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Associated Press
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Ghim holes out from fairway again at Deere for first 36-hole lead on PGA Tour
SILVIS, Ill. (AP) — Doug Ghim holed out from the fairway for eagle for the second straight day, sending him to a 3-under 68 and a one-shot lead Friday in the John Deere Classic, his first 36-hole lead in his six years on the PGA Tour. Defending champion Davis Thompson (63) and Max Homa (68) were among the five players within one shot of the lead going into the weekend. The starting times have been moved up Saturday because of rain in the forecast. Ghim holed out on the short par-4 sixth in the opening round. This time it was from 179 yards away on the par-4 15th. 'I guess holing out two days in a row is always nice,' Ghim said. 'It's been a couple years since I holed out from the fairway. To get two back-to-back days is great.' Ghim had a two-shot lead until hitting left into the trees and down a cart path, punching out through the green and chipping to 18 feet, missing the putt to make his second bogey of the round. He was at 12-under 130. Mexico Open winner Brian Campbell (66), David Lipsky (67) and Emiliano Grillo (66) were tied for second Ghim still feels a long way off from a chance to win for the first time at a tournament that has produced more first-time winners than any PGA Tour event since 1970. 'The person that's going to win this tournament will be in the 20-under par area, so last time I checked I'm not there yet,' Ghim said. 'I don't feel like I'm in the lead, and I'm just happy that I get to be teeing off late tomorrow in contention.' Homa was tied with Ghim late in the afternoon, when the greens were getting dry and crusty. But on the 18th hole, he pulled his tee shot into a bunker, missing the green to the right and wound up missing a 12-foot par putt to fall one back. He's still in good shape going into the weekend as he tries to get his game turned around. Putting four rounds together, or even three rounds, has been the difficulty and Homa did not sound like he was willing to get too far ahead of himself. 'I don't think really much changes. I mean, just play the golf course,' Homa said. 'You're going to have to shoot really low. If you went out there and tried to do something specific, I'm not so sure that is going to work. Somebody can go out there and shoot 11 under out there and jump everybody. So just go do what we did today and play another round of golf. 'Just keep waiting until the back nine on Sunday basically.' Thompson played in the morning and was the first to reach 11-under 131 as he tries to become the first repeat winner of the John Deere Classic since Steve Stricker won three in a row from 2009 through 2011. There was high drama late in the day that wound up setting the cut at 5-under 137. Rikuya Hoshino and Jesper Svensson each made birdie on their last hole to move the cut line to 5 under, only for Paul Peterson to take bogey on his last hole to move it back to 4 under. But in the final group, Brendan Valdes drilled his tee shot on the par-4 18th, hit his approach to about 8 feet and holed the birdie putt for a 66. That moved the cut back to 5 under, eliminating 14 players from the weekend. Rickie Fowler and Jake Knapp wound up making the cut on the number. Meanwhile, 12 players were separated by two shots going into the third round, a group that includes Camilo Villegas, Sam Stevens and Si Woo Kim. Stevens and Kim are trying to finish high enough to move up the world ranking that will be used next week to set the alternate list for the British Open. ___ AP golf:
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Max Homa cards second-round 68, enters weekend in contention at 2025 John Deere Classic
SILVIS, Ill. — Max Homa shot 3-under 68 Friday in the second round of the 2025 John Deere Classic to enter the weekend in contention at TPC Deere Run. Homa has struggled all season, failing to make the cut in seven of 16 starts and finishing inside the top 25 just once. His 63 on Thursday had him one shot off the lead entering Friday, and he's in the same position as the focus turns to the weekend. Doug Ghim leads at 12 under and Homa is part of a five-way tie for second at 11 under. Advertisement "I thought everything was good," Homa said. "Rolled it well. Hit the irons awesome. Wedged it well. Drove it well... Similar to yesterday, just nothing sticks out. Just was really good golf kind of through the bag. Yeah, those are my favorite kind of days." Homa made five birdies in the second round, offset by two bogeys, one of which came on the last hole when a wayward tee shot found the fairway bunker down the left side of No. 18. "It was a lot harder today with the wind, especially the back nine. Couple of those tee shots played pretty tricky as opposed to yesterday when we played with no wind." Other than that, though, Homa was dialed in off the tee all day, especially on the par-5 17th when he sailed a 354-yard drive over the trees to set up a second shot of just 189 yards. Advertisement "I like to cut the ball and that hole, you know, sets up for a bit of a draw. But what's nice is the way I was swinging it it didn't have a ton of curve on it the last two days, so I'm able to hit a have you small cut, and if I just get some air under it. It's definitely an uncomfortable tee shot, but I like the way I wedge it, so it feels like a free ball. If I miss the fairway, I layup and get to hit a wedge in there 10 feet." He didn't need to lay up. He hit his second shot to the left side of the green and got up-and-down for birdie. Homa enters the weekend firmly in contention for the first time this season as he seeks his seventh PGA Tour victory and his first since January 2023. The job is far from over, though, especially considering the fact that 12 of the last 15 winners at the John Deere Classic have finished at 20 under or better. Advertisement "I don't think really much changes [over the weekend]. I mean, just play the golf course. You're going to have to shoot really low. If you went out there and tried to do something specific, I'm not so sure that is going to work. Somebody can go out there and shoot 11-under out there and jump everybody. So just go do what we did today and play another round of golf. Just keep waiting until the back nine on Sunday basically." The solo leader, Doug Ghim, echoed that sentiment. "Being in the lead this early in the tournament doesn't really mean that much. Obviously having a lead is awesome at any point in the tournament, but with 36 holes left to play and that many people at 11-under par, I mean, doesn't feel like much of a lead. If anything, I feel like I'm chasing to try to get to 20-, 22-under par, even deeper if possible. You know, as far as I know I'm nine, ten shots back of that right now." Advertisement Due to thunderstorms in the forecast at TPC Deere Run on Saturday afternoon, players will be going off both No. 1 tee and No. 10 tee in threesomes for the third round, starting at 7:45 a.m. ET. Homa will tee off in the second-to-last group with David Lipsky and Emiliano Grillo, just ahead of Ghim, Brian Campbell and defending John Deere Classic champion Davis Thompson. This article originally appeared on Golfweek: John Deere Classic 2025: Max Homa in contention after two rounds
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Max Homa calls social media a 'safe haven for a**holes,' says logging off was the right move
SILVIS, Ill. — It's common knowledge these days that social media use can have an adverse effect on one's mental health. Even though they make lots of money and get to travel the world, professional athletes aren't immune to such impacts of the internet. Advertisement Before he became a 6-time winner on the PGA Tour, Max Homa rose to fame on Twitter, now known as X, with his roasting of amateur golf swings and witty quips about whatever was happening online that day. But as Homa's fame grew, he decided to step away from the internet, for the most part. He still pops in from time to time, but his social media presence is nowhere near what it used to be. That's old news, but the topic came up again in Homa's press conference on Wednesday at the John Deere Classic. Max Homa on the first hole during the third round of the 2025 Travelers Championship. His recent struggles on the PGA Tour are no secret. A 12th-place finish at the Masters is the lone bright spot in what has otherwise been a massively disappointing 2025 season for Homa, who at one point was ranked in the top 10 in the world last year. He's missed eight cuts in 16 starts and doesn't have any top 25 finishes other than Augusta. Advertisement Asked about how he steps away from the game to reset his mind, Homa remained grateful for the life he lives but lamented the less-appealing elements of notoriety. "Someone asked me the other day the difference between this and when I played poorly in 2017," Homa said. "One is that the golf is a lot closer than it was then. The lack of anonymity is a bit hard. Everywhere I go, someone is talking to me about golf. That's obviously a great thing. Like I said, I am really lucky. It's just hard to go do much. I used to really like going to sports bars and watching games with my friends and that's just not exactly a safe haven anymore." The internet is no place to fill that void, either, according to Homa. "Twitter, or X, is an awful, awful place. It took me a while to catch on to how impactful that can be and how much of a waste of energy. I miss the connection with the fans, but nothing comes without, I mean, just so much hate and anger. There is a lot of love in there, too, but unfortunately, it really does get overwhelmed with the -- you can have one really bad one." Advertisement Homa's main annoyance seemed to be that any petulant commenter would never say such things to his face, and that the keyboard masks their true identity in a way that makes them feel as if they can say anything without repercussions. "You wouldn't choose to sit around a table with somebody being that mean, you would always get up if you were