Tony Finau Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Tony Finau on LIV Golf report: “I have nothing to say right now”

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 03:50:26 +0000

Jon Rahm’s exodus to LIV Golf has sparked rumours regarding who might follow the reigning Masters champ to the Saudi-backed circuit, with one European media outlet reporting Tony Finau as a potential mover. Following his round at the Grant Thornton Invitational Friday, Finau addressed the speculation … while not necessarily dispelling it.

“I have nothing to say right now,” Finau told reporters, according to the Palm Beach Post. “I haven’t heard anything.”

Spanish website Ten Golf posted a story earlier this week stating Finau and Ryder Cupper Tyrrell Hatton may join Rahm ahead of LIV Golf’s third season in 2024. Both Finau and Hatton have previously been linked with LIV Golf due to their past participation in the Saudi International, which is supported by LIV’s financial backer, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

When asked later if he had a response to his name being floated in rumours, Finau added, “No, not yet. I haven’t let anything marinate other than just playing right now.”

In a 2022 Golf Digest interview, Finau was asked about his thoughts on why he initially turned down LIV’s overtures. “I probably shouldn’t go into specifics,” Finau said. “There are so many layers to this. The temperature in the golfing world has been extremely hot. It’s changed the landscape of our game, and I don’t believe it’s been for the good. Competition is healthy, and so it’s not terrible that it’s forced the PGA Tour to re-examine some of its operations. I’ve always been a believer in working inward, not looking outward to a source for help.

“I’ve been shocked by how many guys jumped ship to LIV. I understand the monetary gain can be hard to resist, but I’ve always been grateful to be a PGA Tour member. I remember how hard I fought to become one. As a kid, I never dreamt about making $100 million. I dreamt about making a putt that meant everything.”

Finau, 34, has six career PGA Tour wins, four of which have come since July 2022. He has made two appearances for the United States in both the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, and is No. 21 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

The PGA Tour and PIF have a self-imposed deadline of Dec. 31 to finish negotiations regarding a potential partnership following their surprise framework agreement. The tour, however, has also been seeking investment from private equity groups, possibly to appease antitrust regulators but also, theoretically, as an alternative to the Saudi money. The tour and PIF can agree to move the deadline back.

Main Image: Maddie Meyer/PGA of America

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‘Iron sharpens iron’: How Tony Finau became practice buddies with Jon Rahm in Scottsdale—and became a better player

Clarkwin — Wed, 03 May 2023 05:41:20 +0000

Tony Finau talks to Jon Rahm after winning the Mexico Open on Sunday at Vidanta. Fernando de Dios

If it’s true that history rhymes, one couplet we’ve heard a few times over the past two years in golf comes straight from the ballad of Jon Rahm vs. Tony Finau. From the 2021 Northern Trust, when Finau broke a five-year drought with a Sunday surge that erased Rahm’s lead, to Mexico last year when Rahm held off a charging Finau, to that same event last week, when Finau kept Rahm at bay in a tense final round to capture his latest title. But they’re not just meeting on Sundays on the PGA Tour; Finau moved his base of operations from Utah to Scottsdale in 2020, and his home course is Silver Leaf Club, which is also the base for players like Max Homa and, yes, Rahm.

“We’ve been basically sparring partners, I would say, for a couple of years now,” Finau said on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship, speaking of his time with Rahm at Silver Leaf. “I practice with Jon a couple of days a week, so just being around him has made me a better player. Iron sharpens iron.

“I hope he’d say the same,” Finau continued. “Just us competing against each other on a weekly basis while we’re home, I think has been great for both of us, but I can only speak for me. He’s definitely made me a better player.”

Stylistically, Finau admitted the two couldn’t be much different in terms of a physical or mental standpoint. Their swings are about as different as possible on the PGA Tour. Finau is laid back; Rahm is fierce. But Finau says that observing Rahm’s aggressive, competitive style has also brought out the best in him.

“If you play with someone of his stature and his calibre often, just rubbing shoulders with him, you’re going to be better,” he said. “Talking with him about the game, he speaks about the game as a very simple game. He’s very simple-minded when it comes to playing the game of golf, which is very refreshing because it’s an extremely difficult game and sometimes I think we look at it as an impossible game.”

