USA star Xander Schauffele has shared his view on Max Homa’s inclusion in the 12-man USA Presidents Cup team as the 2024 edition starts at Royal Montreal Golf Club.
The star-studded United States Team, spearheaded by Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler, is looking to make it ten consecutive Presidents Cup victories in Quebec this week.
Yet, ahead of the event, Furyk’s picks have been criticised. Homa’s inclusion, in particular, has been ridiculed after the six-time PGA Tour winner endured a tough second half of the 2024 season.
Schauffele, however, has given his full support to Homa, who was instrumental in the United States’ last Presidents Cup victory.
Xander Schauffele shares honest Max Homa thoughts ahead of Presidents Cup
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Speaking to the media ahead of Thursday’s opening matches, Schauffele confirmed his true thoughts on Homa’s inclusion within the 12-man roster.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s just the media, really. There’s no — if you look at the top 25 guys on our list, and captain picks Max, I don’t think any of those 25 guys are sitting there like, ugh. It’s just the people that are around it that are like that. We know with Max in the room how strong we are. You look at how he fired up our team at Quail; it’s a bit of a no-brainer, in my opinion,” Schauffele said.
“Max is honestly more of an introvert. I think he’s more of an extrovert when he’s doing Twitter and ragging on people, but he’s definitely a lead-by-example kind of guy. In Italy, we were catching strays the entire week, and Max was sort of our knight in shining armour, giving us some hope.”
The reigning Open Championship winner continued: “Pat made that huge putt in the dark there on 18, but other than that, you look at the big point guard, it was Max. Max and Brian were pushing really hard on sort of a — as I said, you get that motivation looking at that board.
“They were sort of our beacon there. They were one of the only guys winning their matches, and we all looked at them like, dang, we need to do it for them. Max is that kind of guy where he’s going to lead by example and get points up on the board.”
Max Homa’s match-play record justifies Presidents Cup pick
Match-play has brought out a different side of Homa’s game, and if he can recreate past United States performances, Furyk’s pick will be justified.
Homa recorded a perfect 4-0-0 in his maiden Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow before also impressing during the USA’s crushing Ryder Cup defeat in Rome.
The 33-year-old went 3-1-1 at Marco Simone and was one of the few Americans who left the Italian capital with any ounce of credibility.
Now, the pressure is firmly on Homa to once again perform in a match-play setting and silence those who are sceptical over his position on the team.
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