St.Jude Championship 2022: Tony Finau misses third straight win but builds confidence for FedEx Cup Playoffs

Tony Finau isn’t used to finishing in the top 10, despite missing a trophy, at a PGA Tour event later this season. However, his T6 Sunday in St. The Jude Championship, the first FedEx Cup Playoffs event, did not come with its usual disappointment.

After a career that almost fell through winning PGA Tour tournaments, Finau took The Northern Trust to the start of the FedEx Cup Qualifiers. Final season, and then consecutively eliminated the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic to end his regular 2022 season.

Three wins in the last 12 months.

This week at TPC Southwind, Finau is the defending champion – a bit odd, since he’s never won a golf tournament there. He is looking to become only the second golfer since Rory McIlroy in 2014 to win three consecutive PGA Tour starts. Dustin Johnson did just that in 2017, and Finau will join a roster that includes Tiger Woods, David Duval and Vijay Singh. Those five are the only Tour professionals to accomplish the feat over the past quarter century. Depending on how you interpret the data, Tiger did it 14 different times.

For the first three rounds in Memphis to kick off this year’s playoffs, the hunt for Finau has come to life. He opened the scoring with 64 to put his name near the top of the standings and – amazingly – has barely dropped his average in his last 10 rounds. Scores 68 and 69 followed, and Finau gave himself an outside chance to win as he led by just four strokes to advance to the final round. He finished with 68, including a pretty ho-hum par 35 in the second nine, which is where he struggled for most of the week. 68 was a nice score on Sunday, but not nearly enough to join the DJ in his 2016-17 season with three wins in a row.

Still, Finau’s numbers are exceptional; he entered the week ranked third in the world behind only Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler in shots from tee to green since May 1. He beat both of those players this week, so he It will close the gap or erase it. completely. Playing tee-to-green isn’t the only formula for winning golf tournaments, but it’s certainly the simplest. Finau has been statistically solid throughout this week in Memphis, but he has not excelled in any area and is unusually difficult to tee up. In fact, even though he still hit the off-tee count, this week is his second-worst driving record since early March, behind only the US Open.

That’s something that can (and likely will) be fixed in the next two tournaments. There are many impetus for Finau to improve in the areas where he has thrived most throughout his career. The $18 million first prize for winning the FedEx Cup is huge, but so is winning the FedEx Cup. No, it’s not a huge championship, and it might not even equate to winning the Riviera or Muirfield Village or Bay Hill. However, it’s hard to fake the FedEx Cup, especially when you have to win the Tour Championship to do it. It only adds to his suddenly expanding career résumé.

Because of the way he finished the regular season, as well as his performance at TPC Southwind, Finau rose to sixth in the FedEx Cup standings ahead of the final two playoffs. He has a great look at taking one of the few top spots at the Tour Championship and starting the finale with a healthy lead on the 30th court. Think Finau begin a golf tournament at 10 under or 8 under right now is scary.

To be fair, while this isn’t a Finau that’s far from previous years in terms of his talent and statistical success, his confidence is still as high as it was on the PGA Tour. After two wins and another top 10 this week in Memphis, how could it not be? So while Finau doesn’t lead the FedEx Cup after falling short after only a rare third straight win at FedEx St. Jude Championship this weekend, he made 13 consecutive sub-70 rounds at the BMW Championship. When you appreciate his place in the FedEx Cup and the consistent quality of his play, he’s arguably in the best position of anyone to win the three-week post-season event. of the PGA Tour.

Finau’s past near misses haven’t always felt great, but this time around, when you consider what’s come before, many are even more optimistic than ever about the future.