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Tag Archives: Finau
2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic leaderboard, grades: Tony Finau dominates in second consecutive win
From the very beginning of the 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic, any thought of a hangover performance from Tony Finau was put to bed. Winning last week’s 3M Open in convincing fashion, the American was at it again at Detroit Golf Club as he signed for rounds of 64-66-65-67 en route to his fourth victory on the PGA Tour and his third in less than a year.
Despite becoming the first player since Brendon Todd in 2019 to win in back-to-back weeks during the regular season, the two victories could not have been more different. The beneficiary of a Scott Piercy collapse at TPC Twin Cities, Finau’s back-nine charge coupled with some good fortune was enough to push him into the winner’s circle in Minnesota at 26 under par.
There was nothing lucky about his record-setting performance in Detroit. Every aspect of his game was firing on all cylinders and it wasn’t until the 11th hole on Sunday that the Presidents Cup hopeful carded his first bogey of the week. Going 64 holes without dropping a shot, Finau’s steady hand suffocated the field as any misstep from his competitors was magnified by ten.
With the chasing pack consisting of the likes of Patrick Cantlay and Cameron Young to begin the final round, it is conceivable to suggest an earlier version of Finau would have felt the heat. Yet as we saw with Xander Schauffele earlier this summer, it is amazing how just a couple weeks can change our perception of a player.
Many have been waiting for Finau to discover his full potential and this week may have been just that as he reached 26 under. When he has it going on the greens, he can make the game look as easy and stress free as anyone on Tour.
In this day and age, youth is the name of the game. Each season a fresh new face hops onto the scene and is without any hint of nerves on golf’s biggest stage. There’s Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris and Cameron Young to name just some and inherently this makes the window for those on the wrong side of 30 that much shorter.
While his victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic marks the end of his 2021-22 regular season, with it comes the beginning of Finau’s next chapter of his career. A career as a winner. A playoff run similar to Cantlay from last year was written about last week but why stop there. His two victories came in two of the weaker fields of 2022 but given his ability to rise to the occasion in major championships, should anyone be surprised if Finau is able to roll this momentum into 2023 and seriously threaten for a certain green jacket come April. Grade: A+
Here is the breakdown of the rest of the leaderboard for the 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic
T2. Taylor Pendrith (-21): Unfortunately for the 31-year-old rookie, the nerves were present early and often on Sunday. Never looking comfortable in the final round, Pendrith turned in even par as he was unable to convert birdie opportunities on either of the par 5s. Trailing Finau by two strokes, the driver continued to betray the Canadian as he fought a two-way miss. In what was only his third start back since returning from a rib injury, Pendrith impressed and notched his fourth consecutive top-15 finish dating back to the Players Championship. He has made mincemeat of these short venues in his rookie campaign and should always be considered at those venues measuring around 7,200 yards moving forward. Grade: A
T2. Patrick Cantlay (-21): One of the bigger surprises of this season is the fact that Cantlay remains without a solo victory. He began the final round just a little too far behind Pendrith and Finau as he was sluggish out of the gates Thursday with a 2-under 70. Still, his performance at the Rocket Mortgage Classic marked yet another close call as the reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year now has 10 top-10 finishes – two of which were playoff losses – in only 16 starts. He heads into the FedEx Cup Playoffs well positioned to defend his crown, but will need to recreate last year’s postseason magic in order to capture the largest payday of the year at the Tour Championship. Grade: A-
