Q. Max, good comeback there. Looked like the wind made putting a little tricky. We saw you miss a short one. Is that kind of what was happening out there?
MAX HOMA: Yeah, I think it just makes you uncomfortable. The one I missed -- the short one I missed on 12 was probably from the wind. The one I missed on 7, not to make excuses, but that had to have hit something because by the time I looked up, it was like outside the right edge, so I'm not really sure. It felt like it came out of a depression.
But it was definitely uncomfortable putting in that wind. Like I had a long one on 18 and you're judging a big slope and it's going to start running downwind and downhill. So it made it uncomfortable, but that's why this golf course is so good.
Q. Do you feel like now that you've gotten your bad one out of the way you can still get it done tomorrow?
MAX HOMA: Yeah, I obviously didn't score very well today, but I thought I still played great. I drove it really well. It seemed like my good shots didn't go anywhere near the hole distance wise, and then my bad ones I got punished. I was proud of how I hung in there. If it wasn't for the triple, it was a pretty good round of golf.
So yeah, it wasn't so bad, but I'm only a few back. I'm going to need some help. But I obviously know I can play this golf course well, and my game feels good, so that's nice.
Q. In theory that could have gone off the rails and blown yourself out of the tournament. How did you kind of turn it around?
MAX HOMA: Yeah, my goals have just been to have mental goals and control my internal state really, and I thought I did a great job. I didn't feel like I played that bad. I had one very bizarre hole, and other than that, like I just swung the club really well. It just wasn't -- if yesterday and the day before seemed like it was on the edge, it would be on the right side. Today felt like it was on the wrong side.
But I thought I did awesome, birdieing 15 and 17 and making that putt on 18, that was still a solid round of golf. I know a lot of players scored much better, but I'm still pleased with how I played the round.
Q. What happened on 17 after the birdie putt?
MAX HOMA: There was a probably drunk, I hope for his case, or else he's just the biggest loser there is, but he was cheering and yelling at Chris for missing his putt short, and he kept yelling that he had -- one of them had $3 for me to make mine, and I got to the back of my back stroke, and he yelled, "pull it" pretty loud, and I made it right in the middle, and then I just started yelling at him, and then Joe yelled at him.
I love that people can gamble on golf, but that is the one thing I'm worried about. He didn't care that -- I don't know what he had to lose. He got kicked out probably, and we were the last group.
Q. Did the course play a lot different today?
MAX HOMA: Just different wind direction, so it plays different. 9 played really long. The holes like 1 were reachable.
Yeah, it was a bit different. It was a little bit firmer. Greens were faster. A little bit different.
Q. What did you yell back?
MAX HOMA: That he's a clown, with maybe another word. I don't know what Joe yelled. He was a lot meaner, I think. It just was -- I don't know. Long day, I guess. Hope he has a nice night, but it just sucks when that happens, but I was happy I made it. It was rude what he did to Chris. Whatever.
Q. We're kind of new in this gambling world, but how often does --
MAX HOMA: Very rarely. It's just always something that's on your mind. It's on us to stay focused or whatever, but it's just annoying when it happens.
It just feels -- it's like the one thing we have in this game, fans are so great about being quiet when we play. I think they are awesome. When anybody ever talks, it's so unintentional. They don't know we're hitting.
It just sucks when it's incredibly intentional, and his friend specifically said it was for $3, so that was -- not that the money matters, but that's a frustrating number.
Q. Especially when you're playing for 20 million.
MAX HOMA: It doesn't matter what we're playing for. We're working so hard, and I grinded my tail off to get that thing back to near even par, and had I missed that I would have just been -- it just would have been a pain, but it was nice to make it right in the middle and hopefully he had to pay his buddy that $3 immediately on the way out of the property.
Q. Do you allow yourself to think at all about anything other than this tournament and this present moment? Is that part of the trick of this week?
MAX HOMA: Yeah, it's hard, obviously, but you can have the thoughts and some you can focus on and some you can kind of let keep floating by. It pops up in your head.
I know if you win this event or at least I do, I'll be No. 1 going into next week. But then you've got to play good next week. You definitely think about it, but I didn't really focus on it. I was glad that today didn't feel like it was some mental issue, it was just golf is hard some days.
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