When asked earlier in the press conference about what changed in recent years to unleash his current hot stretch, which has seen him win four times in the last nine months—a torrid run that may be second only to Rahm himself—he spoke about his commitment to a single putting stroke. Once he brought Rahm into the conversation, though, it became clear how a shift in his mindset has helped open the floodgates.

“It’s an extremely difficult game and sometimes I think we look at it as an impossible game,” he said. “I think my mindset has changed from how hard it is to win before, and now it’s like, well, on Sunday somebody’s going to win. There is going to be somebody that’s holding that trophy. I think he’s helped me kind of see clearly that mindset because that’s the type of mindset that he has.”

This week at Quail Hollow, Finau will be attempting to win in consecutive weeks as he did last summer, at the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic, and may benefit from the fact that Rahm, along with Scottie Scheffler, chose not to play in this particular designated event. He’s aware that reaching 24 under, as he did to win in Mexico last week, is unlikely; he called the closing stretch of holes in Charlotte, the “Green Mile,” one of the toughest stretches on the entire tour calendar.

Still, he knows he can pull it off. Winning was Finau’s Achilles heel five years ago. Today he’s one of the most prolific winners in the professional game. There are myriad reasons for that, but one of those reasons is Jon Rahm. Iron sharpens iron, as Finau said, and there’s no better whetstone than the No. 1 player in the world.

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The silver lining to Jon Rahm’s runner-up finish in Mexico

Clarkwin — Mon, 01 May 2023 06:23:54 +0000

Hector Vivas

At this point in his career, Jon Rahm has no use for finishing second. The World No. 1 shot a final-round 67 Sunday at the Mexico Open in his title defence to end the week at 21-under total, three shots behind winner Tony Finau.

With the performance, however, Rahm jumped to the top of one more list. He’s already at the top of the World Ranking. He leads the FedEx Cup standings. He has the most wins on the season, with four, including the Masters earlier this month.

By earning $839,300 at the Mexico Open, Rahm has now earned $14,462,840 on the season, which breaks the PGA Tour record. Before May.

Scottie Scheffler set the tour record last year with $14,046,910 in earnings during his four-win season that ended with his first major championship and PGA Tour Player of the Year honours.

Coincidentally, Scheffler is third on the career list for season earnings with the $12,508,495 that he’s already earned this year by winning twice, including the $4.5 million that he took home at the Players Championship in March. He’s just less than $2 million behind Rahm this year, but with three major championships, the playoffs and three other designated events left in the four months that remain in this season, the money race is far from over.

Rounding out the career list: Jordan Spieth $12,030,465 in 2015, Vijay Singh $10,905,166 in 2004, Tiger Woods $10,867,052 in 2007, Woods $10,628,024 in 2005 and Woods $10,545,465 in 2009.

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A little revenge provides Tony Finau a lot of satisfaction as he wins the Mexico Open

Clarkwin — Mon, 01 May 2023 06:14:13 +0000

Tony Finau, arguably the second-hottest player in the last 12 months, outdueled the hottest golfer at the Mexico Open at Vidanta on Sunday. Finau, runner-up to Jon Rahm a year ago, flipped the script, beating Rahm head-to-head and winning for the fourth time since tying for second in 2022.

With a final-round five-under 66, Finau beat Rahm, the World No. 1 and reigning Masters champion, by three strokes to record his sixth career PGA Tour victory and join Rahm, Max Homa and Scottie Scheffler as multiple winners during the 2022-23 tour season. Finau, who finished with a record 24-under 260 total, has won four times in his last 18 starts spanning 280 days. He has five wins in his last 41 starts after needing 188 starts to register his first victory.

Before Finau tapped in for par on the par-5 home hole, Rahm put his arm around his American friend and offered congratulations.

“It feels amazing,” said Finau, 33, who was the second-highest ranked player in the field behind Rahm at No. 16 in the world and moved to 11th. “Rahmbo is the best … he’s on top of the world right now, and I knew I was going to have my hands full with him all the way to the end. … I was really put to the test and came out on top, which feels great.”

Finau, who has won by an average of four shots in his last four victories, converted for the third time in eight tries when holding the 54-hole lead by sinking an 11-footer for birdie on the first hole and going on to complete a bogey-free final round to collect $1.386 million. He led the field in strokes gained/tee-to-green with a whopping 14.779 strokes and also led in total birdies with 27.

“I played great golf all week,” said Finau after posting his career-low aggregate score. “That’s something that I wanted to do. Every day I was striking the golf ball really nicely, but the biggest thing is I was able to convert the birdie putts that I really needed to and also some of the par saves that were momentum swingers for me. Very happy just with the four rounds I was able to put together.”

Seeking his seventh worldwide win and fifth on the PGA Tour since his one-stroke victory a year ago at Vidanta Vallarta Golf Course, Rahm couldn’t sustain the momentum from a third-round 61 that catapulted him into contention. The Spaniard birdied the last for a 67 and 263 total. He pocketed $839,300, which moved him past Scheffler for the record for official earnings in a single season at $14,462,840. And it’s only May.

“I knew I needed a low one again today, somewhere 23, 24, 25 under was, maybe if I had a target in mind, that was it,” Rahm said. “It was a day where I didn’t do much wrong, but I didn’t do much right, either. Still proud to come back after the year that has been and put on a show and have a good defence of the title.”

En route to his sixth PGA Tour victory, Tony Finau shot the lowest 72-hole aggregate score of his career (260). Hector Vivas

Rahm was disappointed but found a silver lining for the week—and it wasn’t just setting the new single-season earnings record. “I mean, it’s a great reminder that what you’ve done means absolutely nothing, you still have to go out there and do it,” he said. “It’s also good so you don’t think too much of yourself, right? Like obviously I wanted to win, but it’s a reminder that everybody out here is a great player, and Tony came out with a two-shot lead and played fantastic golf.”

Brandon Wu, who briefly tied Finau for the lead Sunday, closed with 68—265. Wu caught Finau at 21 under when he went eagle-birdie at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, to cap a five-under burst in his first seven holes. However, Finau birdied the short seventh from five feet while Wu bogeyed the eighth from the right greenside bunker to re-establish Finau’s two-stroke lead by which he began the final round.

Tied for second with Finau and Kurt Kitayama last year, Wu fell farther behind when he drove into the water at the par-4 10th and suffered a double bogey, leaving Rahm as the closest pursuer three shots back. Rahm never got closer, and neither did anyone else thanks to timely birdies and a few key par saves, including an 18-footer from the fringe at the eighth that kept Finau in control.

“Yeah, no doubt, it was the par putt on No. 8,” Finau said of perhaps the most important shot of the day. “I hit in the left bunker with my second shot, which is not too crazy of a bunker to get out of, and I just chunked the bunker shot and it barely got out. I had about 20, 22 feet for par off the fringe, and it was just huge for my momentum at that time.”

Akshay Bhatia, who has special temporary membership on tour, began the day tied for second with Rahm two behind Finau, but only managed 70 to end up fourth at 266.

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Tony Finau’s underrated career continues with a second win in Austin

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 09:36:40 +0000

Ask 100 golf fans to name the best American match-play golfer of the current generation, and you would likely not hear the name Tony Finau once. In some sense, that’s fair — the numbers don’t lie, his record is just above .500 as a professional in all competitions.

He is not, for instance, Justin Thomas. Still, that record disguises a few impressive feats. For one thing, he was one of just two Americans, along with Thomas, to post a winning record at the nightmarish 2018 Ryder Cup in France, a performance capped with a thorough 6-and-4 drubbing of Tommy Fleetwood, who had gone 4-0 to that point at Le Golf National.

For another, many of those losses have come against the likes of Ian Poulter (twice), Kevin Kisner and Hideki Matsuyama — titans of match play. If he’s not among the elites of the format, he at least looked like an underrated force ready to break out with a big result at this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club.

So far, he’s proving up to the task. Following a 2-and-1 win over Christiaan Bezuidenhout in his opening match, he reached new heights on Thursday with a relatively stress-free 4-and-3 win over Adrian Meronk. That moves him to 2-0 in the group, and a guaranteed spot in the knockout rounds if he wins or ties against Kurt Kitayama on Friday. (Even if he loses, he’ll have a spot in a playoff.)

After a modest start that saw him tied after an ugly double-bogey on the sixth, and only 1-up with a single birdie after eight holes, Finau caught fire, rolling in five straight birdies. The stretch started with a 41-footer on 9 and culminated with a layup on 13 and a pinpoint approach that set up a seven-foot birdie make. Meronk did his best to hang tough and actually matched Finau’s birdies on three of the five holes, but still found himself 3 down with five holes to play. When Finau stuck another approach to seven feet on 15 and converted the birdie, the match was over.

“I had a chance to close the match out yesterday and missed the putt, so I had another chance today and I was able to make it. Apparently I learned something,” Finau joked afterward.

Another reporter, unschooled on Finau’s history at this event, asked him how many times he’d made the Round of 16.

“Yeah, zero,” he said with a laugh. “That’s the goal. So we’ll move ahead to tomorrow, and we’ve got Kurt Kitayama who’s playing great golf and I’m going to have to play well to beat him, so I’m looking forward to that match.”

This actually marks the second time Finau has won his first two matches. In 2018, his first time making the field, he beat Kevin Na and Thomas Pieters before losing to Alex Noren, also undefeated, in a tight 1-up match with a berth in the knockout rounds on the line. Noren went on to take third place that year, while Finau went 1-2 in his next three tries in Austin. (With the Thursday victory he’s now 7-6-1 all-time here.)

After three PGA Tour victories in 2022, Finau is now up to No. 12 in the World Ranking, and has made seven straight cuts to start the 2023 calendar year. That stretch includes a pair of top-10s, but considering the consistency of his game and his newfound nose for winning, he’ll be feeling more ambitious with the Masters and the rest of the majors looming.

If his trajectory includes a major championship in the near future — of his 10 career top-10s, three have come at Augusta — success at the WGC-Match Play is a solid launchpad. Just ask Scottie Scheffler, who despite being seven years Finau’s junior, could function as a model for the ideal version of Finau’s 2022-23 stretch: A bunch of wins leading to a major breakthrough. Opportunity will knock against Kitayama on Friday, and though Finau is something of a late bloomer, he’s more ready than ever before to answer the call.

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Tony Finau withdraws from RSM Classic through injury

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 06:00:21 +0000

By Joel Beall
Tony Finau is on the biggest heater of his career. But that run will not extend to Sea Island.

Finau, fresh off his win at the Cadence Bank Houston Open, has withdrawn from this week’s RSM Classic.

According to the PGA Tour’s communication team, Finau has dropped out due to injury. Finau’s specific ailment is unclear.

The news comes just days after Finau won at Memorial Park in Houston by four shots. Finau’s triumph in Texas marked his third win in his last seven starts, yet his hot streak truly began in May at the Charles Schwab Challenge in May, as a T-4 at Colonial was the spur for seven top-10 finishes in a 12-tournament stretch. The 33-year-old entered the week 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking and was listed as the tournament favourite.

Though the RSM Classic marks the end of the tour’s calendar year, Finau is currently listed to play in Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge in early December.

Taking Finau’s place in the RSM field is Kevin Chappell. William McGirt also withdrew, with Sung Kang jumping in his spot.

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Tony Finau flips the script with his third title in 2022: Is there anything he can’t win?

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 06:56:09 +0000

By Shane Ryan
If Ben Taylor had a prayer of catching Tony Finau on Sunday at the Cadence Bank Houston Open, his rally from four shots back needed to happen early. Instead, Finau shot a 31 on the front, Taylor made nine straight pars, Justin Rose in a distant third fared even worse, and the symbolic entity known as “drama” was last seen floating out of sight on a raft somewhere in Galveston Bay, bound for the Gulf of Mexico.

You could almost skip the rest of the story, and if you’re Finau, you might want to. The man who had made just three bogeys in his first 63 holes made three more on the final nine at Memorial Park Golf Course in a slightly shaky march to the finish. Didn’t matter, his lead was so massive — eight shots at one point — that he still won by four, capturing his third title of the calendar year and inching ever closer to the world top 10 that he cracked just once, briefly, in late 2021. Nobody remembers if you stumble on a victory lap.

It wasn’t long ago that the main narrative around Finau was whether he had a winning problem. After his first tour win at the Puerto Rico Open in 2016, Finau surprisingly fell into a long losing drought made remarkable by the fact that he seemed to contend at least once a month. Five years passed without a victory, and by February 2021, he had accumulated 36 top-10s since Puerto Rico.

The debate about whether the Utah native, considered by name the nicest guy on the PGA Tour, lacked nerve because he couldn’t win or if he had a ton of nerve because successive failures never seemed to stop him from contending … well, that ended for good last autumn, when he won the biggest event of his life at The Northern Trust, outlasting Hurricane Henri to defeat Jon Rahm in the FedEx Cup playoff event. After that, the floodgates were open, the monkey was off his back and insert your other favourite winning cliché here. He followed up that victory with triumphs at the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic in back-to-back weeks this July, and now this — the 2022 curtain call in Houston.

Finau fist pumps ?@TonyFinauGolf moves to 18-under with this birdie @HouOpenGolf. pic.twitter.com/7DVmxor2v1

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 13, 2022

“I’ve always had belief, but the confidence when you win is contagious,” he said after his win, trying to explain the 14-month tear that he called the most important stretch of his career. “I’ve just always been a hopeful person, and I work extremely hard on my body and my game. And now I’m starting to bear the fruits of that labour, of all that work. It feels amazing … I’m starting to put together a pretty full package game.”

As far as that “full package” goes, the best way to sum up Finau’s week is to look at the strokes-gained stats for the entire field. By those numbers, Finau was second off the tee (gaining more than four strokes on the field), second in putting (7.9 strokes) and ninth in approach (5.3). Yes, his 65-62 start was wildly impressive, especially on a course that didn’t play that easy by tour standards — only three players reached double digits under par — but when it comes down to it, any time you finish as both the second-best driver and putter in a single tournament, you’ve got a great chance to win that tournament. (As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he also led the field in driving accuracy and greens hit.)

Finau took a month-and-a-half off after the Presidents Cup in September to recharge, then missed the cut last week in Mexico in his return to the tour. To go from that to a blowout victory was at least a little unexpected, but to hear Finau tell it, Sunday wasn’t as easy as it looked from the outside.

“Honestly, on the first hole I didn’t know if I had it in me today,” he said. “It was one of those days where I just fought and fought and I made a lot of nice putts on the front nine to kind of calm into things. I’ve never been in this position before, being in that big a lead with nine holes to play, so a lot of new nerves.”

That might explain the late hiccups, but you wouldn’t have noticed any tension on the front, where he made his first birdie with a 15-footer on the par-3 second, had tap-ins for par on the next two holes, then stuck his approach to seven feet for another birdie on 5. He put the tournament away for good with back-to-back bombs to close out the front, burying a 39-footer on eight and a 19-footer on nine.

As the final holes played out, the real drama came in who would finish second, and that was settled decisively by Tyson Alexander with this massive putt on 18 that broke a tie with Ben Taylor at 11 under:

34 years old. First career top 25.

A special week for Tyson Alexander with a second place finish @HouOpenGolf ? pic.twitter.com/cDbuSXPLQW

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 13, 2022

“I wish Tony would have taken the week off,” Alexander joked, “but yeah, you know, 132 players, I think one guy’s going to beat me, so that’s what it’s all about. … I’m proud of the way I hung in there today. I was trying to hit the gas today, I wasn’t trying to back up or hold on.”

When the final group played 18, Taylor failed to catch Alexander, Rose made a birdie to sneak back into the top 10 after a rough day, and Finau marked his par putt from one inch so he could hit the winning stroke with all eyes on him. His wife and son greeted him on the green, and on the broadcast, you could hear him say, “How about that? Was that pretty good?” to his son.

It was more than just “pretty good,” and Finau’s fifth career win will start raising new questions about what he’s capable of as he enters his mid-30s. Considering the quality of his game, his work ethic, and his new-found comfort with winning, the expectations must encompass the major championships. Little more than a year ago, some wondered if he could overcome the mental hurdles to win anything; now, the question is whether there’s anything he can’t win.

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Tony Finau takes a big lead into Sunday with two very different Englishmen chasing him

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 14:37:04 +0000

By Jared Goldstein
Tony Finau’s birdie fest did not continue Saturday at the Cadence Bank Houston Open. The good news for the four-time PGA Tour winner is that while he wasn’t deep in red numbers like during his second-round 62, he also didn’t card a single bogey.

Finau’s third-round two-under-par 68 is enough to give him a four-shot cushion over journeyman Ben Taylor, who is back on the PGA Tour after a year on the Korn Ferry Tour.

It wasn’t an exciting day for Finau. The 33-year-old made his hay much in the same way he always does: with a long, controlled game off the tee. He was fourth in driving distance and third in strokes gained/off the tee Saturday, hitting every fairway.

“I hit the driver as good as I’ve ever hit it,” Finau said. “Today, I hit all 13 fairways, which is something I don’t think I’ve ever done on my career on the PGA Tour — hit every fairway. So that was super important, and I was able to knock a couple birdies in because of that.

“That was a really good round. I think the score doesn’t say that, but I think I played better than yesterday. You know, yesterday I shot 62, but today that 68 I thought was pretty impressive for the conditions.”

Finau was otherwise unspectacular on the day, putting up only slightly better than average numbers in strokes gained: putting and around the green. Outside of his two made birdie putts, from 21 and 18 feet, respectively, he didn’t hole anything longer than five feet.

A win on Sunday would be Finau’s first of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season and the fifth of his career. And it would be the the third since he went back-to-back last July.

“Winning breeds confidence, but I think also you have to make it happen and I was able to make it happen a couple weeks in a row last year with the lead, and I’m sitting on another lead, sleeping on another lead tonight,” Finau said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’s going to be a challenge; it’s not easy to win on the PGA Tour. As easy as some guys make it look, it’s just not easy.”

Finau might not have gone low on moving day, but two of his closest competitors took full advantage. Englishmen Justin Rose and the aforementioned Taylor posted 66 and 65, respectively, to get within shouting distance of the lead. A seasoned veteran like Rose knows, though, that it’ll take some good fortune — from the perspective of the field — for anyone other than Finau to be hoisting the trophy on Sunday evening.

“Listen, it’s all in Tony’s hands,” Rose said. “You can see everybody stacking up behind him — nine-under, eight-under, seven-under, six-under. If Tony doesn’t have a great day tomorrow, there’s 20 guys that can win the tournament. If Tony goes ahead and plays well tomorrow, there’s one or two guys that can go out and probably have a great round of golf to sort of ask the question and put some pressure on him.”

For Taylor, though, the maths are a bit different. At 30 years old, with only one Korn Ferry Tour win to his name, a victory would be life-changing. Yet, with roughly $1.5 million and a multi-year PGA Tour exemption on the line, Taylor is going about his business like any other tournament.

“I’ve certainly had a much more level head on my shoulders this past season,” Taylor said. “I did two years on the PGA Tour, back to the Korn Ferry and had a very consistent year. I kind of swallowed a bit of humble pie and realized I had to go back to the Korn Ferry Tour, and I think my game and my well being is in a much better place having gone through that. To me, tomorrow’s not going to be any different. I’m still very grateful to be here, I’m playing good golf, I know I deserve to be here. We’ll go out tomorrow and have some fun.”

Amen, Mr. Taylor.

A score may be out there. But as Rose said, the fate of the tournament rests almost squarely in Finau’s hands.

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PGA Tour takeaways: An amateur goes low, a Rose revival and Finau teases a Happy Gilmore swing

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 07:06:15 +0000

By Joel Beall
Autumn Saturdays are sacrosanct to most students at the University of Texas, those precious times reserved for their beloved Longhorns on the gridiron. This is especially true of home games, and with the undefeated TCU Horned Frogs heading into town this week you best believe Austin will be a wild scene.

And if Travis Vick has his way, he won’t be there for it.

Vick, a senior at Texas, turned in one of the rounds of the day to be in the early mix at the Cadence Bank Houston Open.

“Yeah, it’s always nice to get off to a good start,” Vick said after an opening 68. “I had some decision-making errors towards the end, specifically bogeying No. 16 kind of hurt, killed the momentum. But other than that, there’s a lot of great iron shots. It’s just a good round of golf.”

A former No. 1 junior in the country, Vick made the cut in Brookline at this year’s US Open and is currently No. 10 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Vick’s college career hasn’t featured a lot of wins, but he did earn the clinching point for the Longhorns during last year’s NCAA Championship. Making his second start on tour after last week’s debut at Mayakoba, Vick had four birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the front to get to three-under, and though the back was a bit of a roller-coaster ride (three bogeys, two birdies), his two-under total was just three back of the Thursday morning wave leaders.

Better yet, it was a performance delivered in front of a number of supporters, as Vick is a native of the Houston area.

“I had about I would say 50 family, friends that I know of that have come out here,” Vick said. “Then there’s a bunch of people that live in this area that I know of and so they’re either volunteering or they have a booth or something. Yeah, there’s a lot of familiar faces.”

Vick will need a solid Friday to make sure Thursday doesn’t go to waste, and he made no bones about his desire to be out on tour full-time. Reaching the weekend will go a long way in making that dream a reality. However, should that not come to pass on Friday, Vick does have a back-up plan.

“I think it’s two-and-a-half [to Austin] and I hope I don’t make it because that means I’ll be playing the weekend. But if I do miss the cut, I’ll definitely be there,” Vick said about Texas’ match-up with TCU. “I think Game Day’s going to be there as well, so it should be a good game.”

Jared C. Tilton

A Rose revival?

It was a quiet 2022 for Justin Rose, logging just two top-10 finishes in 18 starts. The year before the Englishman failed to make the playoffs. At 42 years old, it’s fair to wonder how much gas is left in his tank. On Thursday, Rose showed that tank isn’t dry just yet.

The 2013 US Open champ posted a three-under 67 at Memorial Park, a score Rose attributed ignoring his recent past and focusing on what’s ahead.

“Yeah, I think I’m trying to look at this as 2023 already, do you know what I mean?” Rose explained. “So obviously the end of 2022, it’s been a year to forget really for the most part, but I’ve had six or seven weeks back at home just trying to get 100 percent feeling good with my body. So that’s been the positive of the last couple weeks is I’m feeling good. I’m able to go out there, do my job, practice a little bit, sink my teeth into it, which is great.”

It wasn’t that long ago that Rose won the FedEx Cup (2018), and a win a few months later at Torrey Pines vaulted him to No. 1 in the world. But Rose hasn’t won since the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open, with back injuries and an equipment change taking their toll on his game.

However, Rose does his best work when things get tough. Since its renovation Memorial Park has not been an easy go, and with bad weather in the weekend’s forecast the final three days will be far from a birdiefest. Advantage, Rose.

“You know, I think this golf course definitely is one that has some teeth,” Rose said. “This morning, not any wind to speak of, but you have to just kind of keep you honest and keep you interested out there. But it was the kind of morning where you felt you had to go out and put a decent number together. I think if the forecast is to be believed, it’s going to get a little tougher here the next couple days, the north wind blowing pretty hard, so I felt like it was a day to get off to a good start and was able to do that.”

After being left off the 2021 Ryder Cup team, Rose may be needed to fill out Europe’s roster and give the club a veteran presence come next fall. A formidable showing this week could help the former Olympic gold medalist earn that responsibility.

Finau almost goes Full Gilmore

It was Shooter McGavin Bobblehead Day at the Houston Open, with spectators getting a commemorative statuette of the antagonist from “Happy Gilmore.” If that wasn’t enough Christopher McDonald, the actor who played McGavin, was on hand for the proceedings.

.@TonyFinauGolf almost pulled off a Happy Gilmore in front of Shooter ?@ChrisMcDonald50 pic.twitter.com/cGiEJHkdtl

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 10, 2022

So when Tony Finau came through, Finau paid his respects the only way one does when Shooter McGavin is standing to the side: Bust out a Happy Gilmore swing.

The post PGA Tour takeaways: An amateur goes low, a Rose revival and Finau teases a Happy Gilmore swing appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Get the September 2022 edition of Golf Digest Middle East FREE here!

Matt Smith — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 06:08:34 +0000

By Matt Smith
With the cooler weather on the wayin the UAE, it is time to get back out on the course — and Tony Finau is on hand to help you get back in the swing in the latest edition of Golf Digest Middle East. Also, discover what makes Ireland the go-to golfing destination as we visit five of the top clubs on the Emerald Isle. Find out Anne van Dam’s New York plan for the Aramco Team Series, and catch up with the UAE team ahead of their hectic autumn/winter schedule. We also speak to Tuscany Willams about her female-only social media platform Women Who Golf.

All this and much more in the September 2022 edition of Golf Digest Middle East.

The issue is again free to our loyal audience. You can scroll through the ISSUU link provided here or download to your favourite device for later. Alternatively, pick up a copy at your favourite club. Whatever option you take, we hope you enjoy the read.

The post Get the September 2022 edition of Golf Digest Middle East FREE here! appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.