Tony Finau: Something’s got to give

After Tony Finau kicked off his 2018-19 campaign in a playoff against Xander Schauffele, the top-10 darling missed his first cut in 14 PGA Tour starts at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. As of recently, it’s no question that shaky play has troubled the strong finisher. With plenty of events left in the season to turn it around, what’s a Finau to do?

Tony Finau and his flirtatious nature with tournament titles is no secret to the golf world. Recent outings like the WGC-HSBC Champions playoff and the Hero World Challenge have shown Finau coming up incredibly short. His 2016 win at the Puerto Rico Open isn’t the best point of reference for how skilled of a player he is. He’s undeniably as competitive as his Ryder Cup peers. So why’s he had so much trouble capturing another dub?

Can Tony Finau Finish?

The fourth longest driver on Tour so far in the 2019 season has failed to muster up a win out of 27 career top-10 finishes. He’s got a few second-place finishes under his belt, most of which he was severely outplayed.

Two big “almost’s” were at the 2018 Genesis Open and the 2018 Northern Trust. He finished T2 at both of these tournaments, playing himself in contention in each round. But each tournament’s winner (Watson and DeChambeau, respectively) had lightning third rounds that couldn’t be beat. Each secured their leads early, with Watson shooting a 65 in the third round of the Genesis Open while DeChambeau shot a 63 in the third round of The Northern Trust.

He couldn’t capitalize down the stretch at the WGC-HSBC Championship, where he maintained a decent 3-stroke cushion in the final round before Schauffele caught up, tied and won the first playoff hole. Later in the year at the 2018 Hero World Challenge, Jon Rahm stole the show with a final round of 65.

Staying on target

Finau’s got distance down to a science. But that’s half the battle: He falls terribly short on accuracy. In 2018, he ranked 4th in driving distance, averaging 315 yards, but his driving accuracy numbers told another story. He ranked a steep 174th, only hitting 55 percent of fairways.

With a smaller sample size, 2019 has seen some improvement, but nothing significant. He’s trudged his way up to 144th, hitting nearly 60 percent of fairways. Distance is meaningless if accuracy isn’t paired with it. Any situation not involving fairway grass increases the likelihood of additional strokes, which in crunch time, isn’t how any golfer wants their game to go.

Ahead of Tony Finau’s 2018-19 season, he detailed some changes that he’d incorporate into his swing for the new season. Known for having a notoriously short backswing, Finau revealed at the 2018 Hero World Challenge that he and swing coach Boyd Summerhays were working on developing more vertical motion in Finau’s backswing.

“Someone being my height, I think it’s a lot better to swing up and down, more so than around you, so that’s something that we want to work on this offseason and hopefully hit it a little better and a little straighter,” Finau said.

Short game falling too short?

Another shortcoming in Tony Finau’s game is his sand save percentages. In 2018, he ranked 159th, making only 44 percent of saves from greenside bunkers. He’s climbed up to 104th, saving 52 percent of balls from treacherous sand traps.

That’s not to say Finau doesn’t get along with every bunker. Throwback to his major hole out for birdie in his 2018 Ryder Cup showing. Hopefully, he’ll continue making strides in this area, and avoid pulling a Sergio on a bunker.