As Tiger Woods returned for the TGL playoff finals, a late decision from Max Homa shifted the course of the match. With the match on the line and the hammer in play on a reachable par 5, Max Homa turned a must-win hole into a costly mistake.

Homa revealed how he misjudged the situation at the playoff finals press conference on Tuesday, when a question was directed at Tiger Woods about why the hammer was accepted on the final hole.

"That was my bad. When we talked about it before, it felt like I had it understood in my head, because my math is bad, that we had to win the hole to keep the match going, and then I don't know, I was headless," Max Homa said at Jupiter Links Golf Club.

That moment came after an earlier swing in the match, where the hammer had already shifted momentum. On a par 5 in alternate shot, Jupiter had a look at eagle but could not convert, while Sahith Theegala made his putt to extend the lead for the Los Angeles Golf Club.

From there, the pressure carried into the final hole. Six-time PGA Tour winner missed the fairway and had to lay up, while Justin Rose reached near the hole in two. 

Los Angeles used the hammer again, and the situation left no room for error. When the putt did not drop, the hole was conceded, and the match was decided.

In that moment, Max Homa read the situation as one where his team had to win to stay in it, which led to accepting the hammer instead of turning it down. "It was just a really dumb move on my part,” he later told ESPN.

Max Homa and Tiger Woods reflected on missed chances

The 2023 Farmers Insurance Open winner followed that by describing how his thinking shifted in that moment.

"Honestly, I have a lot of respect - this is not a joke - for NFL coaches and stuff because your brain goes everywhere, and when they threw it, I didn't really understand why they were throwing it," admitted the 35-year-old.

From there, attention moved to Tiger Woods, who was playing his first match of the season during the finals series. He joined Jupiter Links Golf Club alongside Homa and Tom Kim, facing the Los Angeles Golf Club.

Jupiter had moved ahead early in the match, but the lead did not hold. A missed short putt from Woods was followed by a run from Los Angeles, which shifted control of the match and carried through to the finish.

“We didn't respond, and I missed a short one at the beginning to kind of get it started. We gave them momentum, and never got it back. Never got it back,” Woods, the co-founder and team owner, said after the match.

So did the hammer call from Max Homa decide the match? Tell us what you think in the comments.

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Written by

Aditi Singh

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi