Category: Tony Finau

PGA Tour: 2023 Season Preview

Scottie and Rory: Ready to resume battle in 2023

Scottie Scheffler had a break-out season in 2022 with his win at The Masters, 3 regular tour victories and 6 more top 10 finishes—capping it off with PGA Tour Player of the Year.   

And with 3 Tour wins and a Top 10 at all four majors, including runner up at The Masters, 3rd at the Open Championship, and a T5 at the US Open, Rory McIlroy gave Scheffler a run for his money—adding a huge cherry on top with his FedEx Cup victory.

The 2023 season promises even more excitement, as Jon Rahm has his game ramped up to full power for an all-out assault on the majors, and Justin Thomas, Collen Morikawa, Patrick Cantley and Tony Finau appear to be primed and ready for a big year as well.

In addition to the deep field of top stars, there is a host of mega-talented young players looking to hit it big on Tour in ‘23, along with a few big-name Tour veterans who had dropped out of sight in recent years, but appear ready to make some noise again in 2023.

Here’s where they stand so far in the wrap-around 2022-23 season.

Jon Rahm: Four Top 10’s and 2 wins in 2023

Who’s Hot

Jon Rahm
After a relatively quiet 2022 season where Jon failed to record a top 10 in any of the major championships, Rahm has finished among the top 10 in all four tournaments he’s entered thus far in ‘23, including 2 wins in January (Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, and the American Express at La Quinta).

Scottie Scheffler
Continuing his fantastic 2022 season, Scottie has made the cut in all five events he’s entered this year, including 3 top 10’s (T3 at Mayakoba, T7 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and T9 at the Cadence Bank Houston Open), narrowly missing another top 10 at the American Express where he finished in a tie for 11th.

Rory McIlroy
McIlroy has played one PGA Tour event (CJ Cup in South Carolina in October) and one DP Tour event (Hero Dubai Desert Classic last week), winning them both. The wins moved Rory past Lee Trevino into No. 20 among the GolfDay All-time Top 100 players.

Two Tour wins in 2023

Max Homa
Max recorded 2 wins in 2022 and has added 2 more thus far in the ’23 season (The Fortinet Championship in September and The Farmers last week at Torrey Pines. Homa has made the cut in all 5 of the events he’s played thus far, finishing among the top 10 in 4 of them. At 32 years old, Max is in his prime and it should not come as a surprise if he adds a major championship to the to 6 Tour wins that he has recorded since 2018.

Tony Finau
Coming off a terrific 2022 season where Tony notched 2 wins (back-to-back at the 3M Open and the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July) with 5 additional top 10’s, Finau is off to a fast start in 2023 masking the cut in 4 of 5 events with 3 top 10’s. This may be the year that Tony brings his power game to bear at a major championship.

Collen Morikawa: 2 time major winner

Collin Morikawa
While two-time major champion Collin Morikawa failed to record a win in 2022, he still notched 8 top 10’s including a 5th place finish at The Masters and a T5 at the US Open. The start to his 2023 season has been solid as well, making the cut in all 5 of the events he’s entered with 2 top 10’s, including a runner up at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and 3rd at The Farmers last week.

Taylor Montgomery
After 2 successful seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour, Montgomery is off to a hot start to his PGA Tour career, making the cut in all 10 of his starts in 2023 with 4 top-10’s. Taylor hits it a long way (308-yard average off the tee), and he’s ranked No. 1 in putting and No. 1 in scoring—a pretty good formula for success.

Sahith Theegala and Tom Kim: Young Guns on Tour

Young Guns

Sahith Theegala
In 2022, his first full season on Tour, 25-year-old Theegala made the cut in 26 of the 32 events he entered–with 5 top 10’s including a tie for runner up at the Travelers and a trip to the Tour Championship. Thus far in 2023, Sahith has made the cut in 8 of 9 events with 4 top 10’s. It’s only a matter of time before he records his first Tour win, and sooner is more likely than later.

Tom Kim
Yet another young phenom coming out of South Korean, 20-year-old Tom Kim is off to a blazing start to his PGA Tour career, making the cut in 6 of the 7 events he’s played, including a win (the Shriners Children’s Open in October) and 2 additional top 10’s. It seems almost certain that he will notch another win or two as the season progresses, and keep an eye on him at the majors as well.

Day, Fowler and Bradley: Back on track in 2023

Come-backs

Jason Day
After yet another dismal season in 2022 where Jason made the cut in only 12 of 19 events, Day looks like he may have things turned around. Thus far in 2023 he has made the cut in 6 of the 8 events he has played, recording 2 top 10’s (already matching his 2022 total). Jason certainly has the talent, and at 35 there should still be plenty in tank.

Rickie Fowler
Rickie is back with Butch Harmon, and the results are starting to pay off. He’s made the cut in 5 of 6 events with 2 top 10’s in ‘23, and his confidence is growing with each start (including a solid T11 with a 67 in the 3rd round at Torrey Pines last week). That elusive major may be a big ask, but Rickie is still only 34, and there’s something about his look that tells me he’s back. 

