For more than an hour Saturday afternoon, Top 10 Tony was in a familiar spot in a major golf tournament.
Tony Finau made four birdies in his first 12 holes in the third round of the PGA Championship and seemingly was on his way to one of the best scores of the day at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina. For the second straight round, though, the West High School graduate got the ending wrong.
Finau bogeyed the last two holes, most egregiously missing a 3-foot putt on No. 17. Posting a 70, he ended up in a 10-way tie for 13th place at even par for 54 holes.
Finau still has genuine hopes of a top-10 finish for the ninth time in the last 13 majors, but his ambitions were much higher for a while Saturday.
A top-15 position going into Sunday’s final round on the Ocean Course is an achievement for Finau, considering he was tied for 62nd after the opening round and for 32nd through two days. It also is a big disappointment, after he briefly was tied for sixth place Saturday and remained in the top 10 through 16 holes.
Finau failed to birdie either of the par-5 holes on the back nine, but otherwise was playing excellent golf to that point. After putting problems made him settle for a 72 on Friday, he solved that problem Saturday by making birdies from 19 feet on the par-5 No. 2 and 31 feet from just off the green on the par-4 No. 4. He converted 5-foot birdie putts on the par-5 No. 7 and the par-4 No. 12, while his play from tee to green remained outstanding.
Everything changed on the demanding Nos. 17 and 18, holes he had parred in each of the first two rounds (he started Friday’s play on No. 10 and bogeyed Nos. 8 and 9 to finish). After his tee shot on the par-3 No. 17 went into the rough left of the green, he pitched to within 3 feet, only to miss the putt.
His second shot from the left rough on No. 18 went into a native area around the green and he eventually missed a 13-foot par attempt.
In April, Finau started the final round of the Masters in ninth place and lost ground in the middle of the round before he birdied No. 18 to tie for 10th.
The Salt Lake Tribune will update this story.
