Max Homa wouldn’t go so far as saying he’s got his swagger back.

But through 54 holes at the Sanderson Farms Championship, he has put himself in position to be back in the winner’s circle on the PGA TOUR.

“I know that, if I don't get in my own way, I'm one good round away from being in a golf tournament,” Homa said Saturday. “On a week that's good, maybe I play two and I'm ahead. I just think I know what's in there, and I know if I can stay out of my own way, I can turn.”

Homa’s struggles have been well documented, and the multi-time TOUR winner is still trying to dig it out of the dirt – he sits 147th in Strokes Gained: Total, this season, for example.

But Saturday in Mississippi, there were flashes of brilliance.

Homa was 5-under through five, thanks to rolling in a 35-foot eagle on the par-5 third. He added another circle on the scorecard on No. 9 to go out in 30.

He missed a seven-footer on No. 12 and a 14-footer on No. 14 to otherwise go even deeper on his second nine. After blowing his tee ball way left on No. 18, he made his lone bogey of the day. Still, he shot an 8-under 64 and is now firmly in the mix for his second top-10 finish of the season and first win since the Farmers Insurance Open in 2023.

With the leaders just teeing off Saturday afternoon, Homa had moved up 40 spots on the leaderboard and at one point, was in the lead alone.

As he signed his card, Homa was also first in Strokes Gained: Putting for the day. Homa felt his speed was much better Saturday, and he gave himself a little pep talk Friday afternoon, saying that the lone thing he would think of for the third round on the greens was the pace – even on the shorter putts.

“Strokes felt so good, and I felt like (Friday) missed a few early and started just thinking about my putting stroke too much. Speed got worse, and I don't think there's any technical flaw in there,” Homa said. “I was really happy with the speed (on Saturday). That's how you're going to make long ones typically. I thought for the most part today it was really consistent.”

Since his two victories in the 2022-23 season, Homa has been trying his best to find his game again. He had three top-10 finishes in 2024, but the last one on his ledger was in May. Homa then didn’t make a cut in 2025 until the Masters (he played two no-cut Signature Events through the early part of the season, however). He finally broke through for his first top-10 of the season at the John Deere Classic, where he finished T5.

It seems as though each part of Homa’s game has clicked at different times this week. The putting on Saturday was rock solid. His iron play, he said, has “been good” through the week. And he thought his driver was decent Saturday, on a difficult driving course.

“Whatever I hit today, I thought was good enough,” Homa said. “Looking forward to just trying to do the same stuff I've been doing the last three days. Today was an anomaly in a good way, but I thought (Friday) was an anomaly in a bad way. So just take it and run with it.”

Swagger or not, Homa remains one of the most popular players in the game. A win would do wonders for lots of reasons, but stringing together four solid rounds and notching a good result of any kind may be even better to buoy Homa’s confidence through the end of 2025.

“I don't know if it's swagger, but I just think like my patience seems to be better and I'm more tolerant of things that don't go great, and I have a lot of confidence that I can put up a few good scores,” Homa said. “(On Friday) mentally felt like I could have shot 2-, 3-over and it turned into (even-par 72). I know those are little things that don't seem great when you're at 40th, but I never really felt like I was out of this golf tournament on a hard golf course where the game feels pretty solid.”