The best ever.
And he looked at me dead serious, unprovoked and was like, I expect more out of you.
And I was like, oh,
I'm gonna take that because any day I'm having a bad conference day,
I think to myself, Tiger
Effing Woods thinks you're pretty good.
Max
Homa. Welcome to high school.
Thank you so much for me. This is
a, a treat. So what did we go with?
We're not sure because we did a mystery swap.
It is dairy free.
I think mine is the one that's the coconut milk, but I really, I think mine is, that
means they're both
good.
Ok, that's fair. If not, it's the
oil.
So, are you a big ice cream guy if you're having dairy free stuff? Maybe not. Um,
well, I'll eat some dairy at home. Dairy doesn't sit so well with me,
but I'll still do it.
It's worth it for
ice
cream.
I'm happy we're finally doing this because it's been a long time coming. I feel like,
oh my gosh, thank you.
Um So
I wanted to ask you a bunch of questions, but first, just kind of,
how did you become a golfer?
Grew up next to a driving range,
Griffith park.
And then the course when we moved to Valencia, kind of up from like LAL A,
it's called Vista.
It's a par 61.
Uh, they have a par three course there as well.
Massive range lit up at night and it was, uh,
run by American Junior Golf or the American Golf Junior Golf Association.
And they, uh,
that's wrong.
It's, I think it's just called American Golf and they had an Unreal Junior program
and
that's just where like the kids went to hang out.
That's what I tell parents when they ask about like, how to get their kids into golf.
I said ours was like organic. Everyone just loved to go there.
You get French fries and orange bang
and play a bunch of holes.
And that was like the hang.
I was like the movie theater of golf courses kind of, you know, when you're the kid
and I found out I was fairly good at it and I really loved it,
but I played all kinds of sports.
I get like most kids and
um, there's just like a great place,
a lot of things obviously lined up like Jason Gors
from Vista Valencia,
my own course. So you got to see somebody who was a professional golfer on the PJ tour.
We watched him win the 84 Lumber at the golf course.
So you kind of like build this
love for it. And an inspiration to try to get better at
it. And yeah, I kind of just went from there.
Awesome.
So then
start playing tournament golf maybe.
Do you remember the first golf tournament you ever won?
Dang. Sadly. No,
that stinks.
We had so many, like, cool junior events at
Chica's a par three course.
We had great junior events there.
Yeah,
I don't, I remember the first time I shot under par at
Chica in a tournament
and made a hole in one on eight
and shot 26. So one under
and Joe, it was a
18 events. So two rounds, Joe, my caddy won the whole thing.
I think I have this picture in my house.
My mom still has it.
One of my still good buddies, Eric.
He was older than me and he's also
in, he's still very tall like we were young and he was 6 ft five
and I, as a kid, I had a big growth
for
in high school, but I was tiny and we tied for third
because usually it was 11 under and 18 and 18 and 12 to 12.
Now it was, and this one was all of us and we tied and the picture is me
yay high in way up here.
And it's like the best day of my life and I'm holding the trophy and
I'm smiling like ear to ear and he is so miserable in this picture.
And so my mom, every time she sees it.
She'll take a picture and send to me and I sent him straight to Eric.
It's like the,
the difference in our attitudes about that day are, are very funny.
But, yeah, that, that's probably my best junior memory of like a golf tournament.
That first memory I have
of,
like, really
succeeding, I guess.
Ok. So you mentioned Joe,
so you've known him like, forever then I was,
he was 10.
So how do you remember meeting and then how did it
end up on your bag all these years later? Yeah,
kind of like anything, especially that age.
You know, when someone's four years older than you, they feel like
they're wiser and all these things. And he, he and Brandon Christensen
were best friends and
they were the two best golfers at our golf course and
started to find out they were two of the best golfers in Southern California.
So anytime you'd see him, you know, it felt like you could never talk to them.
They're too cool, too old.
But
as being around there longer and longer you started
to get in their circle a little bit.
Um
And yeah, I
Joe like taught Joe and Braden taught me how to gamble. Basically as a kid,
I remember one of the first times I ever saw them,
they were
in the pro shop turned in like 20 bucks for one. There's this game called Pay Line.
We would play where you put
and after each hole it's a massive group of guys. If you made it two,
I made a one and, and,
you know, somebody else made it two.
