Max Homa climbs up leaderboard in final round of Players Championship, hits flagstick on par-4

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – It was an eventful final round for Max Homa.

The 32-year-old moved to within three strokes of the lead early in his second nine at The Player Championship, bounced his tee shot off the flag on the 12th hole, a par 4, and airmailed the 17th island green on his way to a closing 69 for his second consecutive top-15 finish at the PGA Tour’s flagship event.

Full-field scores The Players Championship

First, the highlights, which included a birdie-eagle-birdie run through Nos. 10-12 and his drive of 307 yards at the 12th hole that ricocheted off the flag.

“I mean, it was cool as hell; I’ve never hit a pin from 307. So that was sweet. I mean, it would have been nice if it went in, but I didn’t really look at it as a bad break,” Homa said.

And then there was the 17th hole where he bounced his tee shot over the green and into the water on his way to a double bogey-5.

“It’s such a weird hole in that it is kind of a guess. All the stands, you can’t really feel the wind. We had played the last hole slightly down out of the right, so we were playing that one slightly in out of the left,” Homa said. “It’s possible adrenaline got me. I flighted it really well. I hit a really good shot, maybe a couple paces left of where I was looking. Never thought that was going to go over the green.”

Still, his finish was better than he could have hoped for after opening his week with back-to-back rounds of 72 that left him mired in the middle of the pack before he rallied with a 67 on Saturday to move onto the leaderboard.