2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic: Top 10 Power Rankings
Max Homa is 3-for-3 making the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, but he’s likely still looking for more out of this event.
The Californian posted 68-69-71-70 for T-42nd in 2019, 70-65-74-68 for T-25th in 2021, and inched up one spot on the leaderboard for T-24th thanks to 72-68-67-69 last year.
"“I really like this golf course,” Homa was transcribed by Tee Scripts in 2022. “It’s the old-school, old-school track, got to drive it straight. Get a bunch of funky putts. It’s poa annua greens, which is home to me, so I enjoy coming here.”"
Homa’s shown he can go low at Detroit Golf Club with that 7-under 65 a couple years ago. It just takes two or three of those in a week to hoist the trophy.
He’s plenty capable of that and has been one of the best players in the world in the last year or so outside of the majors. Homa is a virtual lock for the American Ryder Cup team this fall thanks to wins in the 2022-23 PGA Tour season at the Fortinet Championship last fall and this year at the Farmers Insurance Open.
While his major championship woes are very real, Homa can at least elevate his game in PGA Tour-designated events. He took solo second at the Genesis Invitational, T-6th at the Players Championship, made the round of 16 at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, and took T-8th at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Homa doesn’t get to tee it up in weak field events like this weeks’ often. I expect him to shake off a couple missed cuts in his last two starts.
The 32-year-old isn’t that far off. He was under par after one round at the U.S. Open before missing the cut by two at Los Angeles Country Club. Homa had a makeable birdie putt to make the cut last week at the Travelers Championship. He missed the cut by one after carding 3-under.
Homa is the highest-ranked player in the field in the Official World Golf Ranking. He’s eighth this season on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained per round (1.684) and is top 65 in every SG category.
He’s a much better iron player from the fairway (17th in proximity) as opposed to the rough (169th), so DGC is a good setup for him in that regard.
I don’t foresee a win for Homa, but I expect him to close the season strong starting this week in Michigan.