Golf is perhaps the only sport which gives you a realistic chance to compete against your childhood heroes at the highest level.
But it just so happens that Max Homa took his shot nine years too early.
Golf’s very own Twitter king used his favourite medium to ask Tiger Woods for a practice round at the US Open in 2013 – and revealed how he was hilariously turned down.
But four PGA Tour wins later and the world No. 19 is teeing off in the same group as his idol in The 150th Open at St Andrews – the Home of Golf.
Responding to the news, Homa tweeted: “I’m playing with Tiger Woods at the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews. Hey golf gods, we’re even. Can’t believe this is real and ya it’s corny but who cares I’m playing with the freakin GOAT.”
Homa is golf’s version of Newcastle forward Allan Saint-Maximin. He’s arguably just as famous for his tweets, rather than his performances on the course.
The 31-year-old is a man of the people: we caught him stopping to stroke a random dog outside a pub in St Andrews on Tuesday night.
Allow us to demonstrate a few other examples of peak Homa…
But our favourite post by far, especially given the context of his upcoming round with Woods at one of golf’s most historic event, came in 2013.
He wrote: “@TigerWoods just won PAC 12s, NCAA championship, and qualified for the us open. Any chance I can get a practice round with u?? #hero”
Homa later revealed how his request to play with his hero at the 2013 US Open, back when he was an amateur, was declined by the 15-time Major winner’s agency.
Speaking to the No Laying Up podcast in 2018, Homa said: “I tweeted Big Cat. I got into the US Open and I found a stat that me, him and Phil [Mickelson] are the only ones to have done. No big deal.
“I thought maybe it would connect us a little bit. He probably knew, it was more like a humble brag to the rest of the Twittersphere.
“Obviously, he didn’t get back to me. I knew he was practicing a lot, it’s no big deal. There’s no chance he’s looking at his phone, he doesn’t want to run up his minutes, I totally get it.
“It got a decent amount of traction, other people – mostly my friends – told Tiger he should do it. I don’t think he got back to them either.
“But one day I’m driving, I get a phone call, and he says he’s with Tiger’s agency.
“My heart was racing, I thought he was going to ask me to be his best friend and move out to Florida.
“He said, and there’s no way this is true, ‘Tiger really wants to play with you but he hasn’t played this golf course before and wants to take it very seriously’.
“It was kind of a slap in the face – because I was also going to try and play well.
“But I get it. He didn’t want to get intimidated by my golf game. We mutually agreed it wouldn’t happen.
“It wasn’t his main agent Jacob Steinberg, I got the B-team agent. It might have just been a prank call.
“I actually did get to meet him at the US Open and he was awesome. He totally acted like he wanted to meet me too.”
Hear live coverage of The 150th Open on talkSPORT 2 on Thursday and catch regular updates from Rupert Bell and Sean O’Brien on talkSPORT
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News Summary:
- Max Homa is golf’s answer to Newcastle man Allan Saint-Maximin as PGA Tour star finally gets Tiger Woods wish at The 150th Open after pleading for practice round
- Check all news and articles from the latest Golf updates.