Kragthorpe: Gipper Finau seeking pro golf breakthrough of his own

Lehi

As a child, Gipper Finau made golf look ridiculously easy. Approaching his 25th birthday, he's an illustration of what an achievement it is for anyone — including his brother — to thrive as a pro.

The little brother who initially inspired PGA Tour rising star Tony Finau to pursue golf keeps hoping for his own breakthrough. Playing via a sponsor exemption in the Web.com Tour's Utah Championship that starts Thursday at Thanksgiving Point, Gipper is where Tony was two or three years ago. He's searching for places to play and trying to maximize his natural talent.

Growing up in Salt Lake's diverse, working-class Rose Park neighborhood, the Finau brothers (born 11 months apart, making them "basically twins," as Gipper said) were convinced they could become PGA Tour players. Turns out, that was no delusion, for one of them. Tony Finau is a remarkably consistent performer as a rookie, with eight top-25 finishes in his past nine starts, including the U.S. Open. With nearly $1.7 million in earnings in the 2014-15 season, he's 40th in the FedEx Cup standings and ranked 112th in the world.

That was supposed to be Gipper's story someday, as the original Finau phenomenon. Lately, they have adopted more traditional sibling roles, with the big brother modeling success.

"Not to say that he lost his way or anything, but just seeing me do what I've been able to do … he has me as a resource," Tony Finau said. "He plays with me all the time, so he's been able to see maybe what it takes to play on the PGA Tour, and it's really inspired him. He has the game — we have a lot of the same tools — [but] just some of the work ethic, I feel like, he can improve on, and he's starting to do that. He's starting to play really well."

Gipper is the one who astounded adults at Rose Park Golf Course as a 6-year-old. At 16, he became the youngest player ever to make the 36-hole cut in a Web.com Tour event by shooting 73-67 at Willow Creek Country Club. Maybe that was too much, too soon for him — or not enough. He couldn't understand all the fuss about that achievement, telling his father, Kelepi, "Dad, I played awful."

Nine years later, Finau said, "I wish I had enjoyed it more when I was younger."

He made that observation after a pro-am round at Thanksgiving Point this week, eight years after joining his brother in turning pro — the summer before Gipper's senior year at West High School. Years of frustration and failed attempts in the annual PGA Tour qualifying process would follow, before Tony earned Web.com Tour membership in December 2013 and just kept advancing. Gipper remains stuck, like thousands of other aspiring golfers.

His brother keeps saying he's good enough to make it — and Gipper knows Tony would tell him otherwise, if it were not true. Gipper wants to channel the positive, upbeat attitude that their mother, Ravena, exuded before she died in an auto accident in December 2011. She always told him to learn something from every experience and keep going.

So he's studying Tony's evolution into a complete golfer, not merely a long-driving exhibitionist. "Now, I play golf," Gipper said. "I don't play 'showcase' golf." Recently married to former Southern Utah University basketball player Marquelle Funk, Gipper also has witnessed how a wife and three children have helped Tony focus on golf as a way to provide for his family.

The brothers are just doing so on different stages, at disparate income levels. In early July, when Tony played alongside Bubba Watson in the final round and earned more than $100,000 in the Greenbrier Classic, Gipper was just trying to cover expenses with a second-place finish in a Swing Thought Tour event in Nampa, Idaho.

The Utah Championship could change his life, or not. Top-25 finishers advance to the next Web.com Tour stop. That's how Farmington's Clay Ogden pieced together a three-tournament run in September 2008, starting in Sandy. Ogden made nearly $40,000, although he couldn't follow through and gain full access.

"Obviously, I know the stakes are high," Finau said. "I know the expectations are high."

Yet he's trying to view this week as an opportunity just to have some fun, to play "backyard golf," by his description. That's a good theme. Finau lives in nearby Pleasant Grove, and his father's home is along Thanksgiving Point's No. 14 fairway. He'll have all kinds of friends and relatives watching as he keeps trying to reproduce his brother's success story.

Gipper once was motivated by doubters who wondered how kids from Rose Park could make it in pro golf. Now, he's feeling only support — from his wife, his family, the Utah golf community and a Polynesian culture that's reveling in Tony's performance.

All of his childhood promise remains unfulfilled, but Kelepi "Gipper" Finau is not deterred. Even having discovered how tough golf is over the past eight years, he said, "My love of the game actually has grown a lot more."

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com

Twitter: @tribkurt