Ex-Cal Golfer Max Homa Shoots 7-Under, Now 1 Shot Back in PGA Event

Bryson DeChambeau fails to make cut at Rocket Mortgage Classic, but three former Cal golfers do
Ex-Cal Golfer Max Homa Shoots 7-Under, Now 1 Shot Back in PGA Event
Ex-Cal Golfer Max Homa Shoots 7-Under, Now 1 Shot Back in PGA Event /

Former Cal golfer Max Homa not only made the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, which was news in itself, but he he finds himself just one shot off the lead after a magnificent second round Friday.

While most of the attention Friday was on a player who did not make the cut -- Bryson DeChambeau -- Homa tied Russell Knox for the best round of the day, a 7-under-par round of 65 at the Detroit Golf Club.  It leaves him tied with Chris Kirk and Troy Merritt for third place at 9 under par for the tournament, one shot behind co-leaders Joaquin Niemann and Tom Lewis heading into Saturday's third round.

None of the other four golfers in that group of five atop the leaderboard has won a PGA Tour event, so Homa has to like his chances.

Click here for the entire leaderboard

Homa birdied each of his final four holes in his bogey-free round to bounce back from disappointing recent performances. He had missed the cut in his last two events and four of his last five, and that included failing to get to the third round of the U.S. Open.

Things were much different for him Friday.

His 34-foot birdie putt was the highlight of his four-birdie run to end his day.

Then Homa hit this outstanding approach shot on his final hole of the day to produce a tap-in birdie:

Homa is not the only former Golden Bears golfer in contention, even though the most famous of the Cal alums, Collin Morikawa, is not participating in this event.

Former Cal standout Brandon Hagy had a brilliant first-round score of 7-under 65 on Thursday and followed that with a 1-under-par round on Friday to be at 8-under for the tournament, just two strokes off the lead.

Brandon Hagy. Photo by Raj Mehta, USA TODAY Sports
Brandon Hagy. Photo by Raj Mehta, USA TODAY Sports

A third ex-Cal golfer, Byeong Hun An, also made the cut. He fired a 2-under-par 70 Friday to be at 3-under, which was right on the projected cut line, allowing him to play Saturday.

DeChambeau will not be playing Saturday.  He is the defending champion and was the pre-tournament favorite, but he shot a 1-under-par 71 Friday, leaving him at 1-under, thus missing the cut.

He skipped the post-round meeting with the media too, avoiding having to comment on the surprising news of Wednesday, when Tim Tucker, his caddie for all eight of his PGA Tour victories, suddenly quit on DeChambeau.

Of course, Brooks Koepka had something to say Thursday via Twitter.

Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama withdrew Friday after testing positive for COVID-19.

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Cover photo of Max Homa by Junfu Han via Imagn Content Services, LLC

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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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.