Tony Finau Can End Year With A Flourish After 3M Open Victory

After his dramatic come-from-behind win in Minnesota Tony Finau is poised to finish the season with a flourish.

A little under a year ago 32-year-old Tony Finau was busy putting the finishing touches on a dramatic comeback win at the 2021 Northern Trust during the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

On a Monday in Jersey City, New Jersey, Finau surged up the leaderboard down the final stretch at Liberty National GC to force a playoff with one Cameron Smith, a playoff which Tony would subsequently win to claim his first win in over five years.

The ‘so nearly’ man had finally come through to earn his second career win after numerous top 10s and runner-up finishes since his debut victory at the Puerto Rico Open back in 2016.

Less than a year later Tony Finau is back in the winners circle following a dramatic come-from-behind win at the 2022 3M Open. It was a performance not too dissimilar from that long anticipated victory in late August last year.

Tony Finau would capitalize on a brutal collapse by leader Scott Piercy on Sunday.

Scott Piercy had co-led or led at the end of each round this week in Minnesota, but the pressure of a Sunday in contention would finally catch up with him down the stretch and his final round would be punctuated by a brutal triple bogey which proved too much to overcome in the end.

Meanwhile, Finau’s final round 67 included a clutch run of four birdies across his final eight holes which vaulted him up the leaderboard down the back nine and helped him to erase a five-shot deficit at the beginning of the day en route to the win.

The third win of his career sees Tony Finau climb to 17th in the FedEx Cup standings with the season drawing to a close.

It also means that he now sits just one spot outside of an automatic qualification spot for this year’s United States Presidents Cup team after a jump up from 11th to 7th in the current standings. 

Finau has had several close calls this season prior to his win at the 3M Open, he first showed encouraging signs at the Mexico Open at Vidanta in late April/early May where he finished runner-up to eventual winner Jon Rahm.

Results of 4th (Charles Schwab Challenge) and 2nd (RBC Canadian Open) would follow soon after.

The confidence that Sunday’s win in Minnesota would have given Finau could be the catalyst that opens the floodgates during the final stages of this season, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Tony start piling up the wins.

“My game is as good as it’s ever been in really all aspects. I expected myself to contend and
win again this year.” Finau said following his victory at the 3M Open.

He ranks 7th from tee to green this season, and on Sunday the putter which has plagued him throughout the majority of the season (142nd) finally cooperated en route to gaining +3.49 strokes on the greens when it mattered the most.

If he can combine that type of performance with the putter along with the assuredly newfound confidence that Sunday’s win at the 3M Open would have given him, it could turn into a lethal combination in the coming weeks.