Before he became one of the PGA Tour’s brightest stars, Max Homa was a standout on social media, roasting users’ swings and responding to user inquiries with a endearing humor and self-awareness.
This week, Max Homa enters the PGA Tour’s first event of the 2022-23 season as the defending champion, a four-time Tour winner and current World No. 20.
Being at the Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif., is a homecoming of sorts for the 31-year-old Homa, who played collegiate golf at UC Berkeley.
And this week, one of his former college teammates is also in the field: Michael S. Kim, who earned his way back to a full PGA Tour card via his performance on the Korn Ferry Tour last season.
Homa and Kim were good buddies in college, and Homa proved it by sharing a hilarious anecdote about Kim during his press conference on Wednesday.
Max Homa’s proven he can win. His next challenge? Defending those titles
“Michael moved to America from Korea when he was 12, so he speaks fluent Korean,” Homa began. “Like I said, I used to be in his hotel room every night when we were on the road and he’d talk to his parents and it’s like one of us talking to our parents, it was very fast. And obviously I don’t understand any Korean, it’s quite complicated.
“So he did that and — he’s going to be so mad I’m telling people this,” Homa continued with a smile. “He did that and right after he starts recording something on his phone and it would be like me saying like, ‘I drove my car to the store’ in Korean. I was like, ‘What are you doing,’ and he said, ‘Oh, I’m in this Korean 101 class that I’m not supposed to know, I’m not supposed to be fluent in this.’ I’m like, ‘You are so scummy,’ but it was great.”
The PGA Tour posted the clip of Homa’s press conference on Twitter, including a reaction from Kim, which was as funny as you would expect.
“That’s my cue out,” Kim said with a laugh while walking away from the camera. “That is my cue to leave.”
Hey, if your college buddy can’t bust your chops in a press conference on the PGA Tour, what are we even doing?