The former Valencia Viking and UC Berkeley Golden Bear won the Wells Fargo Championship last weekend, and while the mainstream golf media will portray Homa as coming out of no where, swing coach Les Johnson says not so fast–“he’s won a lot of things in his career.”

What Max Homa accomplished over the weekend at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, was nothing short of remarkable. He competed in a challenging final group of he, Jason Dufner and Joel Dahmen with former major winners’ Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia on his heels (among other major champions in the field).

Not to mention his own nerves, and even the weather felt it necessary to add pressure to the moment. A lightning warning and dangerous weather passing through the area meant for a 62-minute weather delay during the final round. “He’s a real funny guy,” Johnson recalls. “He texted me [during the weather delay] saying, ‘I think I’m gonna throw up.'”

Homa sank a putt for a par save following the weather delay to maintain a 3-shot lead (which would end up his final margin of victory), staying at his best in the clutch moments.

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Les Johnson, the PGA Professional at Valencia Country Club, has worked with Max since he was a sophomore in college (despite a two year gap in between where Homa was with another coach). Les helped him fix a stray shot (“high right miss that used to go very, very right”) that troubled him early in his career, and the hard work the Valencia alumnus has put in is coming to fruition.

“Max is a joy to work for, he’s really smart and I don’t think he went to CAL by accident. It’s a collaborative effort between he and I when he takes a lesson, it isn’t just me preaching to him or him doing what I say.”

One of the toughest challenges in professional golf is consistency, and Homa has lost his PGA Tour card, twice relegated to the Web.com Tour where he had to scratch and claw his way back to the top of the profession. Even with the struggles of making cuts on the PGA Tour on a weekly basis, confidence is not an issue. That’s because Homa has been successful at every level of his career.

“He’s a tough-minded individual under pressure and in the gun,” says Johnson. “It’s important to remember we’re talking about a guy that has won an NCCA individual championship, Walker Cup (top amateur competition between U.S. players and Britain/Ireland) and two wins on the Web.com Tour.”

Now, it’s all about bottling that success and stacking the consistency. Next week, Homa will be at Bethpage Black in Long Island for the PGA Championship, his first major since competing in the U.S. Open as an amateur in 2013. But what are his goals for the rest of the year?

“Look, I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves here, it’s all about next week at the PGA and Max needs to play well there, he can play well there. He plays some of his best golf on the toughest courses, the courses that host Majors,” Johnson says.

Coach Les Johnson knows that to be a fact. After all, Max just won at Quail Hollow, site of the 2017 PGA Championship. First PGA Tour win is in the bag, and there could be more to come.

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