T2. Cameron Young (-21): The likely PGA Tour Rookie of the Year found himself in a familiar position on Sunday. Trailing the two co-leaders by four strokes, Young was unable to match his final round from The Open and instead stalled for the majority of his round and ultimately signed for a 4-under 68. While he was unable to threaten to lead, he once again played himself onto the first page of the leaderboard as he has done with impressive regularity throughout his rookie season. In total, he now has seven podium finishes and conventional wisdom suggests the breakthrough victory is right around the corner. Grade: A-
T20. Will Zalatoris (-13): Another week goes by in which Zalatoris goes without his first victory on the PGA Tour. After signing for rounds of 70-71 and making the cut on the number, the Wake Forest product found his game over the weekend and climbed his way inside the top 20 courtesy of rounds of 69-65. As it stands, Zalatoris is scheduled to play in the Wyndham Championship and perhaps a return to the state of North Carolina will push him into the winner’s circle. He will need to improve on and around the green as he ranked outside the top 50 in both short-game metrics and thus squandered a great ball-striking display. Grade: B
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Updated 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge Odds & 9 Picks for Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, More
Click arrow to expand 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge odds via PointsBet
2022 Charles Schwab Challenge Odds
| Golfer | Odds |
|---|---|
| Jordan Spieth | +900 |
| Justin Thomas | +1200 |
| Scottie Scheffler | +1200 |
| Collin Morikawa | +1800 |
| Viktor Hovland | +2200 |
| Will Zalatoris | +2200 |
| Abraham Ancer | +2800 |
| Max Homa | +2800 |
| Sam Burns | +2800 |
| Tommy Fleetwood | +3000 |
| Daniel Berger | +3300 |
| Sungjae Im | +3300 |
| Tony Finau | +3300 |
| Webb Simpson | +3300 |
| Talor Gooch | +3500 |
| Billy Horschel | +4000 |
| Brian Harman | +4000 |
| Chris Kirk | +4000 |
| Davis Riley | +4000 |
| Justin Rose | +4000 |
| Kevin Na | +4000 |
| Mito Guillermo Pereira | +4000 |
| Gary Woodland | +5000 |
| Harold Varner III | +5000 |
| Jason Kokrak | +5000 |
| Sebastian Munoz | +5000 |
| Maverick McNealy | +6000 |
| Tom Hoge | +6000 |
| Cameron Tringale | +7000 |
| Cheng-Tsung Pan | +7000 |
| Christiaan Bezuidenhout | +7000 |
| Ryan Palmer | +7000 |
| Patrick Reed | +8000 |
| Erik Van Rooyen | +9000 |
| Lucas Herbert | +9000 |
| Russell Knox | +9000 |
| Troy Merritt | +9000 |
| Aaron Rai | +10000 |
| Adam Long | +10000 |
| Cameron Davis | +10000 |
| David Lipsky | +10000 |
| Denny McCarthy | +10000 |
| Doug Ghim | +10000 |
| Ian Poulter | +10000 |
| Joel Dahmen | +10000 |
| Kevin Kisner | +10000 |
| Kevin Streelman | +10000 |
| Kyoung-Hoon Lee | +10000 |
| Matthew NeSmith | +10000 |
| Patton Kizzire | +10000 |
| Rickie Fowler | +10000 |
| Stewart Cink | +10000 |
| Brandon Wu | +12500 |
| Brendon Todd | +12500 |
| Dylan Frittelli | +12500 |
| J. J. Spaun | +12500 |
| JT Poston | +12500 |
| Lucas Glover | +12500 |
| Nate Lashley | +12500 |
| Patrick Rodgers | +12500 |
| Sahith Theegala | +12500 |
| Alex Smalley | +15000 |
| Austin Smotherman | +15000 |
| Emiliano Grillo | +15000 |
| James Hahn | +15000 |
| Kurt Kitayama | +15000 |
| Mark Hubbard | +15000 |
| Matt Jones | +15000 |
| Matthias Schwab | +15000 |
| Min Woo Lee | +15000 |
| Nick Taylor | +15000 |
| Pat Perez | +15000 |
| Peter Malnati | +15000 |
| Richard Bland | +15000 |
| Rory Sabbatini | +15000 |
| Scott Stallings | +15000 |
| Stephan Jaeger | +15000 |
| Taylor Moore | +15000 |
| Adam Schenk | +20000 |
| Beau Hossler | +20000 |
| Carlos Ortiz | +20000 |
| Chad Ramey | +20000 |
| Chez Reavie | +20000 |
| Danny Lee | +20000 |
