Tony Finau Records First Top 10 Finish This Year, Credits ‘Adjustments’
Tony Finau has his best finish of 2022 and gives credit to the ‘adjustments’ he made prior to the Masters.
The 32-year-old Finau has been a top 10 machine for multiple years now, but not in 2022, this year has been different for Tony, it has been a struggle and up until this week’s Mexico Open, the two time PGA Tour winner was still in search of his first top 10 finish of the year.
Things looked to have been trending upwards for Tony Finau after he won for the first time since 2016 at last year’s Northern Trust during the first leg of the 2021 FedEx Cup Playoffs. It had been a very long wait for a player who had often found himself in contention but had struggled to break through and win again.
Many thought that would lead to bigger and better things in 2022 for Finau with that pressure of winning once again finally off his shoulders, but that hasn’t been the case so far. He hasn’t really even been in contention since that Monday in Jersey City last August.
Tony’s best finish since his win last year came in the limited-field event last autumn at the Hero World Challenge where he finished T-7th. Since last December he has finished inside of the top 20 of an event just once, that came in early January at the 2022 opener during the Sentry Tournament Of Champions where he was T-19th. Since then, the new year had greeted Tony with three missed cuts already and zero top 10 finishes.
Tony Finau Turning Things Around In Mexico
That all was before this week’s 2022 Mexico Open at Vidanta where Tony Finau at long last finished inside of the top 10, tied for 2nd to be specific. This week could have been exactly what was needed in order to kickstart his year. What was the reason behind this change of fortune? according to Finau, it came as a result of ‘adjustments’ he made prior to the Masters.
"“My iron play has been exceptional. I made some adjustments kind of before Augusta and I’m kind of seeing the fruits of it now a few weeks later now,” Tony said after finishing up in Mexico this week."
Tony certainly had a fantastic week striking the ball as he gained +2.00 strokes with his approaches at Vidanta Vallarta.
“We’re not going to talk too much about mechanics, but just a setup adjustment and sometimes that’s all it takes, a little tweak in your setup and all of a sudden you’re hitting the back of the ball better and able to shape the ball. So a little tweak in my setup that I made and it’s been working nicely,” he added when asked about the specific adjustments he had made.
Whatever the change that he made was, it has worked as Tony has been sharp with his iron play ever since the Valero Texas Open. It would certainly seem like he is trending back in the right direction after his fantastic result in Mexico.
“I’m really happy with my round today, that’s what I’ll say. I haven’t had a great season and just sometimes it’s just how it goes. It’s the game that we play. I really wanted to put together a nice week and I was able to do that this week and gave myself a chance to do something special right at the end. Making a 3 on 18 probably would have been a big deal, but making that putt for birdie, a lot of confidence builders on a day like today and I’ll carry that with me the rest of the season no matter what happens today,” Finau said.
There is little reason to think that Tony Finau won’t be able to continually improve if he can continue playing like he did today. He concluded his time in Mexico with an incredible round of 63, a mark that tied for the new course record alongside Brandon Wu who also had an incredible Sunday.
Next. 2022 Mexico Open: Earnings and Payouts From Vidanta Vallarta. dark
The 2021 Northern Trust winner will be hopeful that his fantastic week at Vidanta Vallarta will lead to bigger and better things as 2022 rolls along. What’s next for Tony? he is set to play again this coming week at the 2022 Wells Fargo Championship as he looks to peak at the right time with the year’s second major on the near horizon.