You would pay me a dollar. He paid me a dollar. He made.
So Joe and Brandon would be running back and forth and, I mean,
they would leave with just one stuffed in their pockets.
So I just remember being like, infatuate, how great they were in golf.
Then Joe played,
uh,
played a year of college golf and then turned pro
and I was kind of right in my sweet spot.
I was like, I was
about to go to college getting good at it.
Um,
and then when I turned pro, Joe had kind of quit golf and was working at, uh
T BC Valencia at the time
and
we had every summer we would hang out, play a bunch of golf.
I was kind of getting better.
He was kind of winding down in his playing,
but he was such a good person to be around because he
like new fresh off and he was at the time still,
like, fantastic.
He was sharp
and I like turn pro and I have like a week and a half before my first event and
I didn't have a caddy. I didn't even know how to get a caddy.
And he, one day we were playing, he's like, hey, you, you, you know,
you want me to caddy.
I've been there before the quarter. I think he caddy for Chappy there. And
I was like, yeah, that'd be great because I don't really want to find a guy
and we went up there and got 9th, 1st ever start.
We're driving down happiest kids in the world in my old Honda Civic.
Just hoping it made it back to Valencia.
And we got into the Shriners the next week from the top 10
and he goes, I don't know about you, but he goes, that was the most fun I ever had.
And he's like, I'd love to keep doing this. I was like, same. He goes all right.
Here's the deal though. I can cut it for you next week. IQ school like the day after
the Shriners, he goes, I can kind of you next week.
But like I haven't put my,
I need to put my two weeks in at work so I can't come to North Carolina for Q school.
I'm like, that's all good. Not thinking much of it.
So we play pretty well at Shriners got 30th. He goes home, I go to North Carolina.
I'm this kid now with,
yeah, I have like 100 and $60,000 now. Like went from 228.
I turned pro at 100 and 60 grand happiest guy ever. And here I am caddy for myself in
school with a moon bag, double strap.
Uh Just hoping now I get through.
Don't you know, I didn't want to ask anybody to caddy because I got my guy now
and it's been really cool since we had,
uh, you know, he had it for Chap in the middle of all this, um,
when I was playing really poorly.
But it's been,
it's been really fun to have success and
experience some really cool things with like,
one of your best friends by our side.
We've obviously gotten even closer.
Uh, his wife and I are really close to my wife and,
you know, they just,
everyone's like a big family and it's just cool because like little things
like shoot, we play with Tiger Woods at Saint Andrews and
like the kid and us, like at times we'd be walking around,
we're just looking at each other like what is happening?
I don't think I would have had that with,
you know, a not to say Joe's not a professional cady, but at the time, like,
if I would have hired some veteran, I mean, we've gotten to learn together
and everything we've got to do has just been like,
like exponentially better. Ok.
So you just mentioned Tiger, we're both big Tiger fans.
Um Do you remember the first time you met him?
Yes.
Um
us open in Miriam. I was in college still or in a still
want to see him, you know, it's 2013, wanted to see him so bad.
And uh
on the range Thursday,
it was like Thursday late because there was a massive rain delay.
So it's you off for like five something. So I'm nervous.
He's sitting on the right side of the range and there's a space in,
in between him and Rory
and I, my buddy was kind of
him.
I was just like, screw it, put the bag down, we're hidden between them, you know,
and there's a funny picture out there.
I love because Tiger In Balls and I'm just staring at, watching him hit.
Uh, so I finally was like, I gotta do it. I gotta at least get the
sha shake at
that time. You don't know if you'll ever play on with PJ tour, ever meet him.
So, uh, he went for a bite of a protein bar and I just stopped and I just said, hey,
Tiger, you know
this one to say big fan, blah, blah, blah,
he was really nice quick can shake. He went perfect. Like
I didn't want to linger, just wanted to get my handshake and go. So that was awesome.
Is your favorite memory with him?
Saint Andrews or do you have something else tonight?
Yeah, I've been lucky as of late, you know, I,
I do his, uh, event.
I've done his event in, um,
Monterey when he's up there for, uh, his, uh,
one of his Tiger Woods invitational events.
He does a few of them, but I've gone up and helped.
So we've gotten to like hang out hang out, you know,
outside of just hitting ball balls.
But
yeah, there was just a moment,
uh,
the ninth hole, we had the slowest day ever,
first round at a guess or at Saint Andrews and
ninth hole. We like, have this long way in the fairway
and he kind of like walked by
and he goes, hey, you know, how many, how many times you won?
I can't remember what it was at the time. Three or four,
I was three or four and I made some joke about him.
So, you know, I'm gonna catch him pretty soon
and he like dead seriously goes, you should have won a like a lot more than that.
Like almost
like came at me that I should be more confident and
whatever. And it was just like, that's my fondest memory. Like it just,
it was cool to have somebody I respect that. Just the fandom.
He's the best ever.
And he looked at me dead serious, unprovoked and was like, I expect more out of you.
And I was like, oh, I'm gonna take that because any day I'm having
a bad conference day,
I think myself Tiger
effing Woods thinks you're pretty good, you know.
So I, I try to make sure I'm still competitive obviously, but like, I,
I do want to soak in those moments because
they are cool regardless of what people may say.
You know, there is some part of you that's still a kid.
So that, that, that whole day was awesome. And then watching them
walk up the 18th hole, I will never forget that.
It was, it wasn't a moment between me and him, but it was just,
I, and you and I think people, we all know, know, like, respect them so much,
but I got to watch like,
thousands of people and it was an awesome moment.
That's so cool, huh?
Um, so a lot of golf fans who,
or maybe newer golf fans might know you from the last few years and
not know that you like your road to the tour wasn't super smooth.
Um, can you kind of just take me through quickly?
Like, 2013 getting the car, losing the car,
uh, ice cream p,
it was a rocky, bro.
Yeah. Like,
I've always been a really slow learner college.
My fresh year was not great and got better, sophomore year,
got better junior and then by the senior year
I was, like, good. I knew I was good.
I knew it was plenty good enough to play on the DJ tour.
Never knew what level I get to, but came out
the same time as Justin Thomas and I felt like we were being compared as,
like all the two guys coming up and
I knew Justin was much more polished and, like,
I can't miss kid.
I still thought I had a lot to learn,
but I knew that my raw skill at that time was good enough to at least like compete.
So, yeah.
So like I said before I get 9th, 1st ever PJ tour start,
first ever professional start 30th of next week.
I'm like, ok, like I'm good
and I did a
like tremendously bad job of looking down the range every week and trying to
be as good as the guy next to me was at their best quality.
Instead of thinking, how, why am I here? Like, what am I good at?
So I went down a rabbit hole of
trying to change stuff and get better at things that I probably didn't need to.
So yeah, I, I get, I get my corn furry card, got through there. One,
lost my card,
got through again one again and then that next year was 2017
and I got through 2016 on corn furry with not my stuff.
It was, it was getting pretty bad.
Um, but I just found a way to kind of like
score and figure it out
and then uh
yeah, it was 2017, made two of 17 cuts, made $18,008.
And then I felt like, ok, this is gonna be like I might not
get back here.
Uh But
I was fortunate one that
had made some money. So I wasn't financially stressed.
I think that's something that people that
have asked me for advice on things like that's one thing that I did have
in my back pocket was, I wasn't really worried about, like,
paying my bills and stuff.
I just wanted to get to golf,
uh, get to the golf course and feel good again.
But, yeah, I just, uh, really put, you know, I've always been,
I've always appreciated my own, like, hard work.
Like, I think that's my
best quality
and I really went to work, but I felt like I really came up with a plan.
I went back to my old coach, Les Johnson who's from my hometown. And
we took, he's like, this is gonna take some time.
But like, he's like, I gotta, I gotta kind of like
you're a pretzel, I gotta undo you and then make you a better pretzel again.
And it took a while but it was well worth it, you know,
got 2019 1 at the Wells Fargo and I finally took a deep breath.
So
it, it was very um up and down. But
looking back now older and wiser, like, I'm glad that that happened.
I wouldn't be the person I am.
And I think I have more grit when I get into competition than I than I would have had.
I just gone
just kind of linear, right? So what, what changed in 2019?
You had, you went back to working with somebody else.
But if you look back at that time, like, what was the switch?
You think that made you ready? That's a great question.
