Despite Battling Injury And Splitting With His Swing Coach, Max Homa Moves Into Contention At Bank of Utah Championship

Max Homa has struggled for form since finishing T3rd at last year's Masters but, just recently, it appears he has started to find something within his game.

Racking up a T5th at the John Deere Classic in July, he has also produced two top 20 results in his last three starts, with Homa in contention once again at this week's Bank of Utah Championship, despite battling injury.

Seen in visible discomfort throughout his second round on Friday, walking tentatively at Black Desert Resort, the American still managed to card a blemish-free round of five-under-par, as a 66 put him six-under for the tournament.

The reason for the discomfort? Well, speaking after his second round, Homa revealed that he had been dealing with "a pretty good sized bone spur on the top of my ankle."

He went on to add: "I've had it for a little while. I had planned on getting it taken out when we have a little bit of time off, so it was just kind of ironic.

"It almost never gets inflamed, but I think this place is pretty hard to walk. Walking down just a small hill on 12, like I didn't feel anything, but as we were walking down the fairway on 12 I could feel it getting swollen. Then when we were done on 12 it was very, very tender.

"Then I don't know, just not a good golf course to walk. Walking uphill is really hard because I can't flex it, so that sucked. But in some way like, I mean, yesterday I played so well and I just get in my own way so much.

"It honestly helps to get hurt at times because I don't remember thinking about my golf swing, I don't remember thinking about really anything much. Just get it through. Get it to the house. If I hit a bad shot but it was in play, I was happy with it.

"I think you learn a lot from that. Hopefully I can get this thing figured out. Just was like not very fun walking. Over the ball it's fine. Through the hit is not great, but it's manageable."

It's not just the injury that Homa has been dealing with as, following the Baycurrent Classic at the start of October, the 34-year-old split with his swing coach John Scott Rattan.

According to a report by Golfweek, the duo parted ways following the event in Japan, with Homa spotted on the range in Utah with his old swing coach Mark Blackburn. Neither Homa nor Blackburn have confirmed whether the move is permanent.

Claiming his last victory at the Nedbank Challenge back in December 2023, Homa's last win on the PGA Tour came at the Farmers Insurance Open of January that year.

At the Bank of Utah Championship, he is four back of leader Michael Brennan at the halfway stage, with Brennan carding rounds of 67 and 65 to sit 10-under, one clear of a three-way tie for second that includes Jackson Suber, Pierceson Coody and Justin Lower.