Tony_Finau

Tony Finau

Tony Finau

American professional golfer (born 1989)

Milton Pouha "Tony" Finau (born September 14, 1989) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour.

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Early life and amateur career

Milton Pouha Finau was born on September 14, 1989, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He won the Utah State Amateur Championship in 2006, defeating future PGA Tour player Daniel Summerhays in the 36-hole championship match.[4]

Professional career

Although Finau had college scholarship offers in basketball, he turned professional at the age of 17 and began playing on mini-tours including the Gateway Tour, NGA Hooters Tour, and National Pro Tour.[5] Finau and his brother Gipper competed on the Golf Channel's The Big Break in 2009. Finau finished second on Big Break Disney Golf.[5]

Finau played on the PGA Tour Canada in 2013, making seven cuts in eight starts.[5] He finished T-3 at the 2013 Web.com Tour qualifying school to earn his Web.com Tour card for 2014.[5] He won his first title in August 2014 at the Stonebrae Classic.[6] He finished 8th in the regular season, and 12th in the Web.com Tour Finals to earn his PGA Tour card for the 2014–15 season.

In March 2016, Finau won his maiden title on the PGA Tour at the Puerto Rico Open. He won in a sudden death playoff over Steve Marino with a birdie on the third extra hole. He had earlier missed a putt for the victory outright on the 72nd green. The result moved Finau into the top 25 in the FedEx Cup standings. Finau opted not to defend his Puerto Rico title in 2017, instead taking his chances to get into the field at the 2017 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, but was two players short of entering the field, which takes the top 64 available players from the Official World Golf Ranking.

2018

Finau qualified for the first three majors in 2018, including his first Masters appearance, by making it to the Tour Championship in 2017. He finished in a tie for 10th place at the 2018 Masters, despite dislocating his ankle in the Par-3 contest[7] the day before the first round. In June 2018, Finau finished in 5th place at the U.S. Open after a double-bogey on the 18th hole, his highest finish to date in a major tournament. Finau finished the 2018 PGA Tour season ranked sixth in the season-long FedEx Cup. He earned over $5,600,000 in the 2017–18 season with 11 top-10 finishes. His best finishes in the season were second at the Safeway Open and The Northern Trust. He also finished T2 at the Genesis Open.[5]

In September 2018, U.S. team captain Jim Furyk named Finau as a captain's pick for the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National outside of Paris, France. The U.S. lost the Ryder Cup to the European side 17+1⁄2 to 10+1⁄2. Finau finished with a 2-1-0 record and won his singles match over Tommy Fleetwood (6 and 4). Up till then Fleetwood had gone 4-0-0 in the fourball and foursome matches (with partner Francesco Molinari).[8]

2018–19 PGA Tour season

On October 28, 2018, Finau lost a playoff against Xander Schauffele in the WGC-HSBC Champions. He still won more than $1,000,000 by finishing second.[9] In April, Finau was in the final group of the 2019 Masters Tournament with Francesco Molinari and Tiger Woods.[10] He ended the tournament tied for 5th.

2019–20 PGA Tour season

In December 2019, Finau played on the U.S. team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The U.S. team won 16–14. Finau went 0–1–3 and halved his Sunday singles match against Hideki Matsuyama.[11]

In February 2020, Finau lost the Waste Management Phoenix Open in a sudden death playoff to Webb Simpson.[12] Finau, who lost to Simpson's birdie on the first extra hole, had held a two stroke lead with two holes to play, but Simpson finished with consecutive birdies to force the playoff.[13]

In July at the Memorial Tournament, Finau held a four-stroke lead in the third round before faltering on the back nine with two double bogeys. His struggles continued on Sunday, including a triple bogey on the par-four sixth hole, ultimately shooting six over par on the day and finishing the tournament in eighth place, two under par. A week later, Finau's T-3 placing at the 3M Open meant that he now shares the PGA Tour record (30) for the most top-10 finishes in a four-year period without a win.[14]

2020–21 PGA Tour season: Second win after five years

In early 2021, Finau had a stretch of five weeks where he finished in the top 4 in all four tournaments that he entered. He finished fourth at The American Express, tied second at the Farmers Insurance Open, tied second at the Saudi International on the European Tour and he lost in a playoff to Max Homa at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. Finau won the 2021 Northern Trust, beating Cameron Smith in a playoff.[15]

In September 2021, Finau played on the U.S. team in the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. The U.S. team won 19–9 and Finau went 1–2–0 including a loss in his Sunday singles match against Ian Poulter.

