Max Homa has made another change in his quest to regain the form that made him a six-time PGA Tour winner and a top-10 player in the world.
One year after splitting with instructor Mark Blackburn and switching to John Scott Rattan, Homa has parted ways with Rattan following the Baycurrent Classic in Japan earlier this month.
“Working with Max has been a privilege. He’s made great progress, and I’m proud of the work we did together. These relationships evolve over time, and it feels like the right moment for him to take the next step. I’ve got a lot of respect for Max and will always be pulling for him,” Rattan, the director of instruction at Congressional Country Club, wrote to Golfweek in an email.
Homa declined a request to confirm the news and provide context. He was seen on the Black Desert Resort Golf Course range ahead of the Bank of Utah Championship with Blackburn, his former coach. Blackburn responded to a text with a “no comment” on Thursday. It’s possible they haven’t formally reunited but are rather testing the waters or consulting for now.
During Friday’s second round of the Bank of Utah Championship, Homa was visibly limping as he trudged around the scenic desert property.
Blackburn and Homa worked together for four years prior to the split. Homa got to the top 10 in the world, made a U.S. Ryder Cup and two Presidents Cup teams and won five PGA Tour tournaments and one DP World Tour event together. The relationship ended in August 2024 after Homa’s last-place finish at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Homa was mired in a slump when he parted ways with Blackburn and started working with Rattan at Japan last October.
“His backswing had gotten really short,” Rattan said at the time to Golf Digest. “His right arm got really deep and pinned behind him.” Rattan said in May that they had been working on getting Homa’s arms “more in front of his body on the backswing, which helps his arms get higher up toward the sky.”
Homa entered this week ranked No. 100 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings. He has only one top-10 finish this season in 23 starts, and is winless since the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open. There have been signs that he’s trending in the right direction but it’s also been a period of great change for Homa. At the start of the year, he switched equipment from Titleist to Cobra, and in March he split with longtime caddie Joe Greiner. [He did a short stint with Bill Harke and currently employs veteran bagman Lance Bennett.]
“Trying to turn this lemon of a season into lemonade with a last-minute trophy,” Homa posted on Instagram this week.
He opened with rounds of 70 and 66 and is squarely in the hunt after 36 holes in Ivins, Utah.
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