‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It’ - Max Homa Blown Away By Cameron Champ’s Distance

Max Homa is by no means short off the tee but he was blown away by what Cam Champ can do with the driver after their first round at the Fortinet Championship.

Homa will be making his Ryder Cup debut in Italy in two weeks, and is in California to get tournament sharp, and he came off an opening two-under 70 full of praise for Champ.

"It was just cool. It's amazing what he can do to a golf ball. The speed he hits it and how easy and graceful he makes it look is pretty -- I've never seen anything like it. I've seen people hit it far, but not quite the way he does it. It's pretty special to get to watch," explained the defending champion.

"If you're ever at a golf tournament, you need to see him hit a few balls especially on the course because if you just watched it off the practice tee, you wouldn't realise how far it's going, and then you get up there and you can see how far by everyone he is. It's amazing."

Last season Homa averaged 304.2 yards off the tee which was good for 55th on the Driving Distance stats while Champ was fourth on 316.1. On Thursday Champ, who opened with a one-over 73, was fourth for distance at 333.80 and he enjoyed a longest drive of 353 yards.

The 28-year-old has three wins on the PGA Tour and last year was 143rd on the FedExCup standings.

There was a nice moment on one tee where Champ unleashes one over the trees before the third member of the group, Joel Dahmen, takes a similar line but comes up way short of Champ.

As for Homa he was off to a steady start, despite a double-bogey six early one, and feeling OK about his game ahead of that Ryder Cup bow in Rome.

"I didn't feel super, I only had two over-par holes, I guess. It didn't feel like that crazy, just one bad swing that led to a double and then a bad wedge shot that was quite frustrating. But other than that, I actually felt like I kept it in front of me pretty good. Didn't do anything special to get going anywhere, but overall it was solid. I don't think anything stuck out as overly bad or overly great. It was a decent day."