Max Homa stepped to the final tee Sunday at the Wells Fargo Championship holding the slimmest possible lead over Keegan Bradley. He put his ball on the tee, visualized an ideal outcome and unleashed a drive that could not have been better executed.
His 322-yard bomb came to a rest on the fairway; moments later, after a tap-in par, he was pumping his fist at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, celebrating a PGA Tour triumph on Mother’s Day — one that came less than two weeks after Homa and his wife, Lacey, announced they were expecting their first child.
“Sometimes my life feels too good to be true,” he said. “This was one of those cases. It was cool, you know, having the perspective of knowing whether I won or didn’t win, I’m going to have a little boy with my beautiful wife.”
Homa, 31, began the afternoon two shots behind Bradley but rallied to collect the fourth PGA Tour win of his career and his second at the Wells Fargo Championship. (He also won in 2019.) As the winner of the Fortinet Championship in September, he became one of five players this season with multiple victories.
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Homa fired a 2-under-par 68 in the final round to finish at 8-under 272 and win by two shots over a trio that included Bradley, the 54-hole leader whose drive at No. 18 found a fairway bunker. Bradley then topped his second shot, all but ending any hope of winning for the first time in five tries when holding the third-round lead. He settled for a bogey to finish at 6 under.
Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young also finished in a tie for second at the first PGA Tour event in the D.C. area since 2018.
Rory McIlroy, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 7, shot 2 under in the final round and finished alone in fifth at 4-under 276 — after barely making the cut.
“Had my chances,” said McIlroy, who entered Sunday six shots off the lead. “Played the last eight holes 1 over, which whenever you give yourself a chance and got within three, obviously not the way you want to finish. But played well. Some of those pin positions on the back were tricky and tough to get close to.”
The drama crested at No. 16, a 414-yard par-4 with seven bunkers protecting one of the smaller greens on the course. Homa did not hit into any of them but missed his approach right and into the rough. He could not put much spin on the ensuing chip, and the ball went 30 feet past the hole.
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Homa two-putted for a bogey as playing partner Bradley handled the hole cleanly, sinking a nine-footer for a birdie to get to 7 under, one stroke out of a tie for first. One hole earlier, Homa had opened a three-shot lead when he birdied the 479-yard par-4 and Bradley took a bogey after a poorly struck approach.
The tournament tilted in Homa’s favor after the turn when he stuck his approach at the 554-yard par-5 10th to three feet and sank the putt for a birdie to reach 9 under, taking the lead for good. His cushion expanded to three shots on the next hole when Bradley took a penalty drop en route to his second double bogey of the day.
Homa gave a shot back at No. 13 but avoided significant damage with a chip from 50 yards in the rough to inside of four feet. The 38th-ranked player in the world had gotten into trouble on the hole with a drive that sailed into the right rough, leaving a downhill lie in soggy grass.
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The margin shrank back to one at No. 14, a 287-yard par-4 on which all 65 players in the field went for the green off the tee. Only seven got there in regulation, with Bradley becoming the last to do so. His 50-foot eagle try missed to the right by a foot, leaving him a tap-in birdie.
Homa’s drive at the 14th splashed down in a greenside bunker 88 yards from the pin. He left himself 10 feet for a birdie with a shot out of the damp sand but missed the putt, starting it to the right and watching it curl toward the cup before almost grazing the edge.
Bradley fell out of the lead at the 592-yard par-5 second with a double bogey that began with a tee shot that found the bunker hugging the right side of the fairway. His layup landed in the rough, and the adventure continued with an approach into the front-left greenside bunker. A poorly executed sand shot left the ball in the rough just steps in front of him, with an awkward side-hill lie. Bradley put the ball onto the putting surface with his fifth shot, missed a seven-footer for a bogey and walked off the green in second place — one shot behind Homa, who began his round with a birdie.
“I didn’t play my best golf today,” said Bradley, who shot 2 over in his bid for his first PGA Tour win since the 2018 BMW Championship. “It was choppy, and then I had a couple of good stretches, but I had a chance there at the end. So I’m proud of that aspect of it, but I’m pretty bummed.”
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