Just over two years ago, Max Homa barely cracked the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking, ranking 91st before his life-changing victory at the Genesis Invitational at famed Riviera Country Club, a win that vaulted him to No. 38 in the world.

Since then, the California native hasn’t dipped below the 44th spot, and he comes into this week’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass as the seventh-ranked player in the world, the highest rank of his 10-year professional career.

Not bad for a guy who struggled to keep his PGA Tour card several times throughout his career. Just how far has Homa come? Pretty darn far.

Think about this. During the 2016-17 PGA Tour season, the Cal-Berkeley product made 17 starts but made just two cuts. And his earnings for the year? Just $18,008. So to say he’s come pretty darn far is almost an understatement.

Since the aforementioned win at Riviera, Homa has added four more victories to his resume, the latest coming just a few weeks back at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, where he shot 13-under to take home the $1.566 million winner’s share of the $8.7 million purse.

Simply put, Max Homa has become a threat to win every single time he tees it up. Truth be told, since the calendar turned to 2023, he’s easily been one of the top four or five players in the world. And the PGA Tour has certainly taken notice, as evidenced by the monster group in which he’ll play to start The Players Championship.

Max Homa has earned a spot in one of the featured groups at The Players Championship

Not only has Max Homa become one of the best golfers on the planet, but he’s also become one of the most popular. And one of the reasons for that is due to the fact that he’s just so likable. He’s one of the easiest guys to root for, and if you didn’t love that on-course interview he did during his win at Torrey Pines, then you just don’t enjoy great television.

The PGA Tour clearly sees what they’ve got in the guy, and he’s finally getting some of those highly-coveted spots in featured groups at big events. And there are few events bigger than The Players Championship, which most consider to be golf’s fifth major championship, given the strength of the field.

As Homa’s popularity has undoubtedly soared, the PGA Tour wants to take advantage and has placed him in one of the featured threesomes for the first two rounds alongside Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

The trio will tee off from No. 1 on Thursday at 12:56 p.m. Eastern.

Of the three, Homa is the highest-ranked player in the group. Thomas, who won The Players two years ago, is currently the ninth-ranked player in the world, while Spieth enters the week at No. 15.

So there will certainly be pressure on Homa to perform. But that hasn’t been a problem for him lately.