DETROIT — We haven’t seen this kind of tearing apart in the upper Midwest since Commodore Oliver Perry in the War of 1812.
Taking advantage of the momentum of his comeback win at the 3M Open last week in Minnesota, Tony Finau played the most flawless golf of his career and clinched the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday for his third PGA Tour victory in his last 25 starts. A 5-under-par 67 finish at Detroit Golf Club allowed the Utah native to post a five-shot victory over a trio of World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay and rookies Cameron Young and Taylor Pendrith.
In the last two weeks, the famous and likeable Finau, 32, has been ruthless with his teammates. He has a combined 43-under par and is beginning to fulfill the promise he had shown through a series of tantalizing near misses, including eight second-place finishes, since winning the 2016 Puerto Rico Open. He suffered a bogey, in the 65th hole of the tournament, by breaking the event’s 72-hole scoring record with a total of 262, 26 under par, one better than Nate Lashley’s effort in the inaugural edition in 2019.
Despite taking an impressive win, Finau felt he still had something to prove this week. Mission accomplished. Actually, he did two missions, because one of his goals this season was to record multiple wins.
“After bogeying the 18th hole [at the 3M Open] It had a sour taste in my mouth, and I think it gave me extra motivation to get back in there this week and prove to myself what kind of champion I am and make birdies down the stretch when you really need them. ”, he explained in his post-round press conference. “So that’s all I tried to do. When I got to the 14th tee, my goal was to birdie the 14th and 17th. If I could do that, I knew I was going to win the golf tournament and I could do it. I was proud of the way I finished. I thought this week I was able to prove to myself the champion I feel I am.”
cantley, defending FedEx Cup champion, made an early run with five birdies in his first eight holes en route to his 10th top-10 finish of the 2021-22 season. He shot a six-under 66 and posted a 21-under 267, while Young birdied four of his last six holes for a 68 and Pendrith had an up-and-down round of 72.
Young further strengthened his PGA Tour Rookie of the Year credentials with his fifth-place finish to join six others for the most in a season in the past 40 years. The New Yorker owns seven top-three finishes, five in his last eight starts, including finishing runner-up to Cameron Smith at the Open Championship in his previous outing.
“I’d be lying if I said it’s easy to just watch other people win,” the 25-year-old Young said. “Obviously Tony beat us all by a lot today, but it’s not fun to be that close that often and not have one. All in all, I think it’s a great thing. It shows that I can at least put myself out there. Yeah, I think overall it’s a good thing, but it’s definitely a bit frustrating not to have won one yet.”
Pendrith, who began the day tied at the top of the standings with Finau, was unable to keep up the torrid pace of his first three rounds. Playing alongside Finau in the final pairing for the second day in a row, the Canada native posted a career-best finish of his in just his third event after taking 12 weeks off due to a broken rib on his right side.
“Yeah, it was tough, I couldn’t really get anything going and I didn’t get off to the best start like I did the last three days, but I held on,” said Pendrith, 31, a bit dejected despite a personal best consolation prize. of $635,600. “You know, in the middle of the round I hit some really good iron shots and I just couldn’t get anything to drop … I just lost the feel of the speed of my putts.”
fine, which raised $1.512 million, took two off Pendrith in the turn, going out at two-under-par 34, capped by an 11-foot par save in the ninth that kept his bogey-less streak alive. When he rolled a 21-footer on the 10th for birdie, his lead increased to three shots, and though he bogeyed the 11th for his only miss in 72 holes, Finau recovered with a 31-footer that prompted a fist bump. . Meanwhile, Pendrith bogeyed the same hole and the result was no longer in doubt.
After opening with an eight-under-par 64 that featured hitting all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in his PGA Tour careerFinau said only that he was playing with confidence, buoyed by his performance the week before, but didn’t mention anything about being in a zone or even playing relatively stress-free. “I hate to say stress free in this game,” he said. “I hate to say easy.”
But the agile 6-foot-4 veteran who generates power with ease made it look easy from start to finish. He hit 46 of 56 fairways, hit 66 greens in regulation (tied for third on tour since 1980), and sank 338 feet of putts. He led the field in strokes gained/tee to green and putts per green in regulation. It was a complete performance for a player who will rise to 13th in the world.
“Evolve,” he said, is an apt description of his game. After an experiment in chasing distances he didn’t need, she has focused on reinforcing his short game and putting. He has also taken note of his thought process and how his body feels about shooting in the heat of the fight and tried to apply those lessons to successful opportunities.
“Those are all the things that I’ve known for the last two years and have worked very hard on, so now that I’m enjoying the success that I have, it’s all partly because I look at myself squarely. the eyes and knowing that I’m not as good as I can be and addressing those parts of my game that need to be elevated for me to be a great player,” he said. “I think that’s what you’re seeing from me these last few weeks, that I’ve been able to put myself in similar situations in the past, but my game is sharper, I’m stronger and I’m just a better player. to be able to seal the deal and take control of golf tournaments.
Finau played 142 events before adding a second win to his resume at last year’s Northern Trust and then needed just 23 more to earn his third. He is now the first player to win consecutive weeks during the regular season since Brendon Todd in 2019. Finau was believed to be simply too good to win. He is still one of the best on tour. He has just learned to apply his immense talents in an emphatic and devoid of empathy manner.
“You guys have been there through a lot of the tough losses. I’ve put myself in situations to win before, I haven’t been able to, but I’m very optimistic,” she said. I’ve always been like this. I have always had hope and faith that things will work out if I keep working hard and putting myself out there. But I am proud of the way I fought against adversity throughout my career. They say a winner is just a loser who kept trying, and that’s me until the end. How many times do I lose? But one thing I won’t do is give up, and I’m only here as a winner because I chose not to give up and keep going.”
Don’t be surprised if you go ahead.