Tony Finau

Tony Finau
Tony Finau
	Finau at 2015 Deutsche Bank
Personal information
Full name	Milton Pouha Finau
Born	September 14, 1989; Salt Lake City, Utah
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg; 14 st)
Nationality	United States
Career
Turned professional	2007
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour; European Tour
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour Canada; Web.com Tour
Professional wins	2
Highest ranking	9 (December 2, 2018)[1]; (as of January 31, 2021)
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	1
Korn Ferry Tour	1
Best results in major championships;
Masters Tournament	T5: 2019
PGA Championship	T4: 2020
U.S. Open	5th: 2018
The Open Championship	3rd: 2019

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

Amateur career

Finau was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Finau won the Utah State Amateur Championship in 2006, defeating future PGA Tour player Daniel Summerhays in the 36-hole championship match.

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.[2]

Finau and his brother Gipper competed on the Golf Channel's The Big Break in 2009. Finau finished second on Big Break Disney Golf.[2]

Finau played on the PGA Tour Canada in 2013, making seven cuts in eight starts.[2] He finished T-3 at the 2013 Web.com Tour qualifying school to earn his Web.com Tour card for 2014.[2] He won his first title in August 2014 at the Stonebrae Classic.[3] 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[4] 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.[2]

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).[5]

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.[6]

In April 2019, Finau was in the final group of the Masters Tournament with Tiger Woods, who went on to win his 15th major championship, and Francesco Molinari. 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.[7]

In February 2020, Finau lost the Waste Management Phoenix Open in a sudden death playoff to Webb Simpson.[8] 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.[9]

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, Finai'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.[10]

Personal life

Finau is of Tongan and Samoan descent, the first person of such ancestry to play on the PGA Tour.[11] Finau's brother Gipper made the cut in the Utah Energy Solutions Championship at the age of 16 but did not succeed as a tournament professional.[2] He is the cousin of NBA basketball player Jabari Parker[2] and former NFL football player Haloti Ngata.

Finau runs the Tony Finau Foundation, an organization aimed at empowering youth and their families in the local community. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his wife, Alayna Finau, have four children.[12]

Professional wins (2)

PGA Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Mar 27, 2016	Puerto Rico Open at Coco Beach	69-70-67-70=276	−12	Playoff	Steve Marino

PGA Tour playoff record (1–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2016	Puerto Rico Open at Coco Beach	Steve Marino	Won with birdie on third extra hole
2	2018	WGC-HSBC Champions	Xander Schauffele	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
3	2020	Waste Management Phoenix Open	Webb Simpson	Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Web.com Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Aug 3, 2014	Stonebrae Classic	67-62-63-66=267	−22	3 strokes	Daniel Berger, Fabián Gómez, Zack Sucher

Playoff record

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2018	WGC-HSBC Champions	Xander Schauffele	Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament	2015	2016	2017	2018
Masters Tournament				T10
U.S. Open	T14	CUT		5
The Open Championship		T18	T27	T9
PGA Championship	T10	CUT	T44	T42

Tournament	2019	2020
Masters Tournament	T5	T38
PGA Championship	T64	T4
U.S. Open	CUT	T8
The Open Championship	3	NT

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

Tournament	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	1	2	2	3	3
PGA Championship	0	1	2	2	6	5
U.S. Open	0	1	2	3	5	3
The Open Championship	1	1	2	3	4	4
Totals	1	4	8	10	18	15

Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (2017 Open – 2019 PGA)
Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament	2016	2017	2018	2019
The Players Championship	CUT	CUT	T57	T22

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament	2017	2018	2019	2020
Championship		T27	T25
Match Play		T17	T40	NT¹
Invitational		T10	T27	T65
Champions	T11	2	T53	NT¹

¹Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic