DETROIT — Tony Finau ran away with the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday at Detroit Golf Club to become the first PGA Tour player in three years to win back-to-back regular-season events.
Finau closed with a 5-under 67 for a 5-stroke victory and a tournament-record 26-under 262 total. Taylor Pendrith (72), Patrick Cantlay (66) and Rookie of the Year favorite Cameron Young (68) are tied for second.
Finau cruised to his fourth career victory, third title in more than 11 months. He was the winner of last week’s 3M Open in Minnesota, where he rallied from 5 strokes back to win by 3. Brendan Todd was the last to win two straight in the regular season, doing so in 2019.
Finau, the Salt Lake City product of Tongan-Samoan heritage, began his streak last August at the Northern Trust, where he posted his first victory in five years and 142 starts on the PGA Tour.
Finau ended another drought in Detroit, winning for the first time in six tries when he had or shared the 54-hole lead in a PGA Tour event. With his sixth birdie at No. 17 and closing par, he broke Nate Lashley’s tournament record of 25 under, set in 2019 during the PGA Tour’s inaugural event.
The PGA Tour will close out the regular season at the Wyndham Championship, with the North Carolina event opening on Thursday. Bubble players will have one last chance to finish in the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings to earn a playoff spot and a full card next season.
Finau and Pendrith started Sunday tied and their potential showdown in Detroit fell through.
Pendrith had his first undefeated round of the tournament after sharing the first-round lead with Finau, leading him by 1 shot after the second and matching his three-round total of 21-under.
The 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie from Canada mishit the second hole right into the rough behind the tree branches – after being distracted by a fan running across the fairway – and later holed a 9-foot putt to lose the lead for good.
Cantlay, ranked No. 4 in the world, had his third straight round in the mid-60s after opening with a 70. Young rebounded from a first-round 71 to finish second for the fifth time.
Pendrith struggled in the final round just as he did the only other time he had a 54-hole lead. He led the Bermuda Championship last October by 3 shots before a 76 dropped him to fifth place, which was his best finish before his performance in the Motor City. Pendrith was competing in his third tournament after missing almost four months with a broken rib.
Finau started to pull away from Pendrith with an 11-foot birdie putt on No. 4 and a tap-in for birdie on No. 7.
He made a 21-foot birdie putt on No. 10 for his third birdie. After his first shot of the tournament on No. 11, Finau holed a 31-foot right-to-left chip on No. 12, and Pendrith missed an 11-foot putt on the same hole to fall 4 shots back.
Cantlay jumped to within 3 shots of the lead with a 5-foot eagle putt on the par-5 14th. On the same hole, Finau made his fifth birdie of the final round to take a 4-shot lead.
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