It’s not that Tony Finau didn’t think he was never going to win again on the PGA Tour. It’s just that there were times when the near misses were deflating.
“I’ve always had that perseverance attitude to overcome,” Finau said of the now-disproved narrative that he didn’t know how to close out a victory on the PGA Tour. “I don’t know that I ever doubted that it wouldn’t happen, I would say. But I definitely was frustrated at certain points and disappointed, angry.”
After going more than five years between his first and second victories, a win he calls the hardest of his career, Finau has now silenced the critics and maybe some of the discussions he was having with himself. In the last six months, Finau has won three times and added three more top-10 finishes to establish himself as one of the top players on the tour.
“I think winning breeds confidence,” Finau said as he prepared for The American Express tournament that begins Thursday in La Quinta. “There’s no question. I feel that for the most part I’ve always been a pretty confident person. But winning breeds more confidence, I think. I think I just feel more comfortable with my game. My game’s as good as it’s been in my career.”
Going from the near misses and the playoff losses to a consistent winner on the Tour was never about Finau’s belief in himself. But with some improvements in his game, specifically driving the ball more accurately, and faith in his putting stats, Finau comes to tournaments like The American Express with a new approach about his play.
Boyd Summerhays, left, walks with Tony Finau as he begins a practice round at the 2023 American Express at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. (Photo by Taya Gray/Desert Sun)
Knowing how to win
“My game’s better, but I know how to prepare better and I know how to prepare to win, just having that experience over this last six, seven months, having done it multiple times over the last little bit,” Finau said. “My game is definitely better, but I know how to prepare to win I think more than I ever have before just because of the experiences that I’ve had winning over this last six months.”
Finau, an ambassador for American Express, has been a fixture in the La Quinta tournament the last three years. But even in those starts, the “he can’t close” narrative existed, especially when he had the lead in the 2021 tournament early in the final round but faded to a strong but somehow disappointing fourth. He finished 40th last year.
“That’s always the goal for me every year I play is to just try and get better,” he said. “I feel like as a player I’ve gotten better through the years. I definitely feel better approaching this year than I did last year.”
The titles for Finau since July have helped to erase some of the tough losses Finau was dealt after winning his first event in 2016 at the Puerto Rico Open. Time and again Finau would get close to a win only to watch someone else hoist the trophy before his second victory came at the 2021 Northern Trust in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
“When I lost the playoff against Webb Simpson in 2020 at the Waste Management, that was a tough loss because I had, after that I had only played one more tournament and then there was a 13-week hiatus because of COVID,” Finau recalled. “So I kind of had to soak in that loss and think about that for like three months. That was the hardest loss of my career.”
“It was just like, my kids and my family truly don’t know how I feel and that I’m going through this, but they actually don’t really care,” he said with a smile. “That was like good for me because it kind of humbled me to just, like, how big was that actually? Is it that big a deal? So even though I was hurting and super frustrated that that had happened, it was like, this whole shift of mindset for me where it was just like, my wife and my kids are actually fine. It’s not a big deal to them.”
An admitted goal-setter, Finau naturally wants to win tournaments and see his game and his statistics improve in 2023. But one of his goals might be surprising: eat better.
“Honestly one of my main goals is to be as healthy as I’ve ever been off the golf course, this meaning eating a lot better,” said Finau, who likes cooking curries for himself and his family. “I love food. Whenever I’m asked what I would be outside of being a PGA Tour golfer, I always say a chef and it’s because I love to cook and I love to eat. So I want to eat better this year.”