Tony Finau has played the weekend rounds in 14 of the last 15 major golf tournaments. The exception came in California, in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
If that’s a bad sign for Finau, going into this week’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course near San Diego, there’s much more positive history to counteract it. The West High School graduate has played in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in all seven years as a PGA Tour member, posting four top-10 finishes and never placing lower than a tie for 24th place — and that came in his first visit, in 2015.
The only qualifiers attached to that record are that one round of the Farmers is played on the easier North Course and the United States Golf Association’s setup of the South Course will be more demanding this week than the PGA Tour’s annual staging in January, when the conditions are much softer and the rough is less severe.
Finau will tee off Thursday at 9:02 a.m. MDT, playing with Abraham Ancer and Daniel Berger.
Finau shot 74-69 on the South Course in the weekend rounds earlier this year, when he finished in a five-way tie for second place, five strokes behind Patrick Reed. He has a 71.1 Saturday-Sunday stroke average for seven years of the Farmers.
The part-time Lehi resident recently brought his family home to Utah from Arizona, and his son Jraice played in last week’s Utah State Junior Amateur. Jraice Finau, 9, lost his match on the 18th hole in the 10-under division’s round of 16. Tony Finau’s last round before heading to Torrey Pines came at his childhood course, Salt Lake City’s Rose Park, with his son and brother.
TONY AT TORREY PINES
Tony Finau’s record in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines GC, with scores of his weekend rounds played on the South Course, site of the 2021 U.S. Open:
2015 – T24, 70-74.
2016 – T18, 71-77.
2017 – T4, 67-71.
2018 – T6, 73-73.
2019 – T13, 69-70.
2020 – T6, 68-70.
2021 – T2, 74-69.
In 2015, Finau played in the Nibley Park Parent-Junior Scramble with a child of his coach, Boyd Summerhays, before heading to the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in Washington. Finau tied for 14th in his first major tournament appearance.
Since then, he has established himself as one of the game’s most consistent performers in majors. He has finished in the top 10 in nine of the last 13 majors, including ties for 10th in the Masters and eighth in the PGA Championship this year. Finau, Jon Rahm and Will Zalatoris are the only other golfers with three top-10s in the last four majors.
Finau has made two starts since the PGA, tying for 20th in the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas and for 32nd in the Memorial Tournament in Ohio.
Finau is a co-No. 10 pick to win the U.S. Open, according to BetMGM, with Patrick Cantlay and Viktor Hovland also listed at 25-1 odds. Rahm (9-1) is the favorite.
Finau is exempt for the U.S. Open in multiple categories, including his No. 14 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. Ten other Utahns competed in the final stage of U.S. Open qualifying, but none advanced to Torrey Pines. BYU golfer Carson Lundell came the closest, shooting 71-72 and missing by five strokes at Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.
Finau is No. 14 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings for the 2020-21 and is No. 9 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings. In late August, the top six Americans will automatically qualify for the September event in Wisconsin. Six other players will be captain’s picks.