| Gresyon Sigg | +20000 |
| Scott Piercy | +20000 |
| Wyndham Clark | +20000 |
| Zach Johnson | +20000 |
| Adam Svensson | +25000 |
| Andrew D. Putnam | +25000 |
| Brandt Snedeker | +25000 |
| Charley Hoffman | +25000 |
| Doc Redman | +25000 |
| Garrick Higgo | +25000 |
| Kramer Hickok | +25000 |
| Luke Donald | +25000 |
| Michael Thompson | +25000 |
| Sam Ryder | +25000 |
| John Huh | +25000 |
| Brian Stuard | +30000 |
| Harry Higgs | +30000 |
| Lee Hodges | +30000 |
| Robert Streb | +30000 |
| Trey Mullinax | +30000 |
| Tyler Duncan | +30000 |
| Vincent Whaley | +30000 |
| Jason Dufner | +30000 |
| Hayden Buckley | +35000 |
| Paul Barjon | +35000 |
| Kevin Tway | +40000 |
| Bill Haas | +50000 |
| Camilo Villegas | +50000 |
| Erik Compton | +50000 |
| James Piot | +50000 |
| John Pak | +50000 |
| Martin Trainer | +50000 |
| Max McGreevy | +50000 |
| Nick Watney | +50000 |
| Ryan Brehm | +50000 |
| Tyler Strafaci | +50000 |
The Charles Schwab Challenge is an excellent follow-up to what was an excellent PGA Championship last week.
Three of the top-five players in the world and five of the top 10 are at Colonial Country Club for one of the PGA TOUR’s oldest stops in Fort Worth. That doesn’t even include Will Zalatoris, a Dallas native who came close to besting Justin Thomas last weekend in Tulsa.
Colonial, like Southern Hills Country Club, is a par-70, but it plays 400 yards longer than the PGA Championship host course. A certain type of player has generally won at Colonial, but last year Jason Kokrak broke that mold.
Our GolfBet staff is on it this week, laying out its favorite bets and picks for the Charles Schwab below.
2022 Charles Schwab Challenge Picks
Maverick McNealy — Top 20 (+250)
Jason Sobel: While he didn’t show his typical high floor last week, McNealy has proven to be a dangerous commodity on short courses, playing well at places like Pebble Beach and Harbour Town so far in his young career.
McNealy also seems like he’s on the verge of figuring this one out, improving from 42nd in his first start to 32nd at the next one to 20th last year.
Justin Rose +6500
Chris Murphy: There are a lot of spots I could go here and I am still deciding what I want to do at the top of the board, but I am sticking with my Sunday night best bet of Justin Rose heading into this week.
Rose put together one of his best weeks of the year last week at the PGA Championship as he closed out the week at even par to finish T13. Rose gained 5.2 shots on that elite major field with his irons, gaining strokes on approach in every round and even picking it up a notch over the weekend.
Rose’s finish was the best he has had since January and it comes at a great time. Now, he heads into a course where he has had great success in his career, including a 2018 victory. Rose has not missed a cut in his last four trips to this event and three of those resulted in top 20s with two being top 3s.
Rose is 40-1 or 50-1 at most books. The best number is at DraftKings at 65-1, on which I’ll be all over him in all markets.
Jordan Spieth +1200
Matt Vincenzi: Spieth was my headline bet at the Byron Nelson a couple weeks ago. Although he didn’t get it done in the end, he did nothing to dissuade me from believing that a win in Texas for him is imminent.
Course history has proven to be extremely important at Colonial and there is none better at the course (or even close) than Spieth. In his past six trips to Fort Worth, he has six top-ten finishes including a win and three runners-up. His form overall in the state of Texas is nothing short of immaculate.
Spieth’s performance at the PGA Championship wasn’t his best showing, but statistically he continued his strong ball striking. He gained 8.6 strokes from tee to green including a solid 4.7 strokes on approach. He’s still struggling on the greens, as he lost 3.2 strokes on the field with the putter.
In his past four starts at Colonial Country Club, Spieth has gained 7.1 (2021), 8.6 (2020), and 7.5 (2019). If there was ever a place where the 28-year-old can find his putting stroke, it’s here.
