranked player in those standings. He is the lowest-ranked player on the U.S. Team in both the FedExCup (46th) and Official World Golf Ranking (25th), as well.

Homa’s success in the past two Cups likely influenced his selection. He had a 7-1-1 record in the 2022 Ryder Cup and 2023 Presidents Cup. Brian Harman, who paired with him at last year’s Ryder Cup, called Homa a “total gangster” in the team events as he produced his share of fist pumps and clutch shots.

How Homa will perform this week has been one of the United States’ biggest questions, though that question will not be answered until at least Friday. Homa is one of two U.S. players who is sitting out Thursday’s opening session (along with Harman).

“I have a lot of confidence in his game,” Furyk said Wednesday after the pairings were announced. “I have a lot of confidence in what he brings to our team, not only from a playing standpoint, but in the team room as well. You're going to see him play a lot of golf this week.”

Homa and Blackburn had worked together for four years. The relationship started after Homa shot 78-76 to miss the cut at the 2020 U.S. Open. They met the next day to put Homa through a physical assessment to determine what changes Homa needed to make.

Homa, who famously missed 15 of 17 cuts in the 2017 season, earned his first PGA TOUR victory at the 2019 Truist Championship. He struggled in the latter half of 2020, though. The U.S. Open was his sixth missed cut in nine starts.

Blackburn decided that Homa’s body worked best with a flatter swing, and those changes unlocked the best golf of his career. Homa won five PGA TOUR titles, and once on the DP World Tour, between 2021-23. He also made his debut on a U.S. Team at the 2022 Presidents Cup, then qualified for the next two teams as well. He reached a career-best fifth in the world ranking in that span.

“It's going to be a long career,” Homa said Wednesday. “I'm just trying to keep chugging.”