Let's Hope Thursday Was a Sign of Things to Come for Max Homa

I think Max Homa duped us a little bit.

On Wednesday, he sounded like a man that was beaten down by the game and a player who was already looking forward to the off-season. He admitted he hasn’t been great at low-scoring events—Davis Thompson won last year’s John Deere Classic at 28-under—and said, “My game isn't particularly sharp. Obviously haven't played well this year or great lately either.”

Not exactly the tone of a player set to contend in Silvis, Illinois.

John Deere Classic: How to Watch

But something must have clicked before the first round at TPC Deere Run, because Homa made that place look like a pitch and putt on Thursday morning.

After a par on 10, his opening hole, Homa made four birdies in a row on Nos. 11-14 and added another on 18 to make the turn in 5-under 31. On his way home, he added circles on Nos. 2, 3, 6, and 8 before a closing bogey to finish off an 8-under 63 that had him a shot off Doug Ghim's lead after the morning wave.

I wrote on Wednesday afternoon that Max sounded like a player who needed a break, so I wasn’t exactly expecting that kind of performance from the former World No. 5 in the Quad Cities. But I stumbled upon this clip during his round and everything started to make sense.

"Just seeing him (Max Homa) hit some balls yesterday and he was kind of excited about it on the range and you just kinda get that vibe from him," said Mitch Van Zuiden, who works at TPC Deere Run in its Golf Operations department.

“Just my sequencing has been off. Found something to hopefully slow down my legs,” Homa said. “Yeah, it's always just been off all season. Hopefully this little change is going to kind of continue to work. But didn't find it until late yesterday afternoon, so I'm in the early days of it. I think I'm in the honeymoon phase for a little while.”

Kinda wish I had that information before the tournament started, might have opened my FanDuel app.

But, seriously, it was pretty awesome to watch Homa play that kind of golf again. His swing looked as good as I’ve seen over the last few years, the ball was coming out of the right window, and his putting stroke looked tidy. And with Homa, you know he’s starting to feel it when he’s walking in putts.

We saw a whole lot of that on Thursday.

Now, is it sustainable?

“I mean, I don't see why not,” Homa said, “but I'm not I guess worried about it being—it's not going to be my lasting thought as I leave here today. I played a good round of golf; every day is different. I do feel like we found a little something with the driver, all the long clubs, and it was nice to do that for 18 full holes. I didn't hit one crazy shot today so that was cool.”

There’s still 54 holes left, a lot of golf to play, but Homa looks poised to be part of the conversation over the weekend. Let’s see if he can back up a low one with another on Friday afternoon.