Spieth opened the week everywhere around 15-1, but he was bet heavily on Tuesday and is now even the betting favorite at PointsBet. You can still get 12-1 at BetMGM, as of Tuesday night.
Tony Finau +4000
Joshua Perry: Finau has not been his usual consistent self this season, but there have been signs of improvement overall.
Finau gained strokes across the board last week at the PGA. It was the first time he accomplished that since his win at the Northern Trust last year. He also showed glimpses of elite ball striking. He gained six strokes off the tee at the Wells Fargo a couple weeks ago and in Mexico, he gained eight strokes with his irons on his way to a second-place finish.
This has also been a spot where Finau has played well. He was runner-up to Kevin Na in 2019 and has made the cut in all six starts, with no result worse than 34th.
Chris Kirk — Outright (+5000) & Top 5 (+1000)
Derek Farnsworth: Even though Kirk has a lot of missed cuts on his resume this season, most of those have been by one or two strokes. The underlying statistics continue to look solid, as he has gained at least two strokes tee to green in 10 of his last 11 events. He put together a strong Sunday round at the PGA Championship to vault up into a tie for fifth and now returns to one of his favorite courses on tour.
Kirk has made nine straight cuts at Colonial Country Club and even won here back in 2015. He’s accurate off the tee, his irons have been on fire, and he’s underrated around the greens. He’ll need a good putting week to find himself in contention, but Kirk is one of those golfers that can have those spike weeks on the greens. He’s an average putter in total, but he’s gained or lost more than a stroke to the field in eight straight events.
Kirk started the week around 60-1 at most books. He’s down to 50-1 at DraftKings, and it’s even lower elsewhere.
Talor Gooch +4000
Landon Silinsky: It is likely many still have sour tastes in their mouths after rostering Gooch two weeks back at the Byron Nelson, as he shot a first-round 73 en route to an ugly missed cut. He righted the ship last week at the PGA Championship, finishing in a tie for 20th. His game was clicking on all cylinders as he gained over three strokes on approach and eight strokes tee-to-green.
Gooch has teed it up at Colonial four times in his career, making the cut three times and posting a career best finish of T14 last year. He’s a way better player now than he’s ever been in his career, and we’re getting a nice price here on one of the most underrated golfers on the PGA TOUR.
Gooch is 35-1 at most books, but you can still get him at 40-1 at WynnBet.
Scottie Scheffler (Top 5), Collin Morikawa (Top 10) AND Will Zalatoris (Top 20) – +2900 @ FanDuel
Rob Bolton: If we’re worried about PGA Championship hangovers, we’re not worried about it in the context of these guys.
Scheffler just goes out and plays the next shot, whether it’s right now, tomorrow, next week or in a month. See ball, hit ball, win. He’s No. 2 in my Power Rankings at PGATOUR.com.
Morikawa is No. 5. Despite his pair of wins in majors among already five PGA TOUR victories, it’s still tough to forget about his playoff loss in the Return to Golf at Colonial in 2020. He answered with a T14 last year. That he’s back again (when he doesn’t have to be) proves his affinity for the track, the test and the opportunity for redemption.
Seeing Zalatoris (No. 3) applaud Justin Thomas on Sunday at Southern Hills gave me life. What terrific spirit (again) in the face of defeat (again). So much positivity for the local resident, oh, and with talent to match. In his last five starts, he’s connected on four top-six finishes.
Kevin Na +5000
Bryan Berryman: It’s no secret that Kevin Na loves playing at Colonial. The tight fairways, heavily bunkered approach shots, and Bentgrass greens fit perfectly into his game that is anchored by accuracy and putting.
In eight career Charles Schwab starts, he has four top-15 finishes that include a fourth in 2018 and a win in ’19.
Na’s superior accuracy both off the tee and into greens gives him a distinct advantage anytime he tees it up at Colonial. This accuracy has been on full display lately, hitting 65% of his fairways on the year and gaining 14.2 strokes on approach in just his last three starts.