Keegan Bradley
Keegan’s game began to come back in 2022, making the cut in 19 of 25 events with 6 top 10’s.  So far in 2023 Bradley has kicked it up another notch, making the cut in 5 of 6 starts with 3 top 10’s including a win at the Zozo Championship and a runner-up at The Farmers last week including a 66 in the final round on the difficult South course.  At 36 years old, it would seem we have not seen the last of Keegan Bradley.

Share this Article:

Tony Finau Goes Back-To-Back

Tony Finau: Back-To-Back wins at 3M and Rocket Mortgage

Tony Finau cruised to victory last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, giving him back-to-back wins after his dominant performance at the 3M Open the previous week. His latest win (and 4th on tour), included rounds of 64, 66, 65 and 67—5 shots clear of the field, and a new tournament record score of 26 under par.

It’s been 3 years since anyone has won consecutive events on the PGA Tour (Brendon Todd did it back in 2019), and Tony’s accomplishment couldn’t have come at two courses that were less alike. The venerable Detroit Golf Club (Rocket Mortgage) was founded back in 1899 and features a classic Donald Ross design, while TPC Twin Cities (3M) is an extremely demanding Palmer design built in 2000. That tells you Finau can win anywhere, on any track, when he’s driving the ball consistently and making a few putts—because there are not many on Tour with his kind of power.    

Detroit Golf: Donald Ross Design

Breaking the Jinx

Since Tony’s first full season back in 2014-15, he’s been among the best on tour, making the cut in almost 80% of the tournaments he enters, while averaging 7 Top 10’s a year (and he’s recorded 10 Top 10’s at the major championships). But wins had been illusive—until now. Some believed it was due to the Puerto Rico Open jinx (Tony’s first Tour win was in Puerto Rico), because for a long time only Michael Bradley (the ’09 winner) was able to win again on tour after winning there (and his only other win was in Puerto Rico in 2011). Victor Hoveland (the 2020 winner) first dispelled the jinx by adding a win in 2021 at Mayakoba, and then Tony broke the jinx as well with his win at the Northern Trust in 2021—but notching two wins in a row should put an end to the jinx forever.

The Early Years

Tony was born on September 14, 1989 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and golf first grabbed his attention when he was 7 years old and Tiger burst onto the scene, winning 2 of the first 8 tournaments he entered. Picking up a copy of Nicklaus’ “Golf My Way,” he and his father (who had no knowledge of golf) set about learning the fundamentals of the game. His talent became immediately apparent, and with the support of his mom and dad he played junior tournaments throughout the state, ultimately winning the 2006 Utah State Amateur Championship at just 16 years old.

Big Break: Tony 2014
Golf Channel ( https://www.golfchannel.com/)

Although he was offered scholarships to play college golf at Stanford and BYU, and he was sought after to play basketball at Utah State and Webber State, Tony decided to turn pro at 18 and began playing various mini-tour events to get right into the action. In 2009 Finau got his first break—literally—when he landed a place on Golf Channel’s hit show “Big Break.” Although he finished second, golf fans were able to get their first look at Tony’s immense power—and with his grit and determination, it was only a matter of time before he would bring his talent to the PGA Tour.

In 2011, however, Tony’s golf career was put on hold when his mother was tragically killed in an automobile accident. Raised in a close-knit family, the loss of his mother hit him hard and it was almost a year before he could resume competitive golf.

Tony Overcomes Tragedy
Childhood Biography (https://childhoodbiography.com/)

By 2013 he was back, competing on the Canadian Tour where he made the cut in 7 of 8 events including 2 Top 10’s. And in 2014 he qualified for the Korn Ferry Tour, making the cut in 19 of 23 events with 5 Top 10’s including a win—and earned his PGA Tour card for the 2014-2015 season.

PGA Tour

In his first year on Tour Tony racked up 5 Top-10 finishes, including a T10 at the PGA Championship and a T8 at The Memorial. In 2016 he recorded his first win at the Puerto Rico Open, and in 2017 Tony made the cut in 24 of 29 events with 8 Top-10’s and the first of his 5 consecutive trips to the Tour Championship (where he finished with a T7).

Perhaps one of the most defining moments of Tony’s career came at the 2018 Masters, when he dislocated his ankle following an ace at the par 3 tournament on Wednesday, popped it back in, and proceeded to record a T10 with a closing 66 on a purple foot that looked like something from a horror film. At the 2019 Masters Tony shared the 54 lead and played in the final group with Tiger, fulfilling a life-long dream while getting a front row seat of history in the making, as Woods recorded his 15th major championship victory (Tony played well amid the frenzied gallery, posting a final round 72 while finishing 2 stokes back for a T5).

2018 Masters: Tough as Nails

With his back-to-back wins Finau has moved to No. 13 in the World Golf Rankings, and his game could not have rounded into top form at a better time as the FedEx Cup playoffs get under way in two weeks. Tony has made it clear that he has no intention of jumping at the money offered by LIV, and with nearly $3 million in earnings from the last two weeks alone, its seems that his decision was sound from a financial standpoint as well.

Finau Ready for FedEx Cup Run

Tony now holds the No. 7 position in the FedEx Cup standings, just behind Rory McIlroy, and the way he’s playing it would be a surprise if he didn’t move up even further—with the $18 million first place check waiting at the end of the rainbow.

And it couldn’t happen for a more deserving young man.

Share this Article: