Max Homa Finishes Tied for 45th in Barracuda Championship

Max Homa’s strong second and third rounds at the Barracuda Championship suggested that maybe his year-long slump was coming to an end. But his disappointing performance in Sunday’s final round at the Tahoe Mountain Club in Truckee, California, ended that optimism for now.

Cal alumnus Homa was tied for 16th place heading into the final round of this event, which used the Modified Stableford scoring system. In that system eight points are awarded for a double eagle, five points for an eagle, two points for a birdie, zero points for par, minus-one point for a bogey and minus-three points for a double bogey or worse.

His second round score of +14 enabled him to make the cut after shooting minus-1 in the opening round. And his score of +12 in Saturday’s second round, put him in contention. It was an impressive comeback from the poor start.

However, things fell apart early in Sunday’s round as he had four bogeys and a double-bogey against just one birdie over the first 10 holes, pushing him far behind the leaders. He did get birdies on Nos. 14 and 15, so he did finish well.

Homa ended up with a score of minus-1 for the fourth round and +24 points for the tournament, landing him in a tie for 45th place. He wound up 23 points behind the winner Ryan Gerard, who finished at +47.

This event featured golfers who failed to qualify for The Open, and none of the 156 golfers in the Barracuda Championship entered the event ranked higher than No. 70.

Homa, once ranked as high as fifth in the world, is ranked No. 101 this week and he barely missed getting into The Open in a qualifying tournament. The fact that he was eligible for the Barracuda Championship indicated how far Homa’s ranking has slid in recent months. He probably didn’t help his ranking much with his finish in Truckee.

There was a measure of success, though. Homa had missed the cuts in five consecutive events before making the cut in his past three tournaments (not counting the Farmers Insurance Open, when he withdrew during the second round with an illness).

Although Homa won’t be satisfied with his result, he did at least make the cut, something the other former Cal golfer in the field, James Hahn, failed to do.