JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 5, 2025

Max Homa

TPC Deere Run

Quick Quotes

Q. Good job out there, Max.

MAX HOMA: Thank you.

Q. At the beginning of the week you mentioned a tournament where you have to make a barrage of birdies doesn't normally suit you, but you put yourself in a position for another chance to win. Did that lack of expectation help you play a little bit freer out there?

MAX HOMA: I don't think so. I mean, I say that because it's just realistic. I don't know all my wins -- I don't know what the lowest ones was, but I don't think there has been one real deep in the 20s. That doesn't mean I can't do it; I know that.

Yeah, just answering the question I haven't had great success in contending, but it's not like when I you go home and play a golf course that would be low scores I can shoot a low number, so it's -- I don't know, I just think I've been having a good time trying to enjoy the walk, the crowds, and all that.

That's been kind of the reason for a lot of good golf this week.

Q. With a chance to win another PGA TOUR event, take us inside the mindset of that feeling of being in the hunt come Sunday.

MAX HOMA: Yeah, just fun. Golf is just been very boring for me this year. I haven't had a whole lot of stress, and you want to be stressed out. So I look forward to the butterflies in the morning; I look forward to the first tee shot.

It's just nice to get to feel that again. It's been a while.

Q. Would a win be vindication for all the hard work you've been putting in for the last year and a half?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, it would be awesome. I don't really use results to determine how I look at my progress. I know I'm doing a lot of great stuff. My whole team, JSR, Jason, Lance, everybody has been putting in tireless effort for it.

Whether we play great or whether we play terrible tomorrow, I think taking what we've been doing this week and using that to go forward, I have a long career, so I plan to be in this position a lot more.

Yeah, it would be lovely to win, but that's not exactly on my mind at the moment.

Q. What is your determination of success or progress rather?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, it's very much internal. If I can feel like this week where I have a go-to shot and I have smaller misses and I feel like I can compartmentalize why balls go left and right, that to me is usually the mark of a great golfer and that's how it's felt this week.

That's what I've been searching for for a while, and it's starting to click the last four, five days.

Q. What's made Deere Run play comparatively more difficult this year?

MAX HOMA: I don't know. I haven't been here in eight years. The greens are very fast. It was really windy today and yesterday afternoon. Wind is obviously the kind of ultimate test for us. You can still get after a lot of holes.

It was hard to get the ball real close to the hole today. If you play a hole into the wind and the pin is in the back or in a corner it's hard to get it to no spin.

Those couple things are really going to always taper off the scores a little bit.

Q. Greens look purple in places. Are they pretty stressed in your eye?

MAX HOMA: No, just in a couple spots. 16, 17 is baked out. They're still really soft, but 17 is the crispiest. Doesn't have a lot of coverage. They're in really good shape. It gets a little beat up by the end of the day, but it's not abnormal for anywhere we go.

Q. Rocky start to the back nine. How important was 12 to get you back on track?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, it was more just mental. If you space these two bad swings out on 10 and 11 I really don't think I had missed golf shot prior to that. Kind of shocked the system a little bit.

It was nice to stand over the shot on 12 and not think much of it and just get back to work, because they came out of left field. I told myself if I played 18 holes and made two bad swings for a whole day I think I would be happy. That was the mindset I was trying to use.

Q. You have so much support out here. How is that driving you out here this week?

MAX HOMA: It's the best. I'm just the luckiest guy. Getting to come to a place -- I'm from nowhere near here. I didn't venture out here very much. To get to walk around and have all these kids and people cheering me on is just the coolest thing in the world.

Q. Max, what do you do tonight to kind of flip the switch from golf and clear your mind? Do you think about tomorrow's round and the potential? Do you just flip the switch and forget about golf until tomorrow morning?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, I'm sure I'll think about it. I think about golf all the time so it's not abnormal. I'll think about it and then I'll let it go.

I am going to go get dinner again with some buddies, just do the same routine. Yeah, I'll think about it, but I think about it on a Monday, so it's not abnormal. Thought just isn't going to stick in my head. I'll let it go.

I'm sure I'll be nervous in the morning, but I've done this a lot of times. It's all good.

Q. You've slept on the lead before, haven't you?

MAX HOMA: Have I? Yeah.

Q. You've had a 54-hole lead.

MAX HOMA: Yeah, I don't right now, but...

Q. When you're in contention like this, how do you process that, deal with that?

MAX HOMA: I let you guys process it. I'm just going to eat, sleep, wake up, and get ready to play a good round the golf.

Q. You said last night that if you crash and burn on the weekend you're still leaving here feeling good about the progress you made. Do your expectations change now that you're in contention?

MAX HOMA: No. I believe in myself wholeheartedly. I don't expect a whole lot from myself. I'm just going to go be myself tomorrow.