U.S. Open: Course record holder Max Homa trying to avoid overthinking at hometown major championship

LOS ANGELES — When Max Homa thinks back to the 2013 Pac-12 championship, the first things that come to mind are his mistakes.

Golf has a funny way of doing that. But considering what he pulled off on the first day of the tournament a decade ago, that’s a bit ridiculous.

Homa posted a 9-under 61 at Los Angeles Country Club while playing at Cal to kick off the tournament. That 61 — which he insists could have been a 59 — is still the competitive course record at the elusive golf club to this day.

“We've all had those days in golf where as professionals where just everything is clicking,” he said Tuesday, back at Los Angeles Country Club, which will host its first ever U.S. Open later this week.

“It was just really cool that it happened during the Pac-12 championship on this golf course. It's nice when those things line up and when they really matter and not when I'm playing my friends who I'm giving six shots to at home and it doesn't really matter. I just remember it all clicking, but it just felt so easy.”

It’s unclear if that record will hold by the time that the third major championship of the season wraps up on Sunday night, but Homa isn’t too focused on that. Instead, he’s trying to just enjoy the fact that one of the biggest tournaments of the year is being played in his own backyard.

Homa was born and raised in Burbank, which sits about a half hour northeast of Los Angeles Country Club. And for about a year now, Homa has been locked in on this tournament. He’s had countless friends reaching out to him in the days and weeks leading up to the U.S. Open, and he’s even heard people yelling out his old high school already during his practice rounds.

“I just looked at it as it’s really cool,” Homa said. “It’s really cool that last night I got to have dinner with two of my best friends. All that, like being somewhere I’m comfortable, having — you know, my dad was out there walking the practice round today. Stuff like that never gets to happen, so I’m just trying to look at all the great stuff.”

Fellow Los Angeles area native Collin Morikawa, who went to high school just north of Pasadena, is in the same boat.

He’s had this event circled on his personal calendar for years. No matter what it took, he was going to find a way in.

“I didn’t know where my path was going to be,” Morikawa said. “I didn’t know if I was going to be on Tour, if I was going to have to qualify for this … I didn’t know where I was going to be, but this is the one that I wanted to make it and be at just because it is home for me. This week means so much.”

Homa trying not to overthink hometown major

While there's plenty of good that comes with having a tournament like the U.S. Open in your hometown, Homa knows there’s a lot of difficulties, too.

He's an over-thinker and frequently catches himself trying too hard, especially when it comes to major championships. In fact, he’s “quite good” at it.

And knowing that the U.S. Open was coming to Los Angeles, Homa has been over-thinking about this week for about a year now.

But coming off of last month’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill in New York, where he finished T55 after going 9-over on the week, Homa actually feels a bit more relaxed about the whole thing.

“In an odd way, it’s almost worked its way out positively because I’ve been thinking about this event for like a year, about how I can’t try too hard,” he said. “Forgot about all those other majors you also shouldn’t do that at. Fortunately, I’m coming off a PGA Championship that I tried too hard at and it’s right at the tip of my brain not to do that this week, so I am a little bit more easy on myself.”

The 32-year-old Homa has won six times in his career on Tour. He’s won twice already this season, first at the Fortinet Championship and again at the Farmers Insurance Open, and is No. 7 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Four of Homa’s six wins have come in California, too.

Homa will tee off alongside Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler on Thursday morning. He’s listed at +2,800 to win on BetMGM.

The biggest goal he has this week has nothing to do with his course record. It’s to allow himself to make mistakes, and hopefully stack up little wins over the course of the week.

“I’ve done a very poor job of that in a lot of big golf tournaments, but especially the majors,” he said. “I’ve done a good job of that in some other events, so I’m just trying to find whatever is in those moments where it's been great and take that to a championship like this.”

If he can simply say out of his own head, Homa will be just fine.