Max Homa excited to put on show for golf-obsessed Scots in game's 'mecca'

It’s official. Max Homa loves Scots for being obsessed with golf. One of the stars teeing up in this week’s Genesis Scottish Open in East Lothian, the American may only have been in the country for a few hours, but he already appreciates the importance of the game in its birthplace.

“It’s so interesting,” said Homa, who is among eight of the world’s top ten teeing up in the $9 million Rolex Series event at The Renaissance Club. “I met a woman today who is working here and she was just talking about all of the golf she has been playing recently. The guy who drove me from the airport said the same and it is quite funny. It’s a popular sport in America, but I don’t think everyone plays it, whereas here, there is such an appreciation for the courses and the game. It is nice to be part of an event where you are surrounded by people like that.”

In a marketing masterstroke, East Lothian was given the title of Scotland’s Golf Coast due to it boasting a strip of top-class courses from Musselburgh all the way down to Dunbar, with Muirfield, regarded by many as the best course in the world, being the jewel in the crown. “I know,” said Homa of what the area was called. “And it should be. This is unbelievable. It is like the mecca of golf.”

Helped by having Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, the world No 1 and No 3 respectively, in the field, as well as the likes of Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Homa himself, this year’s edition has officially been the “fastest selling” in terms of tickets, with big crowds guaranteed on all four days at the Gullane venue.

Max Homa enjoyed making his debut in last year's Genesis Scottish Open and is excited to be back at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

“Oh yeah, it’s awesome,” said Homa, who played in the event for the first time last year, of that prospect. “They get boisterous. I can’t understand a word half of them are saying (laughing), but it is quite fun to try and decipher that. It’s cool they will have big crowds. It was fun last year and I know the field this year is tremendous, so I am glad the crowds will be out in force and get to see a great show.”

Speaking on a video call earlier in the year, Homa said he was excited about aiming to use this event to “bring eyeballs to golf” and, now he’s here, the six-time PGA Tour winner stressed the importance of that to him. “It is still an entertainment product,” he said. “I always joke that if I was the best golfer in the world and no-one watched I would just be a guy in a bar telling people that I was the best golfer in the world.

“It is very important to make it interesting and fun. I know the tournaments and the tours have been doing things to make it more unique and exciting. Having a great field this week is one way to do it and that’s what people really want to see.”

After one of his rounds last year, Californian Homa paid an impromptu visit for a game at North Berwick, where Fowler, the 2015 winner at Gullane, started his week on this occasion with a hit on Monday as some of the other big guns, including Scheffler, either played or practised at The Renaissance Club.

“It’s quite nice,” said Homa of the weather taking a change as a low front moved in from the south. “It’s 110 degrees at my house right now, so this is a welcome temperature and I don’t mind a little rain here and there.”

According to The Renaissance Club CEO Jerry Sarvadi, the forecast for Sunday’s final round is for strong wind, meaning it could be a tough examination for the players before heading into next week’s 151st Open at Royal Liverpool.

“I think it’s good,” said Homa of being able to prepare for the season’s final major on a links course. “For most of us, this is all kind of unique and getting kind of uncomfortable, so to find some comfort is a good thing.

“I do think it is good just getting used to finding a golf shot that is comfortable in both the wind and the rain. I’ve never been to the course we will play next week, but I can’t imagine this not being a solid prep.

“I just got in this morning. I just hit a few balls, so I will go and play it tomorrow. But I played here last year, thought it was fun and it was good preparation as you get to hit a lot of different golf shots. You get to play the ball on the ground and hit a lot of long, funky putts. It felt like good prep for an Open Championship.”

Homa, who won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in January, finished second in the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles earlier this year and feels confident he can also get himself in the mix in the other big event backed by the Korean car company.

“Yeah, good,” he said of his form. “I’m really excited. My game feels great. It’s been my best year to date, so I’m excited to keep it going. I love golf over here the most. I wish I got to do this more often so when I come over here I feel as though I get a boost of energy.”

Might he back for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship later in the year? Referring to that taking place the week after the Ryder Cup in Rome, he said: “I have to make that team first and then ask my wife it would be alright, first. So that’s two uphill battles!”