As the 10th-ranked putter across all rounds in this field on Bentgrass, he is literally checking every box for me this week. We’re catching a player with exceptional course history, coming in with great form at a great number.
Fire up Na for your betting card this week, with PointsBet the only book still offering 50-1 as of Tuesday night.
Tony Finau beats Cameron Smith in playoff to take PGA Tour’s Northern Trust Open
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Tony Finau ended more than five years and 142 tournaments without winning with a dynamic charge on the back nine and a big miss from Cameron Smith to capture the rain-delayed Northern Trust in a playoff Monday.
Finau was three shots out of the lead when he ran off a birdie-eagle-birdie stretch at Liberty National, the last one — a 30-foot putt across the 14th green. He closed with a 6-under 65.
Smith had a rally of his own with two late birdies, missing a 25-foot birdie chance on the 18th in regulation that would have won it. He closed with a 67.
That was as close as the Australian came to winning.
On the 18th in the playoff, Smith hit such a wild drive that it sailed over the retaining wall that separates Liberty National from the edge of the Hudson River. Finau had already pounded his drive down the middle of the fairway, and the playoff at that point was effectively over.
That’s just what Finau needed — no drama, and more importantly, a victory.
Since winning the Puerto Rico Open in the spring of 2016, Finau had eight runner-up finishes, three of those in a playoff, and 11 finishes in the top three.
Now, one of the most likeable players in golf goes to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and No. 6 in the Ryder Cup standings with one week left to be among six automatic qualifiers. Even if he doesn’t make it, it will be tough for U.S. captain Steve Stricker to keep him off the team.
He was the guy who did everything right but win, and now that burden was lifted.
Finau, who had to save par from the bunker with a 6-foot putt on the 18th in regulation to finish at 20-under 264, only had to two-putt for par in the playoff.
He lifted his head to the sky and fluttered his lips in sheer relief.
“It took just about everything I had,” he said.
And it took some help from Smith, who two weeks ago lost a chance to win a World Golf Championship with a wild drive on the 18th.
Jon Rahm contributed, too.
Rahm looked to be in control all afternoon, even as Finau began his big run. The world’s No. 1 player was bogey-free, made birdie on all three of the par 5s and threw a wedge into 3 feet for another birdie.
It came undone quickly, though. Rahm’s tee shot found the bunker on the 15th and he missed a 6-foot par putt. On the reachable par-4 16th, he caught a ball with a pitch that sailed 30 feet by the pin and cost him an easy birdie.
He didn’t get another look at birdie over the final two holes, saving par from a bunker on the 17th and having to lay up from a fairway bunker on the 18th, where he closed with a bogey and a 69 to finish alone in third.
“I haven’t been able to digest it,” Rahm said after his round. “My son put a smile on my face so at least I’m not in a terrible mood.”
There were other big winners Monday, starting with Keith Mitchell. He was at No. 101 in the FedEx Cup, and only the top 70 advance to the BMW Championship. Mitchell needed a big finish and delivered with three straight birdies for a 69 to tie for eighth at 13-under 271.
“We thought 13 (under) was good,” Mitchell said. “When I had that putt on 18, I had to make it in my mind. Fortunately, I hit a great putt.”
Tom Hoge started at No. 108 and tied for fourth to advance. That was his best finish of the year, and it came at just the right time with points counting quadruple.
Also moving on to the BMW Championship later this week were Alex Noren, Erik van Rooyen, Harold Varner III and Harry Higgs. Van Rooyen was in contention on the front nine until he hit two shots in the water on the par-3 11th and made a quadruple-bogey 7.
Finau all along had 20 under as his target, and caddie Mark Urbanek told him at the turn to deliver his best back nine of the year. He shot 30, and that turned out to be enough.
The final round was postponed on Sunday as Hurricane Henri approached, and the edges of what became a tropical storm at landfall dumped more than 6 inches of rain on Liberty National. There was another four-hour delay in the morning and spectators were kept away.
They missed quite a show, and a popular winner.