Max Homa has cemented himself as one of the game’s best personalities, and his press conference ahead of the RBC Heritage was no exception.
Homa spoke about his takeaways from spending the weekend in contention at Augusta, appreciating the atmosphere and soaking in the moment on the 12th tee, plus Scottie Scheffler’s dominance with what has become trademark earnestness.
But Homa was perhaps at his most relatable when he described an experience on his journey from Augusta to Hilton Head, S.C., home of this week’s Signature Event at Harbour Town.
“I hopped in the car and drove three hours here, called a bunch of people just to have them break up my drive, so shout-out to [No Laying Up’s] DJ Piehowski,” Homa said. “He helped me out for about an hour and a half to two hours of that drive. Reminisced a little on the drive when I didn’t have service on how the week went, what I thought I could have done better, what I thought I did well, stretch and keep my body kind of loose.
“Then I went and got some food and tried to go to bed as early as I could because I was pretty worn out by the end of the drive.”
Every road trip requires a pit stop, but Homa’s meal also included some unexpected generosity.
“I absolutely demolished Chick-fil-A on my way down,” he said. “A sweet woman paid for it, actually, in the drive-thru line, and then when I got to town I went to Giuseppe’s and got a pizza. I never really eat pizza. Cheese doesn’t sit to well with me, but I’m all by myself this week, so I decided to splurge a little.”
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A reporter pressed Homa on the drive-thru payment situation — how did that even come about?
“It was cool,” Homa said. “I was in the drive-thru by myself and I went to order and the person taking the order told me that the woman in the row next to me had paid for whatever I was going to get. She said that her son is 3 or 4 and I’m his favorite golfer, so it was pretty cool. I don’t know, those kinds of things I still pinch myself.”
If you’ve never been to Chick-fil-A, this situation was made possible by two parallel drive-thru lines, which improve the restaurant’s service speed and efficiency. Once you order and pay with an associate, the lines merge into one before you reach the pick-up window.
“Yeah, it was a two-line Chick-fil-A, you know, busy,” Homa said. “She paid for it, I rolled my window down, we chatted for a minute or so, and then I ate it.”
On Sunday, Homa’s T3 finish at the Masters earned him a $1.04 million check — and the irony of having his fast-food meal paid for by a stranger was not lost on him.
“Yeah, it was kind,” he said. “I just pinch myself at times with the kindness people have given me just because I play some golf. I feel very fortunate for that.”
