Yet as we saw with Xander Schauffele earlier this summer, it is amazing how just a couple weeks can change our perception of a player. With the chasing pack consisting of the likes of Patrick Cantlay and Cameron Young to begin the final round, it is conceivable to suggest an earlier version of Finau would have felt the heat. Going 64 holes without dropping a shot, Finau's steady hand suffocated the field as any misstep from his competitors was magnified by ten. Every aspect of his game was firing on all cylinders and it wasn't until the 11th hole on Sunday that the Presidents Cup hopeful carded his first bogey of the week. There was nothing lucky about his record-setting performance in Detroit. The beneficiary of a Scott Piercy collapse at TPC Twin Cities, Finau's back-nine charge coupled with some good fortune was enough to push him into the winner's circle in Minnesota at 26 under par. Winning last week's 3M Open in convincing fashion, the American was at it again at Detroit Golf Club as he signed for rounds of 64-66-65-67 en route to his fourth victory on the PGA Tour and his third in less than a year.ĭespite becoming the first player since Brendon Todd in 2019 to win in back-to-back weeks during the regular season, the two victories could not have been more different. “When that lipped in, that gave me some momentum and then I was in control of the golf tournament,“ Finau said.From the very beginning of the 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic, any thought of a hangover performance from Tony Finau was put to bed. “It stings a little bit,“ said Pendrith, who played in his third tournament after missing nearly four months with a broken rib.įinau began to pull away from Pendrith with an 11-foot birdie putt at No. He led the Bermuda Championship last October by three shots before a 76 dropped him into fifth place, which was his best finish before his showing in the Motor City. Pendrith struggled in the final round just as he did the only other time he had a 54-hole lead. “Obviously, today Tony beat us all by a lot.” “I’d be lying if I said it was easy to just watch other people win,“ Young said. Young bounced back from a first-round 71 to finish second for the fifth time. 4 in the world ranking, had his third straight round in the mid-60s after opening with a 70. The 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie from Canada hit an errant tee shot on the second hole to the right in the rough behind tree branches - after being distracted by a fan running across the fairway - and pulled a 9-foot putt on the hole to lose the lead for good.Ĭantlay, No. Pendrith had his first lacklustre round of the tournament after he shared the first-round lead with Finau, led him by one shot after the second and matched his 21-under total through three rounds. Players on the bubble will have one last shot to finish in the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings to earn a spot in the playoffs and a full card next season.įinau and Pendrith started Sunday tied after a third round that seemed like match play, and a potential Detroit duel turned into a dud. The PGA Tour will close the regular season at the Wyndham Championship, with the North Carolina event opening Thursday. 17 and a closing par, he broke Nate Lashley’s tournament record of 25 under set in 2019 during the inaugural PGA Tour event. Peter Jacobsen hit 69 greens in regulation at Pebble Beach in 1995 and a year later, Willie Wood hit 67 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. “Tony put on a show.”įinau hit 66 of 72 greens in regulation, trailing the accuracy of just two players since 1980 in a PGA Tour 72-hole event. Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ontario (72), Patrick Cantlay (66) and rookie of the year front-runner Cameron Young (68) tied for a distant second. “They say a winner is just a loser who kept trying, and that’s me.”įinau ended a drought in Detroit, winning for the first time in six attempts when he had or shared the 54-hole lead in a PGA Tour event. “I’m proud of the way I’ve fought through adversity in my career,“ said Finau, a Salt Lake City native with Tongan-Samoan heritage. Finau began his stretch of success last August at The Northern Trust, where he had his first victory in five years and 142 PGA Tour starts. It was his fourth career victory, and third title in 11-plus months. He closed with a 5-under 67 for a five-shot victory and a tournament-record 26-under 262 total. DETROIT (AP) - Tony Finau has changed the conversation about him in less than a calendar year.įinau ran away with the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday at Detroit Golf Club to become the first player in three years to win consecutive PGA Tour events in the regular season.
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