Cal Sports Report

Max Homa Makes a Second-Round Push at St. Jude Championship

Lucas Glover holds the lead in Memphis, but all three former Cal golfers are in position to qualify for the next leg of the FedEx Cup playoff
Jake Curtis|
Max Homa Makes a Second-Round Push at St. Jude Championship
Max Homa Makes a Second-Round Push at St. Jude Championship

Max Homa had a strong second round at the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Friday, as he and the two other former Cal golfers in the event stayed in close pursuit of leader Lucas Glover.

Glover had the best round of the day at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., firing a 6-under-par 64 on a hot and humid Friday. That left him at 10-under for the tournament, one shot ahead of Jordan Spieth, who is at 9-under after shooting a 2-under 68.

Another stroke back at 8-under and tied for third place are four golfers – Sungjae Im, Taylor Moore, Tommy Fleetwood and Emiliano Grillo.

However, the three ex-Golden Bears are in the hunt, both in this event and to qualify for the next leg of the FedEx Cup playoff.

Homa fired a 4-under 66 on Friday, putting him at 6-under for the tournament, four strokes off the lead and tied for 14th place.

Former Cal golfers Collin Morikawa and Byeong Hun An are another stroke back at 5-under.

Homa was probably hoping for more after he birdied three holes in a row to go to 7-under for the tournament with five holes left. 

But he bogeyed No. 7 (his 16th hole of the day) to fall back to 6-under.

He is in good shape to advance to next week’s stage of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Golfers who are among the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings after the St. Jude Championship move on to next week’s BMW Championship, the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Homa started this week’s event in fourth place in the FedEx Cup standings, and his performance through two rounds this week is projected to put him in fifth place. So he has a lot of leeway to remain in contention for the $25 million that goes to the winner of the FedEx Cup.

Morikawa also is in good position to advance to the BMW Championship, but he can’t be satisfied with his second-round performance. He began the day two strokes off the lead after a first-round 65, but he shot an even-par 70 on Friday, dropping him five strokes behind the leader and tied for 18th. He had three bogeys to go along with his three birdies..  

Nonetheless he is projected to be in 26th place in the FedEx Cup standings after the first two rounds in Memphis, leaving him in good shape for the next leg.

Things might get dicey for An, who shot a 2-under 68 in the second round and is tied with Morikawa and 10 other golfers for 18th. 

An started the week in 37th place in the Cup standings and has improved three spots to 34th in the projected standings after two rounds. Unless he falters badly, he should get a berth in the BMW Championship.

Entering this week's event, Jon Rahm (3,320 points) led the FedEx Cup point standings, followed by Scottie Scheffler (3,146), Rory McIlroy (2,304), Homa (2,128) and Wyndham Clark (1,944).

Scheffler now owns the projected top spot after two rounds of the St. Jude Championship, with Rahm second. But Glover has moved all the way up to No. 3 in the projected standings after starting the week 49th. Rory McIlroy is fourth, followed by Homa, and then Spieth in sixth.

Scheffler is at 7-under after two rounds of this week's event, very much in the hunt, but Rahm is at even-par, tied for 51st.

The key for the third and fourth rounds in Memphis may be endurance.  Temperatures on Friday were in the mid-90s, and it is expected to be hot on both Saturday and Sunday.

Cover photo of Max Homa by Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports

Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

Home/Other Sports