PGA Tour star Max Homa talks why he’s playing at the Barracuda Championship

One of the most popular golfers on the PGA Tour, Max Homa, is in Truckee making his Barracuda Championship debut this weekend. NSN caught up with the six-time PGA Tour winner as he visited our desk on Wednesday.

[Music] back here on NSN tonight from the Barracuda Championship and so thrilled to be joined by Max Homa. Max, welcome to the Barracuda Championship and thanks for taking some time. What’s it been like so far out at Olden Greedwood? Yeah, thanks. It’s been good. I’d never been up uh at this golf course before. Uh I seen on TV a couple times, but uh I’d be lying if I said I knew anything about it except that the bar ball goes really far. Uh and that is true. So uh yeah, just been uh it’s been nice. It’s cool to get out. This is uh I’m from Southern California. Uh we don’t have nature quite like this down there. So, it’s quite nice. It’s very pretty. Uh every morning’s been a a treat to to wake up and and get to look at all the trees. That’s great to hear for for those of us that have this place in our backyard to get that perspective. I did see you post some swings on your Instagram and you did write, quote, “Ball go far here.” So, between the elevation and the Stableford scoring system, get your popcorn ready, right? Yeah. Uh this golf course kind of lends itself to, you know, the stableford system. There’s a few or at least a couple drivable holes. Uh a bunch of reachable parfives. So I think you’ll see a good amount of uh that that riskreward. Uh people taking things on. Uh some eagles will be made. So I think I think it’s it makes it exciting when you have a a format like that on a course that you know it’s not overly difficult. So you’re going to see a lot of you know plus fives, plus twos, those things. Yeah. So, you played your college golf uh at Berkeley, Cal Berkeley, not too far from here, a couple hours away. Uh did you have any experiences coming up to Lake Tahoe or anything when you were in college? Do you have any memories maybe of coming up in this area during that time period? Uh no, never in college. Uh I did come here for my bachelor party. Oh, nice. Heck yeah. So, memories are hazy, but we follow we got pictures. Uh but yeah, I uh but we never golfed here. Uh I did do a work outing last off season in uh at Edgewood which was cool. So that was my first time getting to play play up here. But uh no it’s very pretty. I guess last time I played this event it was at Montro. So a bit different location but similar kind of vibe. So uh it’s a very special place uh in in the country that I don’t feel like a lot of people get to go to. Uh but when you get here you think to yourself, why don’t I come here more often? It’s very peaceful. Uh it’s an enjoyable enjoyable place. So uh very thankful we get to come up here. All right. the bachelor party. Was it a Was it a winter trip? Was it summer? When did you guys come out? September. Uh it was like a Labor Day. Very nice. We had a plan to get on the boat. Everybody woke up and thought thought better of it. Uh but no, it was fun. We uh we stayed mostly at the house. We went down to uh you know that South Lake Tahoe every night. Uh it was it was a blast. Uh we had like 15 of us. It was a lot of fun. Shout out to Shannon Kelly’s fiance John actually had his bachelor party during the ACC last week. That’s wild. Shannon’s dad was there. I can tell you, John, by Sunday, they looked like they were hurting pretty badly by Sunday. Speaking of Edgewood though, tough back-to-back weeks of assignments for us in Nevada Sports. We were posted up at the American Century Championship last week. And I know you had your eyes on it because I believe Charles Barkley name dropped to you. I think you reached out to him after he shot an 81 on Friday. What’s that relationship like? And did you do you pay attention to that celebrity tournament every year? Yeah, I’m lucky. I got quite a few friends who played in it. Chuck’s I think the greatest dude in the world. He texts me after most every tournament. So, I was trying to, you know, reciprocate. He’s playing so much better, so that was fun to watch. Uh, Baker plays, I text him. Uh, Chuck and Rob Menny played together and, uh, so I’m friends about them. But, I keep my eye the most on Aaron Rogers. Aaron and I talk a lot. Uh, we talk a lot of golf. He’s a golf junkie. So, uh, he didn’t get to play much at all leading up, but he said, uh, I think it was the Monday before he went up, he went and played and played really well. So, it was good that he showed showed up and, uh, kind of kept that trend going. I think he went 15, 15, 14. So, it was fun to watch them, man. Uh, people like Steph and just these athletes that we admire. Going to play a game that drives you insane. Getting to watch the Kelsey brothers suck is always funny cuz I mean, they’re just the most likable people ever. And they get on the golf course and they continue to be relatable. So, see like dude of I don’t know, you just get to see both their personality and competitive nature at the same time. I think that’s just awesome. What did you say with Chuck? You had the video of him. Uh there were