Video from the third round of the Players Championship on Saturday made it seem as if Max Homa struck a shot from near a tree on the 14th hole right at a fan’s head.
It’s a scary prospect, as the person recording the video was close enough to Homa that the velocity of the golf ball would have caused some serious damage.
In truth, as Homa clarified, the 33-year-old’s shot hit a tree, and nobody was harmed, though Homa admitted the near-miss was “scary.”
“I was trying to go significantly higher than that. So it was unfortunately freaky, but I gave some people a good story,” Homa told Golf Digest on Sunday. “I heard a lot of people laughing.”
Homa also took to X to clear up what transpired.
“FYI I did not hit anyone in the head on 14 yesterday,” Homa wrote Sunday. “It smoked a tree. Really thankful it missed the guy. That would have been devastating. Cool video tho if I do say so myself.”
In response to a fan saying he didn’t check to see if the people nearby were OK, Homa said he didn’t because the ball struck a tree.
“I would however like to apologize to anyone who was emotionally scarred cuz that had to be scary,” he added.
Barstool’s PFT Commenter weighed in by jokingly replying, “Max homa admits to smoking trees on the golf course. Some role model.”
“Would make sense that my ball was high for how bad I played,” Homa replied. “Should have drug tested it prior to the round.”
Homa, whose last PGA Tour win came in January 2023 at the Farmers Insurance Open, shot a 2-over 74 on Saturday and finished the Players Championship at even par, 20 shots behind winner Scottie Scheffler, after shooting 1-under on Sunday.
The shot on Saturday does raise concerns about how close fans are to the potential trajectory of a golfer’s shot, something Homa addressed with Golf Digest.
“I asked them to back up; they backed up their normal three or four steps,” Homa said. “I was trying to go much higher than that but … at some point, I can only ask — [Saturday] I probably should have asked them to move more, but I didn’t think I was gonna knife it. But typically you ask them to move and it’s like two steps back. I just think that they’re throwing caution to the wind at times with their own safety. I was glad I did not hit anybody.”
