One of the bigger questions awaiting the PGA when the calendar flips to 2023 is what is in store for Tony Finau? The 33-year-old has been one of the more popular golfers on the Tour the last half a decade, but a lot of that also came from Finau having such hard luck, losing in playoffs at the WGC-HSBC in 2018 and the WM Phoenix Open in 2020 while also dislocating his ankle during the Par 3 Contest at the 2018 Masters.
Finau went a long time between his 2016 Puerto Rico Open win and his second title, the 2021 Northern Trust, which he won in a playoff over Cameron Smith. People start to whisper that you don’t have the ‘clutch gene’ going five years without a win, but Finau has seemingly put those talks to rest with a monstrous 2022 calendar year. Can he build on that success in 2023?
Great 2022 for Finau
Finau might be sad to see the calendar flip to 2023, because the 2022 year was his best as a professional. He’s up to #12 in the OWGR after not just getting two wins on the 2021/22 schedule, but doing the very rare victories in back-to-back tournaments at the 3M Open and then the Rocket Mortgage Classic over the last two weekends in July.
Finau was just a couple of strokes away from an absolutely iconic 2022, getting a runner-up at the RBC Canadian Open two off Rory McIlroy’s pace and also coming in second at the Mexico Open just one stroke shy of Jon Rahm. Even so, Finau was the only golfer to win in back-to-back tournaments last season, and he doubled his career victory total in the span of just seven days.
2023 Off to a Solid Start
It would be easy to say Finau caught lightning in a bottle with his wins at the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic, especially since they were the two sandwich tournaments between the Open Championship and the FedEx Cup playoffs so the fields were a bit diluted.
Finau also picked up a win on the Fall leg of the Tour, though, claiming the Houston Open on November 13th. He had a chance to add back-to-back victories again as the betting favorite at the RSM Classic the following weekend, but was forced to withdraw due to injury. Finau finished 7th at the Hero World Challenge in early December, so he appears to be back on track health-wise for 2023.
A Major Win Would Be Nice
Finau is starting to cement himself as a legit contender week in and week out with the two wins last year and two other runner-ups, but the next hurdle in the progression of elite golfers is claiming that first major. The “Finau Slam” includes a top five in each of the four majors, but his best finish is a third at the 2019 Open Championship, and he really hasn’t been in contention since fourth at the 2020 PGA Championship.
Finau was atrocious at majors last season, finishing T35 at the Masters, T30 at the PGA Championship, missing the cut at the U.S. Open, and coming int 28th at the Open Championship. He has picked up three Tour wins since last year at St. Andrews, though, and that does a lot for the confidence before Augusta in April.