2021–22 PGA Tour season

In July 2022, Finau won the 3M Open[16] and the Rocket Mortgage Classic in successive weeks; his third and fourth victories on PGA Tour.[17]

2022–23 PGA Tour season

Finau qualified for the U.S. team at the 2022 Presidents Cup; he won three and lost one of his matches.[18] In November 2022, Finau won the Cadence Bank Houston Open for his third PGA Tour victory of the calendar year.[19] In April 2023, Finau won the Mexico Open for his sixth career PGA Tour victory.[20]

Personal life

Finau is of Tongan and Samoan descent, the first person of such ancestry to play on the PGA Tour.[21] Finau's brother Gipper made the cut in the Utah EnergySolutions Championship at the age of 16 but did not succeed as a tournament professional.[5] He is the cousin of NBA basketball player Jabari Parker[5] and former NFL football player Haloti Ngata.[22]

Finau runs the Tony Finau Foundation, an organization aimed at empowering youth and their families in the local community.[23] He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his wife, Alayna Finau, have five children.[24] Finau appears in the sports documentary series Full Swing, which premiered on Netflix on February 15, 2023.[25]

Professional wins (9)

PGA Tour wins (6)

More information Legend ...
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PGA Tour playoff record (2–3)

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Web.com Tour wins (1)

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National Pro Tour wins (2)

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Source:[26]

Playoff record

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

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Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

More information Tournament ...
More information Tournament ...
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

More information Tournament, Wins ...
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (2017 Open – 2019 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

More information Tournament ...

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Canceled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

More information Tournament ...

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Top 10
  Did not play

NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied
Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022. The Champions was discontinued from 2023.

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Beall, Joel (February 3, 2020). "Does Tony Finau choke on Sundays, or is he the victim of bad luck? An analysis". Golf Digest. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  2. [2]
    Schupak, Adam (February 1, 2020). "New Scottsdale resident Tony Finau right at home with third-round lead at Phoenix Open". AZ Central. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  3. [3]
    "Week 48 2018 Ending 2 Dec 2018" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  4. [4]
    Sorensen, Mike (August 14, 2006). "At 16, Finau well on his way to achieving golf goals". Deseret News. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  5. [5]
    "Tony Finau profile". PGA Tour. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  6. [6]
    "Tony Finau shoots 66 en route to win". ESPN. Associated Press. August 3, 2014.
  7. [7]
    "Tony Finau dislocates ankle celebrating hole-in-one at Masters Par-Three event - and pops it back in himself". The Independent. April 8, 2018.
  8. [8]
    Wittry, Andy (September 30, 2018). "Ryder Cup Scores: Tony Finau and Henrik Stenson had the best days relative to par Sunday at Le Golf National". Ryder Cup. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
  9. [9]
    Kragthorpe, Kurt (October 28, 2018). "Utah's Tony Finau loses a playoff in his bid for a World Golf Championship title". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  10. [10]
    Everill, Ben. "Remembering the final round of the 2019 Masters". PGA Tour. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  11. [11]
    Dusek, David (December 15, 2019). "Presidents Cup grades: Captains, Royal Melbourne score high marks". Golfweek.
  12. [12]
    Gray, Will (February 2, 2020). "Power of precision: Simpson stays true to roots to beat heavy-hitting Finau". Golf Channel.
  13. [13]
    "Webb Simpson wins Waste Management Phoenix Open, Bryson DeChambeau finishes 2-under". Dallas News. Associated Press. February 3, 2020. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  14. [14]
    Myers, Alex (July 27, 2020). "Tony Finau is about to break a PGA Tour record that he probably won't want to celebrate". Golf Digest. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  15. [15]
    Ferguson, Doug (August 24, 2021). "Tony Finau ends 5-year drought and wins Northern Trust". Associated Press. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  16. [16]
    Zgoda, Jerry (July 24, 2022). "Tony Finau surges on final day to take 3M Open championship". Star Tribune. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  17. [17]
    Garcia, Tony (July 31, 2022). "Tony Finau nearly flawless in 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic win for back-to-back PGA wins". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved July 31, 2022.
  18. [18]
    Beall, Joel (September 25, 2022). "Presidents Cup 2022: Our grades for all 24 players, from an A+ for Spieth to an F for Scheffler". Golf Digest. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
  19. [19]
    Robertson, Dale (November 13, 2022). "Tony Finau cruises to Houston Open win for third PGA Tour victory of year". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  20. [20]
    McDonald, Ryan (April 30, 2023). "Tony Finau wins another PGA Tour event comfortably". Deseret News. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
  21. [21]
    Evans, Farrell (October 7, 2014). "Finau's atypical path to PGA Tour". ESPN.
  22. [22]
    "Column: No joke _ a Samoan walks onto a golf course and ..." USA Today. Associated Press. August 15, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  23. [23]
    "Tony Finau Foundation". Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  24. [24]
    Christensen, Danielle (October 5, 2017). "'His time is the best time': Professional golfer Tony Finau on faith, family and PGA Tour". Deseret News. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  25. [25]
    "Tee Up for 'Full Swing,' the Golf Documentary Series That Drives Plenty of Drama". Netflix Tudum. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
  26. [26]
    "2012 National Pro Tour schedule". National Pro Tour. Archived from the original on September 25, 2012.
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