62! Homa sets course record at Olympia Fields

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Friday, August 18, 2023

Max Homa and course records on classic American layouts seem to go together.

In 2013, then a student at California, Homa scored a record 61 on Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course during the Pacific 12 Championship. That earned him a passel of “atta boys” from his teammates.

Friday, now a seasoned professional for just short of a decade, Homa took on Olympia Fields Country Club’s North Course in the second round of the BMW Championship – and won.

Speckling 10 birdies over his card like a spray-painter, and surviving two bogeys, Homa scored 8-under-par 62 to break the mark of 63 established by Vijay Singh in the second round of the 2003 U.S. Open and subsequently matched by Rickie Fowler and Thomas Detry in the 2007 and 2015 Fighting Illini Invitationals, respectively.

Homa, who hit 10 fairways and 16 greens in regulation to get to 10-under 130 and a two-stroke lead, knew what he was doing as he did it, which makes it that much more impressive.

“The (video) board said Chris Kirk is challenging the course record of 63 – I just randomly saw that, and then I had to think about it,” Homa said.

Kirk settled for 4-under 66 and is second to Homa at 8-under 132 after 36 holes. Matt Fitzpatrick and Brian Harman are tied for third at 7-under 133,

Homa, out in 3-under 32, birdied six of the holes on the inward nine. He stood 10-under after a 6-foot birdie on the par-5 15th, but bogeyed the par-3 16th after missing the green and failing to save par. But he found the 17th green even after missing the fairway and drained a 21-footer for a bounce-back birdie to a 62 a possibility again. A routine par on 18, if two-putting from 51 feet can be considered routine, made it reality.

“I felt I was able to attack all day,” Homa said. “Obviously the greens are still really soft, so being in the fairway as often as I was, I was able to be aggressive when I wanted to. If I didn’t, I could just play to the middle of the green.

“It was a major bonus to make as many putts as I did, but it was all really good. Here, when you’re in the fairway, it becomes significantly easier, more so than other golf courses.”

That’s a tribute to, among others, course architect Willie Park Jr., who designed the course a century ago, to those who have since tweaked it while retaining the original layout, and to superintendent Sam MacKenzie and his crew, who have followed the Tour’s plan of five-inch rough to the letter.

“I do think that it asks a lot,” Homa said of the North Course, noting that hitting fairways are a must. “The greens are really tricky. You have some odd putts, you need to lag putt well, and you’re going to have some awkward little ones. The greens kind of remind me a little bit like Augusta where you can have some putts on some decent slopes.

“It’s pretty thorough throughout the golf course, what it asks of you.”

It was also a tribute to Homa for staying in the moment.

“After 14 or 15, I was just thinking to myself, ‘Ive birdied most of the holes on the back nine.’ That was quite a nice feeling. Sometimes you’re just zoning, but I knew I was making a lot.

“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 (Patrick Cantlay) was making a lot too. It was just a crazy day.”

Homa was three strokes behind overnight leaders Rory McIlory and Brian Harman at daybreak and now is three ahead of Harman and five ahead of McIlroy, who shot 68 and 70 respectively. But Kirk is closest of all after his second straight four-under 66.

Kirk said he wouldn’t mind another pair of 66s on the weekend, which is understandable, as it would put him at 16-under and probably in the winner’s circle. But even he recognized that Friday’s 66 left a lot of pizza in the box. He had nine made putts of two feet or less. Drop a few more from farther out and the course record of 63 would have been in danger three hours before Homa wiped it out.

For Kirk, Friday’s problem was the green speeds on the drying-out North course were quicker than Thursday’s, when the round was played immediately after a deluge, and he couldn’t quite adjust.

“It’s not the easiest thing in the world,” Kirk said. “Some days it just feels very natural. You don’t even have to think about how hard you’re hitting your putts – uphill, downhill – you just kind of dial it in.

“Today, I don’t think I three-putted any, but it just was not quite there. With green that have a lot of slope on them like these do, matching that live and speed is tough.”

Kirk changed from an Odyssey No. 5 to a Versa No. 7 putter going into the week, but the odyssey to perfection continues.

“Just a little something different to look at,” Kirk said.

Fitzpatrick’s 3-under 67 was marred by a bogey at the last when he had to lay up out of the heavy rough. Harman had matching 34s en route to his 68.

If not for Homa, Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele would have had the rounds of the day, 5-under 65s. Rose’s was the more intriguing, opening with four straight birdies and then a 1-under roller-coaster after that, closing with six 3s in his last seven holes, and nine 3s in all.

Cantlay, the two-time defending champion, is at 4-under 136 in his quest to match Ralph Guldahl as the only three-peat winner of the Western Open, retitled the BMW in 2007. Guldahl managed the feat in 1936-37-38. That was back when a 62 was the stuff of miniature golf.

Around Olympia Fields

Unlike Thursday’s round, which was played under lift, clean and place regulations, the ball was played down on Friday. … Attendance improved and the general parking area at Lincoln Mall sold out on Friday. There were probably about 35,000 people on the grounds. … Homa’s 130 is his best start on the American tour. He’d opened with 132 three times before, most recently at Riviera this year, where he finished second. … His 62 was the 16th score of 62 or better in Western / BMW history, a table topped by Jim Furyk’s 59 at Conway Farms in 2013. … Hideki Matsuyama withdrew before the round, citing a bad back. He shot 71 on Thursday. … The field averaged 69.327 strokes. The 18th hole was the most difficult for the second day, averaging 4.367 strokes and yielding only three birdies (Harris English, Justin Rose and Taylor Moore). Si Woo Kim made the only birdie on 18 Thursday, and double-bogeyed it Friday.

– Tim Cronin