After everything Tony Finau went through last April, walking up and down the hills of Augusta National Golf Club will seem easy this week.
Expecting him to finish in the top 10 of the Masters every year would be asking a lot, though.
The Lehi resident is back in Georgia, where he became one of the biggest stories last year by playing with a badly sprained ankle, thanks to a hole-in-one celebration that went awry in the Par 3 Contest the day before the first round. Finau managed to play 72 holes in his Masters debut, starting and finishing in style.
He opened with a 68 and was on the leaderboard, then posted six consecutive birdies on the back nine in the final round to make the top 10 and earn a return invitation to Augusta. Finau will tee off Thursday morning in a featured group with major champions Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson. Sandy resident Mike Weir, the 2003 champion, will make his 20th start at Augusta National at age 48, playing with Shane Lowry and amateur Kevin O’Connell.
ESPN.com ranks Finau high in the second tier of potential winners this week — just below the top 15 picks, in the category of “If everything goes right.”
Finau qualified for the 2019 Masters in multiple categories, such as being a Ryder Cup contestant. Yet his Augusta National experience was his avenue to all of those other good things in 2018.
“He became a star, really,” said his coach, Boyd Summerhays. “He just took that momentum for a great finish at the Masters … he just ran with it.”
Finau finished fifth in the U.S. Open after contending in the last round and tied for ninth in the British Open. Even a tie for 42nd in the PGA Championship fit into his story of the 2018 majors, as he compiled 10 birdies in the second round to make the 36-hole cut, while paired with U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk in what amounted to a tryout for the team. And he became one of the top American players in the Ryder Cup loss to Europe.
Looking back at that season, Finau said of the Masters and the PGA, “I was extremely proud of those couple moments [that] just kind of told myself how tough I feel like I can be.”
Physically, that was true in the Masters. Summerhays laughs about how they downplayed the severity of Finau’s injury during the tournament, then shared photos of the swollen, discolored ankle the next day. Finau recently posed on April Fool’s Day with a green, high-top shoe, joking that Nike prepared him for his return to the Masters.
And when he came to the infamous No. 7 in Wednesday’s Par 3 Contest, Finau changed into that shoe on his left foot and played his shot, just for laughs.
He’ll stick to conventional shoes Thursday, while trying to replicate his performance of last April. Finau has played consistently, although not spectacularly, in this calendar year. He has posted four top-25 finishes, but his best result in a tie for 13th place in the Farmers Insurance Open near San Diego.
His confidence is intact, though. “He knows he can win the Masters,” Summerhays said.
That belief is based on how well he played under difficult circumstances, having to change his setup and swing and adjust to losing power in the process. Nothing about the golf course or the tournament atmosphere seemed to bother him, as he thrived on some of Augusta National's best-known holes and most demanding shots.
“He's got a strong mind,” Summerhays said, “and he was able to showcase that.”
And this year, he should have a healthy body to go with it.
UTAHNS’ TEE TIMES
Thursday's pairings for Utah golfers in the first round of the Masters (times MDT):
Mike Weir – 6:52 a.m. with Shane Lowry and Kevin O’Connell.
Tony Finau – 7:58 a.m. with Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson.