Um,
I think I did a good job of learning from my mistakes
and by that time
I still didn't know if I was good enough to win
or good enough to make Ryder Cups or any of that.
But I stopped
caring what other people were doing.
I really got into, like, the, because of, like, with less and his plan we had,
it was just very much like this is gonna, might take some time, but when you get there,
you'll be good.
So the whole time I wasn't judging myself as much.
I was like, yeah, it's gonna take a bit, this is gonna take a bit
at some point,
you know,
it's gonna,
it's gonna click and I'm gonna have it.
So I think I spent so much more time worrying about
myself and not what everybody else was so great at.
And I just think that that was uh that putting the blinders on and
ever since then, obviously, then you win and you just think, ok, I'm, you know,
I don't need to do this anymore.
Even if I get like a
even now like I look at certain people like Justin Chip or hidden iron or,
you know, where we driving. I, I look at it like, oh, that's fascinating.
How amazing. And then I
just get back to my thing of like, how am I gonna beat them? It's not as much of a
clamoring to be like them, which I think I had
early on. Got it.
So I've heard like Corn Fairy Tour is just like the guys do a lot of bonding.
Do you have any specific memories that you feel safe sharing
here of hanging out as a Corn Fairy Tour player?
There's a lot of bond. I mean, South America.
No one's family comes, you know, that's a,
that's a lot of dinners. Uh, we used to play a lot of gin,
uh,
that was like the one thing to do felt like, uh,
I was a staple at the every outback in every city.
I al always told people if you want to have dinner with me. You're welcome.
But I'm gonna be at the corner of the bar or the outback, get an outback special. So
there's 11 really fun night was,
I'm good friends with Colt.
Nos and Colt is in the final group in Fort Wayne Indiana, uh,
in the playoffs, first five and I had already locked my card up.
So it's kind of more relaxed.
I finished my round and Steve Marino had the house off of one
and he just told me that a bunch of guys were gonna come hang out,
have some fun and watch the golf and hopefully, you know, Colt,
Colt will win or whatever.
Well, the thing was he ended up going against Bud Colley,
I think Bud ended up winning.
So it was good for either way. And now Colt has less to brag about. Uh
so it worked out every which way, but it was just fun.
Like every golfer was coming through there.
Cult came back after we all went out and I just felt like it was a,
it was a cool community to be a part of.
We're obviously all competing and out there it's more cutthroat than out here.
You know,
you're talking about livelihoods, more so than here. A bad.
You're out here, you're still doing just fine.
But I think you, you get a respect for everyone's golf game when you know,
everyone's working at it.
So sometimes people are gonna beat you, sometimes they won't.
Uh, but you gotta kind of,
you, you, you guys are all kind of bonded by this really stressful situation,
week in and week out and I just felt like that was a
really fun kind of culmination of a year type of night because,
yeah, I was bummed. I didn't win. I was bummed.
You know, I'm sure everybody was that they weren't, you know, we,
we were done early enough to watch
the back
six holes last six holes. But it was cool to just be around everybody and, and see
just kind of see the energy room for some friends to like,
get to them and get promoted to the PJ tour, like stuff like that was awesome. Right.
So we did this thing growing up where
at every night at dinner,
we would have to say are low from the day
or high from the day and something that we learned.
So, if you look back on the last 10 years of your career, a low,
a high in something that you've learned.
That's such a great question.
My low is, um,
Thursday Friday at the Wyndham championship
in 2017.
I knew I would, I had to get a third place solo to keep my card and I mean,
maybe for five total seconds that week, I thought I could do it.
You know, I hadn't done anything good, let alone a third place.
So I kind of went to that event knowing
I wasn't going to be my card
and I needed like some good even just to get in the top 200.
So I knew I was going back to Q school
and I played terrible Thursday
and I remember I was a morning wave and I hit, I went to the range and I hit ball so long.
I'm pretty sure
the afternoon wave finished
and
that was just as hot as hell there.
And I just kept hitting balls and I, I
think it's my low and my high in a way, it's the worst I could have felt about myself.
But I look back at that day more than I look back at any day because I thought
that there's no reason for me to do this.
I'm not going to find something for tomorrow, but
the reason it's a high is, I guess
what I'm most proud of, of coming back and, and having successes
in the last five years is because of days
like that where I wasn't working for tomorrow,
I was working for
2024 2023 things like that.
So it was my looks. It's definitely the worst I've ever felt about myself.
Um But it's a high in a way because I was proud of doing that.
I don't think a lot of people would do that.
It was probably a little crazy, but
I like that.
Um,
and then what was the third something you learned? Something I learned.
I do think, like I said before, I think just
not really worrying about what other people are doing and what they're good at.
I think if you've made it out here, you're really good at something
and you should harness that and try to get better
through the a avenue,
see the value in yourself.
Uh,
and, and just maximize it.
Some people are gonna be Rory, some people are gonna be Scotty. They're just better.
Um, they're gonna have better careers than you potentially.
But the whole point is to whatever you have in you,
you maximize that and you take pride in that.
Um,
you know, if I played basketball, well, I'm not 6 ft eight.
So I, my ceiling is, is significant, might look higher because I'm further from it,
but it's significantly lower than lebron james'.
Ceiling just physically in every aspect.
But if I went out there and did my absolute best,
I would be proud of wherever I made it to.
I think if I look, when you look at that in golf, there's some guys that were,
if they top out, they get 10th in the world, their 20th, in the world,
whatever that is, you should find pride in that.
So I'm, I'm just doing my best to see whatever that number gets to and, and
avoiding
trying to be like other people are trying to
catch other people in the sense of like forcing that upon like,
they have to do that to be
worthy of being like a
successful professional. Now. I know that,
I mean, I've been lucky, like, I've made it pretty far, but
even if I hadn't,
I think just 1 ft in front of the other and do the best
you can every day and then you just take solace with that in that.
So I think of you as a very laid back person, like,
even like your pressers and online and stuff and then when I see you on the course,
it's like a, a shift kind of, but I, like you're dialed in your head, stays down.
I noticed you almost don't look up that often and you're walking, like,
with a purpose.
Have you always been, like, have that switch? And
when does it in a tournament week start and then turn off. Yeah.
It's funny you say that I've really been working the last,
last week was the best I've ever done with it.
But I've really been working at it
to be more like who I am off of the golf course on it.
I do a great job of putting my head down on a Sunday
and being very focused.
But I'm also very calm and, like, at peace, I would say, like, in something like this,
like, I'm calm and peaceful and
with, you know, a friend, like everything, it's like the walls are up
when I get out there.
I think it's the, the people I get a little bit of like social anxiety
and I've been very lucky. I have a great support system out there
and it feels like I can't give back enough to everybody.
So I kind of just like, don't give much at all.
I'm trying to smile a bit more and be a little bit more laid back.
But I've just always been like that. I, I,
I'm not, I'm misconstrued in that.
Like I'm goofy like I'm, I am am goofy off the golfers.
But like I care about my golf more than I could ever explain. Like I wanna be the best
I can be more than anything. So
it's like a balancing act.
Sometimes you have people come up and like, say a joke and it's like, yeah, like
I feel that joke, I'd like to go back and forth. Like I'm working like this is golf.
Makes me very happy. So good golf makes me,
uh, outside of my family. That's, that's something that has just never changed.
So I'd like to be a little less serious, isn't the right word, but, like,
head down and just, like,
locked in because sometimes I'm thinking too much
and I wish sometimes things could roll off my back like they do in the real world
a little bit more.
But that's a, it's a balancing act because I know it's gotten me here again.
I don't want to change
just to change,
but it's definitely something I'd like to.
I'd like to get better at. It is interesting though.
Being like, and this is you have this times 500,000,
but like when I'm inside the ropes, like it is an awkward feeling of like people are,
no one's looking at me, but I feel like they are and then someone will be like, oh,
do you remember me?
I met you at this program
eight years ago and it's like, it's awkward.
You feel like you're in like a fish bowl, kind of? Yeah. It's
a, it's an
acquired taste. I think I've gotten worse at it as time's gone on more people.
And it's never that I don't appreciate them being out there and it's never that I,
and what woe is me. Why are you yelling? It's just more,
it's just more awkward. It's just uncomfortable at times to have people yelling
your name or yelling things they,
I've said on the internet or people have said on podcasts, like,
it just feels like a lot of times and again, I,
I were off the golf course and they were at dinner with me or whatever,
it would be easier to have a back and forth.
But like, if I give you a back and forth and then that person says something,
I feel like I need to give you a back
and just need to. And then it's just like, I i
it's the kind of things, uh
like at the zoo and it says don't feed the animals. I feel like once I feed one,
I feel the need to then give them all so I can
do a poor job at times of just kind of shutting off and
living in my own world. But I do really appreciate all of it. It's just, it's hard.
I'm still trying to work and I can't,
you know, I can't,
can't just give,
you know what they probably deserve. Yeah. As you're walking to the,
it's so much. All right, just a few more here.
Um The most nervous you've ever been on the golf course. 18 at
the Ryder Cup this year
we had this,
I say like the sweetest 20 to 30 minutes of hope.
I got to like the 14th hole and I looked, and
we were going to
tie or lose a couple of matches, but we're gonna win quite a few.
And then right behind my name, it was a sea of red
and I was like, oh, and you know, you're doing the math.
I'm like, oh my gosh, we can pull off the coolest comeback ever.
And then I
looked a little bit closer.
I'm like, oh my God, it's gonna come down to this match if I push my match and we lose.
And as I said before,
um
I've dreamt
and I think everyone has been making a putt to win the Ryder Cup.
I've never dreamt of making a putt not to lose it.
And there's something weird about it.
Uh So that whole 16 or 18, but especially the 18th hole, just
a million thoughts going through your head trying to calm yourself down.
Uh That, that pot, I was, I was shaking like a leaf.
Uh But, you know, it's unfortunate we didn't win. We gave him a hell of a run,
but
it's some, I, I hold near and dear.
As far as a learning moment, I will never, I don't think, feel like that again.
And I've had multiple putts this year on last holes where, you know, it's
last week. I want to go from potentially eighth place to like 12th or 13th.
And those are, you know, you love ring up top tens.
And I sometimes tell myself like, dude, you made that put at the Ryder Cup like
you'll be all right. Yeah, just hit it. Do your best.
And then your favorite on course. Memory
of your whole life and then your favorite
off course memory with golfers.
Oh,
best. I have a lot of best encore. I've been very lucky.
Um,
you know, the whole Saturday with Brian at the Ryder Cup was very fun.
We played really well and
it was a blast. But
some about that first win
I remember I was walking up 18, hit the green and two, I had a three shot lead.
So we knew we won.
And I was walking in like, as I, I walk fast, I'm always ahead of Joe. But
I like kind of look back and it was more and more space and I
finally like looked back at Joe and Joe just kept saying soak it in,
soak it in and it was really cool.
It was like one of those things where I felt
the years of bad and it felt like a full like lift.
And I was like, I did it like, if this is the furthest I ever get.
Like, I would have never,
I say I never dreamt of it,
but I wouldn't have probably believed you at times if you told me.
So
something about that walk up, uh it's very vivid in my mind and I got agains
it and Joe makes it extra special.
And so that was cool. I, like I said, I've been lucky.
There's been bigger wins, I guess and
maybe cooler moments, but some about that,
uh just because of everything that came before it,
that, that, that holds a pretty special memory in my mind off the golf course.
Probably a lot. I, I can't hear
P GP G um
with golfers, I've had so many, I mean,
shoot the safari this year with Justin and his wife, Jill
Man. I mean, I've always been close with Justin.
I didn't, wasn't super close with Jill Lacy and her are good friends,
begin to spend time with them and
be out and just
the most real place you could ever imagine
and get to just like tell stories and we still all talk about it. I don't know.
Something about that was,
it was really cool.
It's just, it was, it was a mix of like, man,
how lucky are we to have such great friends?
And second, like, how cool is it where golf can like, take us
never dreamt of going to South Africa on a safari
uh in a million years.
And all of a sudden because of golf, we got to go there, we got to go with,
you know,
one of my best friends out here and one of the best
goers I've ever seen
his lovely wife and just like soak in
an experience. It was cool.
Awesome.
Well,
thank you
so
much for
me. I feel bad because usually I think non dairy doesn't melt as fast.
I mean, that was
solid.
All right. Just finished the scoop with max
comma. This is the side that they don't show you
on your way up.
This is beautiful.