“The people’s champ” - Fans react to Max Homa winning the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open
Since 2021, Max Homa has won the most PGA Tours of his career and the success continues in 2023. The American golfer won the Farmers Insurance Open on Saturday, January 28, at the Torrey Pines Golf Course.
Max Homa came from behind to beat Sam Ryder, who had been leading the tournament for the last three days. Homa closed the day with a 6-under 66 and won the sixth PGA Tour event of his career. It was his fourth victory in California.
With a few bad shots in the last round, Jon Rahm missed an opportunity to win the third consecutive PGA Tour event of the new year. Even Collin Morikawa and Keegan Bradley tried their best to beat Homa but left two shots behind to defeat the American golfer.
The PGA Tour shared the news on its Instagram page, saying:
"6 years ago, Max Homa lost his Tour card after missing 15 of 17 cuts. Today, he won his 6th Tour title. Never give up."
Fans jumped into the comments section to write:
"Class act! Great for golf in every way!"
"Love Max! Great personality, not a golf snob!"
"The people's champ."
While some people talked about his gameplay and commented:
"Does he win a major this year? Feels possible game looks so good."
"Homa, my guy."
"A few players could learn a bit about social media from him. All just kind & funny stuff. Great dude."
"Just an inspiration."
"Everyone loves Max Homa."
It is pertinent to note that Homa has earned $1,566,000 in prize money from his win at Torrey Pines. Keegan Bradley finished second with a score deficit of 11 and won $948,300 in prize money.
Max Homa credits his wife for his win
Max Homa, his wife, and Cam, their infant, celebrated his victory. On the course, his wife and young child waited to congratulate him on his win.
Max Homa disclosed that his wife had multiple surgeries while she was pregnant. When his baby was born, he recalled it as one of the scariest days of his life.
Speaking at a press conference after the victory, Max Homa said:
"She had a horrendous birth, it did not go well. It was the scariest – hard to say because it was an amazing day, get a new son, Cam. It was the worst day ever at the same time."
He went on to say:
"I feel like I’ve almost worked harder for this because I want to spend as much time as I possibly can helping her and being with Cam and doing all the cool things, catching some smiles here and there, and getting screamed at. But I also want to be the best golfer on the planet and she knows that and she just does an amazing job letting me do both…I work hard at two things now, so it feels a little bit more difficult but it’s a million times more rewarding."
Despite having a strong start to the competition, Jon Rahm was unable to defeat Homa in the decisive match. Rahm and Jason Day came in at T7.
Sam Ryder finished in T4 with Sahith Theegala and Sungjae Im despite having a strong start to the competition and holding the lead after the first three rounds.