While Jacob Bridgeman looks to nab his third win in 2026, Max Homa is seeking his first victory in more than three years. The 35-year-old Southern California native is tied for third through 36 holes at Yokohama Country Club in the 2026 Baycurrent Classic. He enters the weekend just two shots off the lead held by Bridgeman and Keith Mitchell.
Homa bounced back from a shaky start Friday to post a 3-under 68. He started on the back nine, making bogey at the 11th before carding a double-bogey at the par-4 14th. A streak of five straight birdies on the front nine erased all those dropped shots, though.
"I just liked that I hung in there, I didn't panic," Homa said. "Had a really weird like 40 minutes out there around 14, but just happy I didn't try
to reinvent the wheel or anything. I was playing well. Hung in there, made a lot of great pars and a double putt. I don't know, just toughed it out, so that was good, and then waited till it clicked and then got rolling on my back nine."
Homa is a noted Los Angeles sports fanatic and being on the other side of the globe hasn't stopped him from supporting his Dodgers as they make another postseason run. They closed out a National League Divisional Series win over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday to advance to the NLCS for a third consecutive year.
"It's fun, I get to watch before I play so I'm not stressed while I play, so that's nice," Homa said. "Shout out to T-Mobile, they've got the plug for the MLB app so I can still watch over here so that's been fun. Yesterday I had the phone out on the putting green while I was warming up so I got to watch a little bit. It's a unique thing, 7 a.m., 8 a.m. starts is wild. At least when they won it set the day off in the right direction."
Homa will be part of the final group for the third round alongside the co-leaders, Mitchell and Bridgeman. They'll tee off at 10:36 a.m. local time Saturday in Japan, which is 9:36 p.m. ET Friday night in the U.S. Golf Channel's coverage starts at 11 p.m. ET on Friday and goes till 3 a.m. Saturday.
Nick Stavas is a digital producer and commerce writer for Golfweek. Follow him on X/Twitter (@nickstavas).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Max Homa contending in Japan, where he hasn't missed a Dodgers game
