Max Homa Breaks Olympia Fields Course Record to Lead BMW Championship

Homa’s ridiculously low round helped him shoot up to the top of the leaderboard in Chicago.

Max Homa charged to a solo lead of the BMW Championship on Friday, and it only took a new course record at Olympia Fields’ famed North Course for him to do so. 

After a 2-under 68 to open the FedEx Cup playoff event, the six-time PGA Tour winner carded 10 birdies and two bogeys to post an 8-under 62 for Round 2.  

Homa broke the previous course record of 63 by one shot. Until Friday, that accolade was shared by Rickie Fowler and Vijay Singh. 

“Obviously I holed a lot of putts, which you have to do to make 10 birdies, but I was very proud of how I drove it. I felt like I was able to attack kind of all day,” Homa said. 

The California native knew he was sinking a significant number of putts on the revered Willie Park Jr. design on Friday, but he didn’t quite have a grasp on how many he had holed until his group’s standard bearer gave a hint. 

“I heard the standard bearer say something about how he’s getting tired because he had to change the numbers on our thing so much because Pat was making a lot, too. It was just a crazy day,” Homa said. 

Big day for leader @MaxHoma23 💪 pic.twitter.com/pi95KQDLQ0

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 18, 2023

Heading into the round, Homa was unaware of the course record, but another mid-round revelation helped him discover the number to beat. 

“[Chris] Kirk was playing good and the board said, Chris Kirk is challenging the course record of 63, so of course that’s... just randomly saw that today, and then I had to think about it,” Homa said. 

The scoreboard wasn’t wrong—Kirk’s hot start of 3-under through five holes had him trending toward the course record. But the 38-year-old only made one more birdie in his next 13 holes, carding a 4-under 66 to sit two shots behind Homa. 

Homa’s strong performance at this week’s playoff event will only further solidify his spot in next week’s Tour Championship, as well as his place in the 2023 Ryder Cup. 

With two wins this season and 15 top-20’s, Homa will likely finish as one of the six automatic qualifiers for the U.S. Team. 

The automatic selections are officially set after the conclusion of the BMW Championship. Homa is currently No. 6 in those standings. The next six players on the 2023 U.S. team will be Zach Johnson’s captain’s picks, but Homa won’t have to lobby for one of those. 

“I told Zach last year I was kissing up to him, but then he also said, well, ‘I’d like to not have to pick you,’ and I said ‘all right, there’s my promise, I’ll try to get an automatic.’ That would be really cool,” Homa said. “That’s been kind of my goal since these Playoffs started, to get into that top 6.”

If Homa keeps playing quality golf like he did in Chicago today, he could check off a course record, a playoff victory and a season-long goal all within a matter of days.