Cal Alum Max Homa Tied for 10th at PGA, Positioned for Best Major Finish
Former Cal star Max Homa is on pace to complete his finest performance at a golf major championship.
Homa, who has never finished higher than a tie for 40th in a major, has a share of 10th place after Saturday’s third round of the 104th PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Coming off a victory at the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago, Homa shot an even-par 70 in the third round that was played in chilly, sometimes rainy conditions after two days of warm, windy weather.
Homa, 31, is at 1-under par through three rounds and eight strokes behind leader Mito Pereira entering Sunday’s final round. A 27-year-old Chilean Olympian, Pereira is 9 under par and will try to parlay a three-stroke lead into his first tour victory.
Homa is part of a seven-way tie for 10th that includes Webb Simpson.
Fellow Cal alum Collin Morikawa, who won the 2020 PGA title, struggled through a 4-over round of 74 and is tied for 65th place at 8 over. The world’s third-ranked player, Morikawa is 17 strokes off the pace and likely to have his poorest finish in a major in which he played all four days.
No one had a tougher Saturday than Tiger Woods, just 15 months removed from a serious car accident that has him operating on a sore right leg. The 15-time major winner shot a 79, including seven bogeys and a triple-bogey, and is tied for last place at 12 over par.
Woods later withdrew from the tournament, so he will not play on Sunday.
Homa’s third round began with a bogey on No. 1 but he birdied the fourth, the 12th and the 13th, climbing from 17th place to a tie for sixth at that point. He dropped back to a tie for 12th after consecutive bogeys on No. 14 and 15.
Homa made a birdie on the 17th but gave it back with a bogey on No. 18 to finish even at 70 for the day.
Homa’s best finish at a major was a tie for 40th at the British Open last summer, which was won by Morikawa. Even so, he had missed the cut in six of his past eight majors.
Morikawa, fifth at the Masters a month ago, has not assembled a round under par through three rounds at Southern Hills. He shot 2-over 72 on Thursday and Friday, then had four bogeys and a double-bogey on No. 16 during Saturday’s third round.
Through 54 holes, the 25-year-old has totaled just four birdies.
World No. 2 Jon Rahm is part of the tie with Morikawa at 65th place.
Pereira had a four-stroke lead and was at 10 under after birdies on two of his first five holes, But he had bogeys on four out of five holes through No. 12 and his lead shrunk to one stroke over three golfers, including second-round leader Will Zalatoris.
Pereira regained control with birdies on 13 and 14, then converted a birdie putt on No. 18 to push his lead to three strokes over Zalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick, who had a 67 on Saturday.
After one of the worst rounds of his career in a major event, Woods, 46, said he and his team would evaluate what affect his surgically repaired right leg is having on his play.
"Well, I'm sore. I know that is for a fact," Woods told a pool reporter. "We'll do some work and see how it goes.”
He later withdrew.
This was just his second tournament since the car accident in February 2021 and five weeks after the Masters, at which he shot 78s on the final two days. Saturday was no better.
"I couldn't get off the bogey train there, or other train too," Woods said. "I just didn't do anything right. I didn't hit many good shots. Consequently, I ended up with a pretty high score."
Cover photo of Max Homa by Orlando Ramirez, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo