“Unnamed sources is the same as ‘ya I totally have a girlfriend’”: Max Homa joins fellow Americans in calling out golf journalist

Alan Shipnuck is a world-renowned golf journalist, but Max Homa isn't convinced of that. He's one of the premier golf voices in the world and often breaks big stories. He's been at the forefront of a lot of the biggest stories in modern golf.

And yet, the fact that he uses unnamed sources has rubbed Homa and others the wrong way. Shipnuck's refusal to cite who he got the information from has jilted the golf community, and that includes the Ryder Cup star.

Homa took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to join the debate:

"'Unnamed sources' is the same as 'Ya, I totally have a girlfriend. She goes to another school though, so you wouldn't know her.'"

After being criticized for his take, he took the post down. He said:

"I’d like it to be known that I made a joke and it didn’t land so I will be deleting a tweet. This is a serious website used for serious statements ONLY. I forgot that and will repent. No more questions at this time thank you."

The debate didn't end there, though. One response intimated that Homa was effectively calling Shipnuck a liar and implying that he didn't actually have the sources he claimed.

Homa clarified:

"I don’t think Alan is a liar for what it’s worth. I do think there’s a difference between reporting real news behind unnamed sources and reporting 'He’s not invited to my birthday party' behind unnamed sources. The people saying it should have a bit more guts... Once again I’m not blaming the writer on this one. I’m blaming the person talking trash about someone to a writer without having the courage to put their name behind it."

According to that statement, Max Homa's real issue lies with the unnamed sources rather than the one who uses them. In some cases, sources cannot or will not be named no matter what, which leaves reporters with few options.

For what it's worth, unnamed or anonymous sources have been used since the dawn of journalism and that's not going to change anytime soon.

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Max Homa has had a wild week

A week ago, Max Homa was about to embark on one of the biggest outings of his golf career at the Ryder Cup. He was set to play alongside Brooks Koepka, Scottie Scheffler, and others.

Max Homa was incredible at the Ryder Cup

Now, he's a Ryder Cup icon, albeit in a losing effort, and one under fire on X for his takes on unnamed sources. Suddenly, he's all the way in the spotlight.

Part of that has to do with his incredible performance at Marco Simone. In a competition that involved Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas and others, Homa might have been the best player.

Koepka and Scheffler got benched. Rickie Fowler didn't earn a single point. For the Americans, it was the Homa show. He carried them as far as he could, including nailing an improbable shot to briefly stave off defeat.