Houston Open 2022 standings, ranks: Tony Finau confidently won his third in the last seven starts

“Winning builds confidence,” said Tony Finau during the week of the 2022 Houston Open. Win his fifth PGA Tour title — and third of his last seven tournaments — with a performance. With a dominant performance at Memorial Park Golf Course, Finau’s confidence is now beginning to shine. No matter how quiet it may be, or it may be, it is definitely present. If Houston is any indication of Finau’s true ability, the rest of the PGA Tour will be in the spotlight.

Finishing the tournament under 16, Finau appeared to be playing at another course on its way to winning this one by four strokes. Starting his week with a favorable opening nine, the 33-year-old found another piece of equipment in his inner round on Thursday, playing it with a bottom 5 and rising to the top of the table. ratings.

Finau hasn’t looked back since as rounds 62, 68 and 69 followed his first round with a score of 5 under 65. Taking pole position for the whole week, Finau gradually sucked the air of golf tournament thanks to a Long game stability and newfound confidence with the putter in hand.

“I’m hitting the ball better than I’ve ever hit, more consistent and I know that’s the part of my game that I always need to get better at, so it’s definitely technical,” Finau said. at the beginning of the weekend. “But faith remains because of some of the success I’ve had over the last 16 months of my career and I’ve put myself in another good situation this week.”

Not only have Finau’s beliefs changed over the past 16 months, but so has his perception as a player. Long known as the one who couldn’t get a deal on Sunday, the American lived through his painful moments in a winless drought that lasted more than four years.

“I’ve always had faith, but confidence when you win is contagious,” Finau said. “I’ve always been a very hopeful person. I worked incredibly hard, and now I’m starting to reap the fruits of that labor, of all that work.”

This drought has since turned into a myriad of wins as he now boasts four wins in his most recent 32 tournament span. With so much success in such a short time, and his subtle confidence now matched by obvious talent, what could be next for Finau?

While the PGA Tour in general, and golf in general, has become a young man’s game with new stars like Tom Kim popping up at every corner, Finau is the complete opposite. He is now 33 years old, a one-time champion, is a member of the last four US teams between the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, and has consistently won at least one major championship each season since 2018.

Are 10 career victories and a major championship in the cards? Sixteen months ago, any answer other than “no” would have been completely insane, but here we are. A confident, persistent Finau has the potential to achieve such accolades. In an age of so much parity, Houston could be another building block towards that. Grade: A+

Here are the scores for the rest of the standings at the Houston Open 2022.

T9. Scottie Scheffler (-6): The world No. 2 has ended his tournament and one year on the PGA Tour. That’s fitting as there is only one player in the world to receive the cup ball more efficiently than Scheffler throughout 2022. His T9 ended a fine three-tournament streak after finishing two top 10s and a T45. in the previous month. This actually looks pretty similar to how Final autumn is over, and we all know about spring that follows. Scheffler came in second this week with a boost from tee to green, which is remarkable because it’s a reminder that if the putter bounces back starting in January, we could see someone else. which I think is still pretty underrated in the golf world. Grade B

T22. Sahith Theegala (-4): Theegala will be on the field next week at the RSM Classic, and he’s going into the final game of the fall with a bit of momentum. He finished T22 in Houston after T6 at Fortinet and T5 at Zozo Championship in early fall. Most importantly for him, he hits the ball as well as falls. His reach numbers in Houston were astounding, and his final season saw his best iron play come in waves. It’s not hard to picture Theegala scoring her first PGA Tour win at the year’s final event and making a huge leap into the short season. Rank: B +

T22. Aaron Wise (-4): I will take every opportunity I can to write about Wise. This is the third time in a row he’s broken into the top 25 this fall, even though it feels like a wasted opportunity. He had the lights off and around the lawn this week, but couldn’t use his usual reliable iron and finished in 63rd on approach and 54th on tee. That’s not much of a concern for Wise as his recent history doesn’t suggest he’s in a slump from tee-to-green; rather, it’s something he’ll probably look back on and wish he had his familiars as he probably ran at least a bit in Finau over the weekend. Grade B

T39. English Harris (E): After missing February through May through injury, English did not perform well to close out the 2021-22 PGA Tour season. His fall has been a little better. He made five of the six cuts and had the second-best driving week of the last six events in Houston. After thriving on the Ryder Cup team last fall, English is a bit out of place with everything going on in the golf world and because he hasn’t played well (or not at all) for most of the year. . It would be great to see him back in the mix at RSM and beyond as he works his way back up to become one of the top 30 players in the world. Class B-