AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fourteen months ago, Max Homa became a social media sensation when he hit a poor bunker shot at the Waste Management Open and promptly threw his club down the fairway.

Friday, a much more contemplative Homa held the clubhouse lead after two rounds of the 2024 Masters. After the club-throwing incident, Homa started journaling. He shared his entry from Thursday, before he began his fifth Masters:

“However good I am is however good I am. I don’t need to try to be better than I am.”

He was good enough to finish 1-under in round two and 6-under for the tournament, tied at the top with round one leader Bryson DeChambeau, who shot 1-over, and 2022 champion Scottie Scheffler, who shot even-par.

Homa, 33, was internet-famous long before he won six times on the PGA Tour. He’s something of a social media genius, whose more than 650,000 followers appreciate his self-deprecation and his hilarious critiques of sadomasochistic amateurs who send him clips of their swings, which he brutally tears down.

Homa’s greatest obstacle has always been himself — his mental approach and his obsession with perfection. Maybe it’s the journaling, but for the past few months, the Kumbaya Kid has been surging. In 2023, he’d won the week before the Waste Management, then finished second at the Genesis Invitational and cracked the top-10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and hasn’t looked back. He had eight more top-10 finishes that year, went 3-1-1 for the U.S. at the Ryder Cup, and won the Nedbank in November on the European Tour.

He has focused on “detachment from the result.” He said he might as well close his eyes after he hits. He did everything except take off his shoes, put on a blindfold, and counsel Danny Noonan to “be the ball.”

Homa might sound like Saturday Night Live character Stuart Smalley, but don’t expect him to stop seeking affirmation.

Especially after he smoked a fairway wood on the fourth-hardest hole on the course, where he made one of just five birdies in the second round.

“I hit a 7-wood on No. 4 today that was pretty awesome,” Homa said. “So yeah, that hole was impossible today, and somehow we made a 2.”

Somehow? He was good enough. Smart enough. And doggone it, he’s a good golfer.

LIV and let play

Led by Bryson DeChambeau at 6-under, seven of the 13 LIV Tour golfers at the Masters either made the cut or were likely to as the day’s action finished, including 53-year-old, three-time winner Phil Mickelson (4-over) and Brooks Koepka (2-over); that pair tied for second last year. Joaquin Niemann, who made the field through a special invitation, also was at 4-over. Defending champion Jon Rahm, who left for LIV at the end of 2023, stood at 5-over. Last year, 12 of 18 LIV players made the cut.

Chip-ins

Defending champion Rahm whined about the windy conditions affecting balls on the green, but his 5-over snuck him in one below the cut line. LIV did not shine deep. Bubba Watson finished 10-over and 77th in the 89-man field, followed by Charl Schwartzel (11-over, 81st), Dustin Johnson (13-over, 85th), and Adrian Meronk (14-over, 87th). … Two-time winner Jose Maria Olazabal, 58, made the cut on the number. … Neal Shipley, the U.S. Amateur runner-up, was the only amateur to make the cut, at 3-over. He automatically won the low-amateur honor. … The 6-over cut line was the highest since 2017, when it also was 6-over.

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