CALEDON, Ontario – Max Homa says he’s like a pest. No matter the struggle (and there have been plenty), he’ll never stop grinding if he has a place to play.

After parting with recent caddie Bill Harke and then carrying his own bag for Monday’s 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier, Homa opened the RBC Canadian Open in 1-under 69 with a new caddie on the bag, veteran looper Lance Bennett, a partnership that coalesced earlier this week in spur-of-the-moment fashion. Homa’s 2025 season has been a struggle and has yet to feature a top-10 finish, but a “cathartic” Monday – where he caddied for himself – increased his belief that better days are ahead.

Homa had ample time for self-reflection in Monday’s U.S. Open qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, where he three-putted the 36th hole on "Golf’s Longest Day" and then fell short in a 5-for-1 playoff for the site’s final spot at Oakmont Country Club. Throughout the marathon day, he had to answer for himself – not always easy for a veteran pro whose self-talk tends to skew more negative than positive, he admitted Thursday. But it was a building block.

“I guess you aren’t distracted by anybody else but yourself, so whether you’re trying to stay in the moment or you’re trying to relax or whatever, no one’s there to do anything,” Homa said. “You want to get out of the doldrums and the moping … it’s just on you to do that, and I’m really bad at that, but I wanted to play well.

“I went double bogey-bogey in the second round when I was playing great. My wife often says (to) show up for yourself, and it was like, nobody was going to come help me do that, and then I birdied the next two. So little things like that, I take with me on a day like today.”

In Thursday’s opening round at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, Homa rebounded after a three-putt bogey from 25 feet at the par-4 eighth with a 45-foot birdie at the par-4 ninth to conclude his day. It was a continuation of Monday’s lessons. “Sometimes it’s a bit of the universe telling you something,” he said.

Perhaps it’s telling him to keep trusting in his abilities. Homa entered the week at No. 110 on the FedExCup with just one top-25 finish in 13 starts, including a skid of five straight missed cuts between February and April. He made a coaching change last fall (from Mark Blackburn to John Scott Rattan) and changed from Titleist to Cobra equipment in January.

It’s been a season of change in Homa’s golf life, but his mind remains his own, as he was reminded in Monday’s 36-hole stroll that doubled as a mental cleanse.

“It would be like driving for 12 hours by yourself,” Homa said of carrying his own bag for 36 holes. “You’re not calling anybody; you’re just kind of with your thoughts. It was very cathartic in a way. There were definitely some moments that were hard when I made some bogeys, but there was nobody to talk to or look over to, and in a way, it definitely was, I think, a good learning experience. I’m not going to say it’s something that’s going to change my life, but I definitely enjoyed the experience.”

Homa worked with caddie Joe Greiner for more than a decade, including three separate Korn Ferry Tour stints, in a working relationship that ended earlier this year (the two remain close friends). At the time, Homa was emotional in discussing the end of the player-caddie relationship, which came amidst some serious on-course struggles for the six-time PGA TOUR winner. Homa’s game has shown signs of life in recent weeks – he finished T12 at the Masters and contended through two rounds of the PGA Championship before fading on the weekend – but he’s not ready to say he’s all the way back, and he admits he can turn on himself quickly.

Bennett, who caddied for Tiger Woods in 2024, worked for Michael Thorbjornsen earlier this year before Thorbjornsen hired JJ Jakovac (former caddie for Collin Morikawa, who recently hired Greiner). Bennett has caddied for Matt Kuchar, Sungjae Im and Davis Riley, among others. Homa didn’t commit to the duo’s future beyond this week, but Thursday marked a positive debut for the tandem.

“It was a bit of a scramble, because it wasn’t until Sunday that I was going to need a new caddie … so fortunately I’ve had a lot of great caddie friends who were helping me, and I had my agents helping me, and fortunately he was available and he did a really amazing job today,” Homa said. “I showed up here Tuesday … and I was about a zero out of 10 on energy, and he had walked the course and did a really good job, and I felt like I could turn my brain off just for that day. I mean, I’m still pretty smoked and … I’ve been very thankful that he could do this on a whim.

“We haven’t really had that conversation (of an ongoing partnership). Just been thankful to have him for this week. Hopefully it works out and we can keep doing it, but either way, it’s been a fun few days already.”

Homa has overcome struggles throughout his career, notably in 2017 when he made just two of 17 cuts on TOUR and made just $18,008. He has previously compared that season to hitting rock bottom, finding a shovel and continuing to dig. Recent times haven’t been quite as lean, but there’s a difference now: he’s one of the game’s most popular players and cannot struggle in anonymity. His struggles have been well-documented, which has led to more people reaching out with well-meaning messages. The concern, though: those messages remind him that he’s struggling on the course, creating a negative loop in his mind.

Several times throughout his career – most dramatically after that 2017 slump – Homa has put in the necessary work to resurrect his game. He didn’t disappear then, and he doesn’t intend to now.

“The only part that I find helpful (from 2017) is I just know that I’m a bit of a grinder,” Homa said. “Like, I’m willing to work through it. I’m willing to get help and be vulnerable with people and just turn every stone over. Where it hasn’t been as helpful this time around is the anonymity of it has been quite a bit harder, or the lack thereof, so that’s been difficult in a way, just because I feel like everybody under the sun has texted me, and it’s not really mean, but it just makes me keep thinking about how bad I’m playing.”

Homa isn’t sure whether carrying his own bag for 36 holes at U.S. Open Final Qualifying will have substantial long-term benefits, but it helped to combat that lingering negativity in his mind. When you’re caddying for yourself and carrying your own bag, you don’t have much time to dwell on bad things – there’s work to be done.

That messaged stayed atop his mind in the RBC Canadian Open’s first round, and perhaps it will propel him to better days as summertime nears.

“I got really frustrated out there a few times for sure, but I felt like I didn’t carry it as long,” Homa said of his mentality Thursday. “Because if you’re caddying for yourself and carrying that and trying to play, it just gets old, so at some point you just give up being pissy and just try to be an adult.

“But I guess from 2017, I just take a hold of the fact that I’m just like a pest. I’m just not going to go away from this game. I’ll have to lose my card at some point to be done golfing. I’m not going to just stop trying.”