there and someone was being rude to you. You would ask them to leave or you would leave." But that's not possible on the internet. "It's a safe haven for assholes, for lack of a better term. Sorry, PGA Tour." Homa's aggressive remark sparked much discussion in the online golf sphere Wednesday, with many taking the other side, saying he needs to just suck it up, deal with the negativity and stop complaining -- providing a moment of irony and playing into perhaps the exact reason why he logged off in the first place. Advertisement "I don't know if it's the gambling world or whatnot... but people say some bad, bad things. People tell you you should die on the internet." Homa says that the bad outweighs the good online. "It has nothing to do with not contacting people. I would love to connect with people, but I'd love to do it in person. I have yet to meet somebody in person that has anything even remotely mean [to say]." Max Homa plays with his son Cam as his wife Lacey watches on No. 2 during the Par 3 Contest at Augusta National Golf Club. In the meantime, the 34-year-old Californian plans to pick up some new hobbies back home as a way to clear his head of the stresses of professional golf. "I was thinking about getting into cooking," Homa said. "When you have a two-and-a-half-year-old, you make a lot more meals than I was for myself. Would like to get better at that. Treat my wife to not my typical home cooked meal. Something a little bit better. I think I might get into that. Advertisement "Thought about getting into fishing. That seems peaceful and no one can bother me out there. So, yeah, I don't know. Might workshop it. I've got some ideas." Homa and his wife, Lacey, announced in April that they're expecting their second child. Before then, he hopes to improve his culinary skills. "I can grill a little bit. I can make a decent sauce for pasta. But I'm not super great at it. Fortunately, my son eats chicken tenders, so he probably thinks I'm a great cook." Homa is set to tee off 8:40 a.m. ET Thursday in the first round of the 2025 John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run. This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Max Homa takes shot at social media commenters during press conference
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Doug Ghim sets pace at John Deere Classic with a 62 and the early lead
SILVIS, Ill. (AP) — Doug Ghim holed out for eagle on the par-4 sixth hole and kept bogeys off his card on a day of low scoring Thursday. He opened with a 9-under 62 in a bid to become the latest first-time PGA Tour winner at the John Deere Classic. Ghim had a one-shot lead over Max Homa and Austin Eckroat among early starters at the TPC Deere Run, where the winning score has been 20-under par or lower 12 of the last 15 years. He has been around long enough — six years on the PGA Tour, 160 tour starts as a pro — to know it's only a start. The conditions were so ideal Ghim wasn't even sure his 62 would hold up as the lead by the end of the day. 'Honestly, any time you can get to 20 under or better you're going to have a chance,' Ghim said. 'It's still golf. It's still a challenge. You have to hit fairways. I hit a lot of them today. So just trying to shoot forwards of 6 under every day and see where that puts me.' The John Deere Classic has produced 24 first-time winners, the most of any PGA Tour event since 1970, a list that included Davis Thompson last year, Bryson DeChambeau in 2017 and Jordan Spieth in 2013. Homa and Eckroat have won before, and both are trying to rediscover their games. Homa gets the most attention, particularly since he played in the last Ryder Cup and reached No. 8 in the world until going into a slump that includes new equipment, a new coach and new caddie. Eckroat won twice in 2024 but it has been a struggle this year. He ended last year at No. 35 in the world and now is at No. 75, leaving him out of the last two majors. He has yet to finish in the top 10 in 19 starts this year. Homa ran off four straight birdies early and was tied with Ghim for the lead until he missed his final green at No. 9 into a bunker and failed to get up-and-down, his only bogey of the round. Eckroat had a pair of eagles, one on the par-5 second with a shot to 12 feet, the other when he holed out with a gap wedge from 137 yards on the par-4 fifth hole. Scoring was so low that 14 players from the morning wave were at 65 or better. Michael Kim and Sam Stevens were part of the group at 64. Kim was one of those first-time winners in 2018 when he finished at 27-under 257 to win by eight shots. And then he regressed in the worst way, even going back to the Korn Ferry Tour, before connecting with swing coach Sean Foley and turning his game around. Kim and Stevens are among players who could use a good tournament to improve their world ranking, which will be used next week as the alternate list for the British Open. Kim is at No. 55 in the world and would appear to be in reasonable shape. It would be Kim's first time playing all four majors in the same year. ___ AP golf:
