Once ranked as high as No. 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Max Homa was, not long ago, one of the hottest names in the sport — a fan favorite with undeniable talent and results to back it up. But fast forward two years, and the contrast couldn’t be sharper. Now sitting at 117th in the world, Homa’s game has spiraled into a steep decline, with the numbers telling a sobering story he can no longer avoid.

The six-time PGA Tour winner broke his silence on Instagram this week after a poor season that has seen him tumble down the rankings and miss out on key tournaments. In a post featuring a side-by-side swing comparison from April to now, Homa offered a raw and honest assessment of his struggles — “April —> Today. Complete 💩 year and a half but super stoked with how far it’s come along thanks to a lot of hard work from some awesome people. Can’t do anything about the bad golf this season but very determined to make sure that my best golf is in front of me #golf #pvo. PS, either I got taller or my pants shrank a little. I’m hoping the former.”

In trademark fashion, Max Homa mixed honesty with humor — but the message was clear: it’s been rough. His last win came at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open, with only a brief spark at the 2024 Masters (T3) before a slide that began with a missed cut at the U.S. Open.

Since then, Homa has managed just one top-10 finish in the past 16 months, which came at the 2025 John Deere Classic (tied 5th) in June, offering a rare glimpse of promise amid an otherwise forgettable stretch. “Disappointing finish but huge thx to the @johndeereclassic for an amazing week. The fans were unbelievable! I think I lost 15 pounds of water weight so thankful for that as well,” Homa wrote on his Instagram reflecting on what almost became a remarkable comeback. He even missed playing at the Open for the first time in five years, opting instead to compete in the Barracuda Championship — a far less prestigious event he hadn’t played in eight years. But the Open wasn’t the only major he missed.

His season has been so off-track that he even failed to play in the 2025 U.S. Open, where he was forced to play in a qualifier and came up short, marking the first time since 2019 that he didn’t tee it up in a major. He was even seen carrying his own bag at the Monday qualifier as he split with his long-time caddy, Joe Greiner, in March after already having fired his long-time coach, Mark Blackburn, in late 2024. As for the majors he did manage to play this year, his best result was a tied 12th finish at the 2025 Masters — respectable, but far from the standard he once set.

This year has been, by any measure, Homa’s worst in recent memory. He’s missed 8 cuts out of 20 events, including five in a row from the WM Phoenix Open to the Valero Texas Open. The downward spiral arguably began with a withdrawal at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, followed by a T53 finish at Pebble Beach, and never quite recovered, even until his last event at the Wyndham Championship, where he missed the cut. That decline hit another low this season, as Homa even missed playing at the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017.

Max Homa’s poor season led him to miss the playoffs

Max Homa currently sits at 111th in the FedEx Cup standings, and fell short of qualifying for the FedEx Cup Playoffs — a stark contrast to 2023, when he finished 9th for the season in the rankings. “Yeah, it would be great. To play as badly as I have all year and then find a little something and start to turn a corner as fast as I did at least in my head, I know the results haven’t been incredible, but the golf has been really nice, so it would be awesome,” he said at the Wyndham Championship.

This marks the first time since 2017 that Homa has failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs — a season where he ended the year ranked 244th. His career-best performance in the playoffs came in 2022, when he finished an impressive 5th in the standings. His world ranking has also taken a significant hit, slipping from 41st at the start of the year to a disappointing 117th, reflecting the depth of his downturn. It’s a steep fall for a player who, not long ago, was considered one of the most consistent performers on tour.