some expletives after he likes to say one and you’re like one of us. You got to be careful with the hot mic around Charles Barkley when he’s on the golf course. He doesn’t he doesn’t care about a hot hot mic. I promise. Who’s the best celebrity golfer you’ve ever played around with? Uh I mean Aaron’s really good. I’ve never played with Steph. He is uh he’s impressive. Uh on the spot I’m blanking. I know that there’s more. Um but you know somebody who’s really good uh Alfonso River is phenomenal golfer. He takes it very seriously too. He takes his he loves him some golf. Uh, I’m sure I’m missing a bunch, but you’re good. Uh, you know, I I’d be curious. You know, Austin Reeves, special place in my heart as a Laker. I’ve heard himself tout himself as the best golfing basketball player. Uh, so I’d like to see his game. His swing’s beautiful. So, um, Cory Kispert’s a good player. Uh, shout out Gonzaga. So, yeah. So, he uh, we there’s some good ones, but I need to see it all up close. Steph obviously gets the most accolades, though, because he won, you know, the ACC and all that. I got to cover Cory when he’s Marty fish really good golfer. We saw Marty round the final round. He had a cocktail on the turn and that told me all right because Marty takes it serious serious. So if he’s drinking that means he’s he’s packed it in. Back to serious golf though in your last few months and of course it’s well documented you know different caddies and you were carrying your bag at a Monday qualifier. Just take us inside your head right now and what you’re going through I guess. Yeah it’s been good. games feels a lot better the last um since about the truest I saw some better signs. Didn’t really put up any good results, but uh the game started to feel a lot better. Um it’s hard cuz you know I’m not at the open. Uh I didn’t get to play the US Open either. So um it’s hard to kind of compartmentalize, you know, improvement without being I guess upset I’m not there. But at the same time, if I just kind of put it in a vacuum, I’m really happy where my game is at right now. Um, I play great at the John Deere. Uh, I’ve been playing well at home, so I’m finally seeing some sustained, uh, some sustained, you know, good golf, driving it a lot better. The rest of my game has felt pretty decent all year. It’s just been the driver and the 3-wood. So, um, it’s been awesome the last two and a half weeks. So, yeah, it’s just good to kind of keep bouncing around. You know, we travel so much, bounce around city to city and keep playing and keep having the same swing. I think for the beginning it was quite tough. Uh so I see the light which is going in. Yeah. Gotcha. When you look at uh this tournament right now, you’re kind of hovering near 100 in the standings. Do you look at this as an opportunity? Okay, this is somewhere where I maybe I can get some big points or you more just focused on I just want to go out and play good golf. Like what what’s sort of your goal expectation for coming out here to Chucky this week? Yeah, I mean I’m in that spot. I don’t need to finish in the top 100 this year because I have exemptions. Uh I I’m focused on the 70 and 50 number. I added this event because uh well, you know, I thought I’d be playing this week anyways. I didn’t play uh last week in Scotland. Um so I just wanted to get another uh rep in and get some points. Uh just try to keep chipping away towards that 70 to make the playoffs. So uh hopefully, you know, I I would love my wife’s very very pregnant right now, so I’d really like to win one of the next two so I could skip an event uh coming up uh just so I could uh you know, keep the stress level in our household. But yeah, I just wanted, you know, I’m playing well. I wanted to just get some points and and work my way towards Memphis. Get get a dub and then maybe All right, now we can Yeah, I just need I need I got two missed calls from her yesterday and I was freaking out. So, you had two hand I can’t handle this stress right now cuz my wife is also very pregnant. What do you guys do? Uh, we would be like the first week of August. Okay. So, we’re first week of October. So, you’re really close. I’m close. She’s the one telling me to keep playing. So, I’m still Every time you have a missed call from her, you’re like, “Dude, I’m freaking out.” Yeah, I’m ready to uh I’m ready to uh have, you know, have the baby and then get settled. I know it’ll be chaos, but I just want to make sure I’m there. Speaking of chaos, I just watched last night an 8 minute truth or putt interview you did with Drewski sponsored by Dunkin Donuts. That looked like a ton of fun. And then also recently released episode of Stick on Apple. You were in that episode. Uh just what’s it like kind of uh getting to taste that little Hollywood side of things? Of course, from not too far from there. Yeah, it’s not uh not exactly uh my bread and butter, but Drewuski is cool. It’s always scary to meet people like him because it’s how I felt about the part of my take guys, Big Cat and PFT. Yeah, like there’s such a massive part of my life without knowing it and you just, you know, they it’s kind of the definition of never meet your heroes. I think when