Max Homa: “I want to beat his ass,” Scottie Scheffler earns highest honor

Homa found himself in contention Sunday at The Masters, but is aware that Scheffler is on another playing field.

Max Homa, for the first time in his professional career, found himself in contention Sunday of The Masters. The previous knock on him has been his underwhelming performances in past majors.

Despite coming up just short of a Green Jacket, Homa is taking solace that he proved he can compete at the highest level.

Ahead of this week’s RBC Heritage, Homa provided his takeaways including thoughts on the gap between Scottie Scheffler and the rest of the PGA Tour.

“The gap seems to be quite large. He’s gone first, second, first. Three of those events are the best fields we’ve got. One of them is another good field on a really difficult golf course.”

Homa must have forgotten about the win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. But his point resonates.

One of the storylines surrounding Scheffler was the upcoming berth of his first child. The World No. 1 admitted he would leave the tournament were his wife, Meredith, go into labor.

Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images

That prompted Homa to be asked whether he would support a mandatory three-month paternity leave.

“No, I want to beat his ass pretty bad at some point, so I’d be lying if I wasn’t thinking a little bit about last week if Meredith did go into labor,” Homa said hilariously.

“The beauty of this is you want to beat the best when they’re at their best. It’s fun, and it’s hard.”

Indeed, Scheffler is the best golfer in the world and it is not even close. The New Jersey native is accomplishing things we have not seen since prime Tiger Woods. He is only 27 years old as well, so there is no end in sight.

Yet, Homa is confident in his game and ability to contend after his best major finish.

“It reinforces that my golf game is good enough. I think most anybody who plays a major, it is. But until you get to feel that, you don’t know.”

Both Homa and Scheffler will tee it up this week at Hilton Head.

Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social media platforms.