Scottie Scheffler’s rapid ascendancy to World No. 1 is just the latest example of a hot young player making his mark on the PGA Tour.
The influx of young talent has been increasingly noticeable over the last several years, with players like Viktor Hovland, Matt Wolff and Collin Morikawa asserting themselves on Tour seemingly immediately.
For Max Homa, winning took a bit more time. But now the 31-year-old has three victories under his belt, and on this week’s episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon, he shared his perspective on why winning early in your pro career is so valuable.
“I wish I was ignorant enough at the time to be like, ‘Oh, that’s just how it’s gonna be, that was easy,'” Homa said of his first top-10 finish on Tour. “I wish I would have been a little bit more, I think, how the kids are these days, with just the blind faith.”
What’s behind Max Homa’s recent success? His coach has some thoughts
Homa cited Hovland, Wolff and Morikawa as fearless players who expected to win right away, because that’s what they were used to doing in college.
“The longer it takes you to win, all the sudden you realize how difficult it all is,” Homa said. “And then every little piece of professional golf feels brutal.”
Homa said he was glad to see 20-year-old Akshay Bhatia, who just claimed his first professional victory on the Korn Ferry Tour in January, playing well.
“When you’re that young, it’s obviously going to be harder to play great,” Homa said. “And the more you get beat up, the scar tissue builds up real fast, and all of the sudden, the littlest things that used to be so second-nature and easy are like, hard.”
For more from Homa, including why he embraced social media and his takeaways from each of his three wins, check out the full interview below.