people meet athletes that they don’t end up liking, they get upset. But I get that, but it’s a different mindset. Those people are entertainers and you want them to be cool and normal and cool and person they’re funny and Drewi lived up to that. He was awesome to be around. And then yeah, getting to be around Owen Wilson was cool. I mean, we were talking about if you’re I’m 34. If you’re 34 year old dude and like he’s your kind of adolescence. He was like in that peak period movies. Him and Vince Vaughn, man. We still quote everything they’ve done. So, uh that was awesome. That was a real pinch for me. That was, you know, texting my friends like you’ll never believe what I’m doing today. Uh that was cool. But yeah, I don’t I haven’t watched my scene. I will not watch my scene. I do not have I do not have the the the heart to watch myself act. At least Windom was right there with you though. You goodness. Hopefully he looked worse than me. That’s all I can ask for. How did you become that guy that’s like friends with all these big names, massive following? How did that all happen just naturally? Yeah, I don’t really know. Uh I don’t know. I’ve tried uh try since college just to be myself. Uh and then you attract people that like that and if you don’t then uh you know it’s all good. So, uh, fortunately, I’ve always had such an admiration for other athletes, uh, what they go through, uh, what they put their bodies through, what mentally that they go through. I I’ve been lucky to get to have a lot of deep talks with these people, like especially Aaron about like what how he prepares and, you know, mentally, I mean, and so I I don’t know. I I just have always been uh a big admirer of all theirs. So, I’ve just been really lucky that we’ve got to have uh a relationship and and chat about, you know, life, but also, you know, sports and, you know, how to get better and all those things. All athletes are sickos. We’re all obsessed with what we do and we all love other sports. So, it’s cool to get to talk to those types of people. So, we had our Nick Nikki Pico walk up with you and she spotted on your bag big Chipotle presence on the golf bag. So, we got to ask you, they’re they’re a sponsor of yours. You said it’s like your absolute favorite thing. First of all, what is the go-to max home at Chipotle order? What what’s what’s the move? Yeah. Um I do love Chipotle is my favorite thing like ever. Uh I looked it up. There’s not one anywhere near my hotel. Is a bummer. But uh yeah, my go-to I get basically the same thing every time. I get a bowl. Uh white rice, black beans. Uh that Chipotle honey chicken is fire. I hope that never goes away. Yeah, but I’ve been begging them to keep it. Just keep it forever. Uh then pico corn, and if I had a a good week, I’ll get guac. If not, that’s pretty simple. And if you had a good pretty simple order, Mike, what’s on your what’s on your uh Chipotle move? Depends if I’m going burrito or usually bowl, though. And I’ll go the half. I’m the guy that goes half and half with everything. Half brown, half beans because I feel like you get a little more that way. Okay. Yeah, you’re fing. If I’m feeling if I’m feeling good, I’ll go with the queso, but always guac on the side. Got to get the guac. The fajita veggies, I think, are a must. I mix that is the only thing I’ll mix in that that’s not part of my standard but I have it a lot at home so at some point I mix it up a little but that’s pretty much the only thing we actually have one in Reno maybe we’ll drive one up 23 miles from my hotel we’ll bring you thinking about going I might drive out I got I don’t have my family here this week so I might hike it over to the over to the Chipotle curious big Dodgers fan right did you catch the All-Star game last night Kershaw miked up as he was pitching and you think you think LA runs it back this year I hope they do that was really cool Kershaw is Dodgers baseball to me. He’s right in kind of my sweet spot. Uh my favorite Dodger of all time. Um so to get to see that uh he wasn’t really humming it down. Uh I think he hit 89 his first pitch, but uh strike out and have Dave come out, you know, that that was just so cool. So uh it’s it’s nice when you know we’ve been so lucky uh to get to see such great pitching and in our little era. So to get to see them kind of take their steps towards the end and get to appreciate it is cool. But yeah, I hope they they win it all. They’re they’re good, man. Pitching’s going to get healthy soon, so I think that’s been the one bugaboo for the season. Uh bats have been cold, but I don’t really worry about that lineup. I think they’ll figure that one out. I’m a longsuffering Mariners. And so Cal winning the home run derby. That’s awesome. I’m going to ride that till the next season. That’s awesome. Max, we appreciate you, man. Uh thank you so much for joining us on the show. Have a great week up here in Truckucky. Rooting for you and may maybe we’ll squeeze in some Chipotle for you on those. We’re going to be driving up tomorrow. Maybe we’ll just bring it for lunch. Yeah, we got you covered, man. Thanks so much. Appreciate you guys. All right, NSN tonight rolls on from Makuda after this.