CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Max Homa traded in a shovel for a ladder to get places he always thought he could reach.

Two years ago in his second try on the PGA Tour, he made only two cuts the entire season and played only one round on a Sunday. Eight months ago, he was on the verge of going back to Q-school and an uncertain future until closing with four straight birdies to make the cut in a Web.com Tour event that gave him another shot at the big leagues.

It made Sunday all that much sweeter in the Wells Fargo Championship.

In a three-way tie for the lead, in the final group on the PGA Tour for the first time, with Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia right behind him, Homa outplayed them all with a 4-under 67 for a three-shot victory at Quail Hollow and his first PGA Tour title.

“I used to say when I hit rock bottom I found a shovel and kept digging. I went to some low, low places,” he said. “I’d use a shovel and dig deeper. I went to some low, low places. I realized in that year or two when I started to play bad that my attitude was going to have to get a lot better. ... I’m very proud I finally found a ladder and started climbing, because it was getting dark down there.”

Suddenly, the immediate future is bright as can be.

He has a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour, a tee time at the PGA Championship in two weeks at Bethpage Black and a spot in the Masters next year.

A former NCAA champion at Cal, Homa has “Relentless” in block letters tattooed on his right forearm. The 28-year-old Californian also has a signed photo from former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who once told him to look at the picture and be reminded to believe in himself.

The trophy at his side, Homa’s press conference was interrupted for him to take a call from the 91-year-old Lasorda.

“I guess my whole world is different,” he said.

Golf felt so hard for Homa for so many years after he left Cal, and then he made it look so easy in a final round that made him so nervous he wanted to throw up, except when he had his hands on a golf club. He pulled away with two birdies to start the back nine for a four-shot lead. He didn’t make a bogey until it only affected the final margin. But it was a one-hour rain delay that tested Homa the most.