It’s been a while since Max Homa has been in this position. 

The 34-year-old hasn’t recorded a top 10 in over a year, falling from a top 10 player in the world to No. 99. Also No. 122 in the FedExCup standings, with the top 70 making the playoffs in August, Homa is playing the John Deere Classic for the first time since 2017, hoping to find a sign of his old self. 

And through 36 holes at TPC Deere Run, he has.

Homa is T2 at 11 under alongside defending champion Davis Thompson, Brian Campbell and David Lipsky. All four players are one stroke behind leader Doug Ghim. 

“Yeah, just nice to play good golf,” said Homa, who has shot 63-68 in the first two rounds. “It got really windy. The greens got pretty crusty. It’s just nice to keep playing well. Got off to a good start, everything felt nice, and then it continued to feel nice.”

Once one of the better drivers on Tour, the six-time Tour winner has struggled in the tee box over the past few seasons, contributing to his lackluster play. That hasn’t been the case this week, though. Homa, through 36 holes, is ninth in the field in strokes-gained off the tee while hitting 75% of his fairways. 

“This is a nice step for me with the long game,” he said. “It’s definitely the best 36 holes off the tee I’ve had in a while consecutively.”

However, Homa has called some of the tee shots “funky” despite the course not being “super hard.” 

One of those instances came on the par-5 17th, even though that hole yielded Homa’s highlight of the day. With the fairway bending left, he took an aggressive line over the trees and sent his shot 354 yards into the fairway en route to birdie. 

“I like to cut the ball and that hole sets up for a bit of a draw,” he said. “But what’s nice is the way I was swinging it, it didn't have a ton of curve on it the last two days, so I’m able to hit a have you small cut, and if I just get some air under it. 

“It's definitely an uncomfortable tee shot, but I like the way I wedge it, so it feels like a free ball. If I miss the fairway, I lay up and get to hit a wedge in there 10 feet.”

But Homa followed that up by ending on a sour note. He hit his tee shot on the last into the right fairway bunker and then placed his second shot in the right rough adjacent to the green. He couldn’t get up and down for par, missing a 12-foot putt.

Regardless, he’s in a position to nab his first victory since the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open. 

And he’ll follow his current game plan to end that drought. 

“I don’t think really much changes,” Homa said. “Just play the golf course. You’re going to have to shoot really low. If you went out there and tried to do something specific, I’m not so sure that is going to work. Somebody can go out there and shoot 11 under out there and jump everybody. 

“So just go do what we did today and play another round of golf. Just keep waiting until the back nine on Sunday, basically.”

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Max Homa One Back at John Deere Classic After More Than a Year Since Last Top 10.

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