'I Hope They Blow It Up At Some Point' - Homa Gives Thoughts On PIP Results

The Player Impact Program results were announced recently (opens in new tab)and, predictably, the biggest names in the sport made up the majority of the top-10, with Tiger Woods, pocketing a cool $8m bonus in a season in which he did not compete on the PGA Tour.

Phil Mickelson finished second, with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Bryson DeChambeau also featuring in the list of players.

Perhaps what stood out on the controversial list were the players who were left off it, with Michael Wolf, President of 288 Sports, stating: “The fact this program only measured impacts with English speaking audiences is both shameful and short sighted. The PGA Tour owes Hideki Matsuyama an apology.” (opens in new tab) 

Along with Wolf, tour players like Kevin Na and Collin Morikawa also took to Twitter to voice their views, with Na tweeting (opens in new tab): “Tiger Woods wins the $8Mil PIP! I’m all for paying @TigerWoods because he made us all richer but he didn’t hit 1 shot in 2021. @PGATOUR how is this possible. Also I thought @PhilMickelson won. Did this result have any effect in the last 2 weeks? Haha." Whilst Morikawa stated: "Woke up to still being #11 on PIP. But if you don’t believe me, too bad because anything after 10th doesn’t matter. Happy (hump) day #Co11in"

Now, it seems that another player has expressed their views on the Player Impact Program, with Max Homa (opens in new tab) hoping that the PGA Tour “blow it up at some point."

Speaking at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (opens in new tab), the 31-year-old had been conversing with recently announced US Ryder Cup Captain, Zach Johnson (opens in new tab), about a potential spot on his team in 2023. 

“He told me I'm not going to need a pick, so I'm wasting my breath, but it's a good Plan B," joked Homa. "I have a better chance at that than the PIP.”

Revealing he finished “somewhere in the 20s,” the American was one of the surprising players left off the PIP list (opens in new tab), with the PGA Tour fan favourite often using Twitter to share valuable tournament insight, as well as poke fun at his fellow professionals, golf fans and... himself. 

With more than 330,000 followers (over 100,000 more than Jon Rahm) on Twitter, Homa didn't seem surprised by the fact he had been left out of the top-10. “I actually kind of had a feeling I was nowhere near it, but you never know,” said the three-time PGA Tour winner. “It's the most arbitrary 'contest' ever. It's pretty predictable who's going to get at least the top 8; I guess 9 and 10 are tough.”

He went on to add: “Oh no, I don't care. I hope they blow it up at some point, or just hand the money to people. But calling it a contest is kind of – I don't know what else the average guy like me has to do to [crack the top 10]. I'd have to win three majors this year to have a chance.”

According to the PGA Tour, the PIP is based on:

• Internet Searches: Number of times a player’s name is searched on the internet;
• Earned Media: Number of unique news articles that include a player’s name;
• Social Media: Social media score that considers a player’s reach, conversation and engagement metrics;
• TV Sponsor Exposure: Duration (time) that a player’s sponsor logo(s) appears on screen during Saturday and Sunday PGA TOUR telecasts;
• Awareness: A player’s general awareness score among broad U.S. population.

As well as stating that he doesn't care, Homa also posted a tweet to his Twitter on Friday night. In a video by the PGA Tour, the American can be seen hitting a stunning drive that only gets off the ground by 28-feet.

The caption, which was "stinging tracers", was quote retweeted by Homa, with the 31-year-old writing: "Plz @ me next time so I can finish in the top 20 of the PIP this year thx."