DETROIT (AP) — Tony Finau has changed the conversation about him in less than a calendar year.
Finau ran away with the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday at Detroit Golf Club to become the first player in three years to win consecutive PGA Tour regular-season tournaments. He closed with a 5-under 67 for a five-stroke victory and a tournament-record 26-under 262 total.
It was his fourth career win and third title in more than 11 months. Finau began his streak last August at The Northern Trust, where he had his first victory in five years and 142 starts on the PGA Tour.
“I’m proud of the way I’ve fought through adversity in my career,” said Finau, a Salt Lake City native of Tongan-Samoan descent. “They say the winner is just the loser who keeps trying, and that’s me. “
Finau ended Detroit’s drought by winning for the first time in six tries when he had or shared the 54-hole lead in a PGA Tour event.
And he did it easily.
Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ontario (72), Patrick Cantlay (66) and leading Rookie of the Year Cameron Young (68) tied for a distant second.
“I wasn’t that close,” Young said. “Tony put on a show.”
Indeed.
Finau hit 66 of 72 greens in regulation, trailing only two players since 1980 on the 72-hole PGA Tour. Peter Jacobsen shot a 69 in regulation at Pebble Beach in 1995, and a year later Willie Wood shot a 67 in the Sanderson Farms Championship.
With Finau’s 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 after a third round that looked like a match-up, and a potential duel in Detroit turned into a bust.
Pendrith had his first undefeated round of the tournament after sharing the first-round lead with Finau, leading him by one stroke 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 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.
“I’d be lying if I said it was easy just watching other people win,” Young said. “Obviously Tony beat us all by a lot today.”
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 three shots before a 76 dropped him to fifth place, his best finish prior to his performance in the Motor City.
“It stings a little bit,” said Pendrith, who was playing in his third tournament after missing nearly 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.
A par-saving 11-footer on No. 9 was key.
“When that came up, it gave me some momentum and then I was in control of the golf tournament,” Finau said.
He made a 21-foot birdie putt on No. 10 for his third birdie. After his first bogey of the tournament on No. 11, Finau hit a 31-foot right-to-left holeshot on No. 12.
Finau was the winner of last week’s 3M Open in Minnesota, where he rallied from five shots behind to win by three. Brendan Todd was the last PGA Tour player to win two straight in the regular season, accomplishing the feat in 2019.
“One week can change your life,” Finau said. “When you look at mine, two weeks changed my life.”
CHIP SHOTS: Three BC golfers had respectable rounds Sunday but were never in contention. Surrey’s Adam Swenson finished 24th at 12 under, Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin finished 37th at 10 under and Merritt’s Roger Sloan finished 49th at 8 under.
Follow Larry Lage at https://twitter.com/larrylage
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