Memorial Tournament: Tony Finau takes lead in PGA Tour stop
By Tim Letcher
Tony Finau has won only once on the PGA Tour. But on Thursday, he grabbed the 18-hole lead at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Tony Finau had a big back nine on Thursday and has taken the 18-hole lead at this week’s PGA Tour stop, the Memorial Tournament. Finau leads a strong field, including a number of the world’s top-ranked players, through Thursday’s action.
Thursday’s round did not start as anything particularly special for Finau. He did birdie the first hole to start the round, but after a par on the second hole, he had a bogey on the third to fall back to even par for the day.
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Finau would par the fourth hole before recording a birdie on the par-5 fifth hole, moving back to 1-under par. He would par both the sixth and seventh holes before a bogey at the eighth brought him back to even par on his Thursday round.
He was able to birdie the par-4 ninth hole to close his front nine by shooting a 1-under par 35. Again, it didn’t seem like this round was going to be anything particularly special at that point.
However, that’s when things turned for Finau
After the birdie at nine, the Utah native birdied both the 10th and 11th holes to suddenly get to 3-under par.
After pars at the 12th and 13th holes, Finau was at it again. He birdied the par-4 14th hole, followed by another birdie, this one on the par-5 15th hole. That made Finau 5-under on the day and tied for the lead.
His lone blemish on the back nine came at the par-3 16th hole. His tee shot went into the right rough and his pitch shot left him about 40 feet left for par. His putt missed and he bogeyed the hole to slip back to 4-under on his round.
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Finau did not let the bogey bother him. He immediately birdied the 17th hole to get back to 5-under par. Then, to finish things off in style, Final birdied the 18th hole to finish his round at 6-under par, one shot ahead of Ryan Palmer.
In his sixth year on tour, Finau has won just once in his career. That came at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open. In the last three seasons, he has been runner-up on six occasions, so Finau has definitely been in contention, so him competing this week is not a surprise.