Q. How did this one come together for you on a Friday?
MAX HOMA: Very similar to yesterday. I did everything pretty well, drove it quite nice, never felt like I was way out of position anywhere. Still made a couple great putts too. So it just was basically the same day as yesterday, which is nice. Game feels like it's very repeatable at the moment. You go around a course like this without feeling too much anxiety, too much stress, that's a bonus.
Q. Fourth start in this tournament, you missed the cut the previous three times, what have you figured out this week?
MAX HOMA: I think I'm just better at golf now. I told my wife that there's a few tee shots out here I remember being anxious over and I came showed up this week on Wednesday and was rolling my eyes that I thought that that was as demanding as it was.
So I just think I'm getting a little bit better, feeling more comfortable out here. It's a golf course that should suit me pretty well the way I play the game typically, so it's nice to come back and kind of -- I haven't been here in a while -- so I had fresh, kind of fresh look at it and not really any bad memories, no good memories either, but that's okay sometimes.
Q. How much of that confidence comes from that win at Riviera a couple months ago that maybe you look at this whole game very differently?
MAX HOMA: Yeah, it's a lot. I would say though it was more so just the continued good play from Mayakoba all the way through honestly like now. So the win's great, obviously it boosts it, and my confidence, it kept me understanding that my really good golf is really good, but I think the sustained success is where I'm kind of leaning on most for my confidence at the moment. Just knowing that I can be consistent out here, I look at somebody like Xander, I practice with him a lot and he's amazing, he can have weeks where it doesn't seem like he's clicking and he'll get 4th, 5th place. And that's what I've been trying to strive for.
So getting a little bit closer to that, that's where I've kind of found some of that flow and that confidence coming to a place, like you mentioned, I haven't really had a ton of success, but know that I can if I keep playing the way I've been playing.
Q. What was the club on 14?
MAX HOMA: 3-wood.
Q. What was the club at Greystone?
MAX HOMA: 3-wood. She's hot.
Q. Is there any story behind the 3-wood? Is it new?
MAX HOMA: No, not at all. I've always hit my 3-wood quite well, it's typically one of my favorite clubs. I know every caddie that's ever worked for me has said it's their favorite club, which means it probably should be my favorite club. So I don't know, it's just a hitting it out of the middle and it's going where I'm looking at the moment.
Q. Was there any moment on 14 where you thought that shot might go in?
MAX HOMA: No, you can't see a thing when you hit it. So you just kind of hit it in the abyss, it feels like and you wait. Bobby and Sungjae gave me a thumbs up, so I knew it was on the green. Didn't know it was that close. So it was a bonus to get up there and see it four, five feet away.
Q. The putting, anything specific this week or just a good putting week?
MAX HOMA: Good putting week. I typically putt it quite well, at least start it on my lines. I haven't made very much most of the season really or most of my career outside of like 10, 12 feet, as far as what it should be for inside six feet. My inside six feet stats are really good, so you would think I would make more from longer. So we have just been putting a little more attention to that, so maybe that's kind of where the boost has come in. But, yeah, speed's been really good, we're seeing the lines, I feel like Joe's been reading them really well and if you start the ball on line they got to go in eventually.
Q. Is your game at a point right now where you're essentially just not concerned about going to places where you haven't had past success?
MAX HOMA: In my career there's a lot of places I haven't had a lot of success, so it's hard to get too down about that. But, yeah, no, I mean good golf is good golf. Good golf travels. There's nowhere in the country I haven't played well for the most part, so I'm comfortable on all the grasses and I'm comfortable with the looks of holes. It's just, when you're not playing well it doesn't matter comfy you are, you're still probably not going to play so good. So my game just feels a lot more whole, a lot better, a lot more repeatable. I feel like I'm not showing up on certain weeks feeling like I just don't have it at all, which is good. And you get to a hard golf course like this and you want to at least feel like you have some semblance of your 8 out of 10 game. So that's where I feel like I am. I feel like I'm steady right now and I think that helps coming to a place I haven't made a cut yet.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports