HE IS THE FEAR - TONY FINAU HAS A NEW IDENTITY AHEAD OF THE NEXT MAJOR, AND THAT SHOULD SCARE YOU

Mario Russo

Late July was a special time for Tony Finau last season. In consecutive weeks, the Utah native picked up wins three (3M Open) and four (Rocket Mortgage Classic) of his PGA Tour career, knocking down both feats with sheer dominance and persistence.

Following his convincing win over Patrick Cantlay at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last summer, the narrative surrounding Finau’s inability to effectively close out a Sunday was eagerly put to rest.

A five-stroke shellacking over the reigning FedEx Cup champion - with the victory being his second in as many weeks - finally placed the wobbling career of Tony Finau on a steady course.

His five cuts in the 2021-22 season no longer mattered. His runner-up finish to Rory McIlroy at the Canadian Open just a month prior became futilely meaningless in a matter of weeks.

Above all else however, the heartache that translated to fourteen days of ‘Finau fun’ arguably produced the most memorable quote from the entire PGA Tour season.

“A winner is just a loser who kept on trying,” said Finau after taking victory at Detroit Golf Club last July.

Fast Forward to the final weekend of April and in almost identical fashion, Finau finds himself fresh off a second season’s victory at the Mexican Open - one of which he secured through his signature Sunday supremacy over the rest of the field.

The 33-year old also continued to impress from the tee box during his recent victory at Vidanta Vallarta, leading the top three on the leaderboards in Yards per Drive (329.1) and Greens In Regulation (80.6).

A perfect 5-5 on Sand Saves allowed Finau to constantly strut the greens without falling behind his chasers - alleviating countless levels of stress from his game in the process.

Ironically, it was Finau’s worst round of golf that earned him his second victory of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season - having won the Cadence Bank Houston Open earlier in November by four strokes.

His 5-under par 66 this past Sunday saw him take care of the world’s number one ranked golfer (Jon Rahm) with ease, with Finau giving the Spaniard zero opportunities to gain any sort of ground during his bogey-free fourth round.

Last year’s event saw the roles of the two swingers reversed, with Rahm besting Finau by just a lonesome stroke. Despite soaring fifteen places up the standings off a historic 8-under par Sunday surge, Finau’s title bid would be snatched by Rahm’s 2-under par round.

In a year’s time however, it is not the ability to close out a Sunday that Finau has perfected so well since last season’s heartbreak at Vidanta, but rather the way in which he positions himself leading up to Sunday that makes fending off the game’s glaring talents a manageable task.

From being a runner up at last year’s competition, to winning it all just last weekend shows the growth of Tony Finau as one of the more consistent golfers on Tour. Fresh off his takedown of the world number one, the nine-year veteran swinger now has his eyes set at taking down the only remaining obstacle separating himself from the Scottie Shefflers and Jon Rahms of the world:

Winning a major tournament.

The annual trajectory of Finau’s game makes this feat a lot easier to digest and come to terms with as the next major on the Tour circuit (The PGA Championship) looms. His career-best finish at the PGA Championship came in 2021 where he posted an 8-under par performance through four rounds of play at the Oceans Course in South Carolina.

Having eight top-ten finishes in his major career strikes a similar chord to the same conversations that were had of Finau as he struggled to leg out victories throughout the spring of last season.

Responding to the criticisms by winning back-to-back events with an elevated field saw Finau show off his ability to silence the doubters and reap the benefits from it. Through both a qualitative and quantitative lens, the Utah native’s game has reached a standard that makes legitimately contending for majors a likely occurrence.

For the first time in his career, Finau is nearing his peak with a line of major titles up for grabs. At the helm of his game never stood a steady hand to direct himself through weekend adversity.

A year ago, besting the world’s hottest and highest ranked golfer seemed like a dubious fantasy for Tony Finau. Not only has he already just conquered that feat, he appeared to do it without breaking a sweat.

Being the widely-admired ‘family man’ is no longer the sole identity keeping Finau relevant in the world of golf. His game is one that can be easily accelerated on any given Sunday. Getting into a position to close things out has never come so easy for Finau - who throws a wrench in the philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli with every passing win of his.

In a world where players wish to tether the line of being loved and feared by their opposition, Finau has become the funambulist at finding this level of balance, and has used it to fuel not only his perception on the course, but his place amongst the game’s brightest stars.

Major season is rapidly approaching and for the first time in his career, Finau isn't fearful of what’s to come.

He is the fear. And that’s a scary thing.