PGA Tour Players Blog: Tony Finau on ‘life-changing’ back-to-back wins, Team USA and FedExCup hopes | Golf News

Tony Finau earned his third PGA Tour victory in the space of 12 months after winning back-to-back 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic titles; In his latest PGA Tour player blog, the American talks about his form, FedExCup hopes and ‘life-changing’ fortnight

What wonderful weeks it has been. To capitalize and win like I did the last two weeks, it was pretty tight down the stretch and I was able to get away with a few birdies.

I said in the interview that aired after winning the 3M Open that for some reason I had a sour taste in my mouth as I bogeyed on the 18th, and I think that just gave me a extra motivation to get back in there and prove to myself what kind of champion I am, and be able to birdie over time when you really need to.

So that’s all I tried to do. When I got to tee 14 my goal was to birdie 14 and 17 and if I could do that I knew I was going to win the tournament. I was just proud of how I finished. Victories are so special here because they are so rare.

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An emotional Tony Finau wins the 3M Open and dedicates his victory to his family

I think I’ll really be able to soak it up when I get home. It hasn’t struck me yet, the magnitude of what I’ve accomplished. It’s special to win on the PGA Tour, where the best players in the world are. No matter the tournament, just play well and win. To have won these last two is very satisfying.

It’s funny, we talk about goals. I write my goals before the start of each season and I could see them the day before the final in Detroit. One of my goals was to be a multiple PGA Tour winner this season, and to be able to accomplish that is incredible.

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Tony Finau won the 3M Open by three strokes with a four under 67 on the final day, earning him his third PGA Tour victory

Another goal is to win the FedExCup and I have now put myself in a position to do so. Scottie Scheffler is going to be extremely difficult to catch, and there are guys like Sam Burns who have had amazing seasons and I think Cameron Smith is there too. These guys will be hard to catch, but the way points work in the playoffs, you can climb that ladder pretty quickly.

At least I’ve now given myself a chance to do so. I think I’ve said it many times before a week can change your life. I guess when you look at mine, the consecutive weeks have changed my life and that’s a great feeling.

I’ve endured a lot of tough losses in the past where I put myself in situations to win but couldn’t. However, I am very optimistic. I’ve always been like that. I’ve always had hope and faith that things will work out if I keep working hard and dedicating myself. And that’s the thing, I challenge myself every week to exceed what I feel capable of. By that, I mean just my emotions.

These hurdles that you encounter in a tournament, you try to put yourself in awkward situations and I’ve proven to myself over the past few weeks that I’ve been successful and won golf tournaments. I’m proud of how I fought through adversity. They say a winner is just a loser who hasn’t stopped trying, and that’s me to a ‘T’. How many times do I lose? One thing I won’t do is give up, and I’m only here as a winner because I chose not to give up and keep going.

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Highlights from the final round of the PGA Tour 3M Open from TPC Twin Cities, Minnesota

Over the past two weeks I’ve been able to put myself in situations similar to the past, but now my game is more accurate and I’m stronger and I’m just a better player to be able to close the deal and take the control of golf tournaments. You all have to earn them here, and that’s something I learned.

Guys rarely go to bed, and the more you put yourself into it, crazy things happen. At 3M, something crazy happened. I put myself there and Scott Piercy led for most of the tournament. The next thing I know is that I have a four shot lead with two holes to play. Things like that happen here.

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Tony Finau took advantage of a huge fluke on the 17th par three in the final round of the 3M Open, somehow avoiding the water after seeing his ball cannon out of the stand !

It’s very satisfying to capitalize on the two weeks of ball-striking I’ve had. I feel like I’ve been hitting it really well for a while and haven’t really gotten into it. I did it in Canada and had a good chance of winning there, and I did it in Mexico in the new tournament. These two weeks, I was able to make the putts when they count. I think it’s quite special.

I feel that my game has evolved a lot since the beginning of my career until today. The Detroit Golf Club was a golf course that didn’t look too good to me the first time I played there in 2020. But the golf course looked pretty good to me this year. It told me that I am much better than a few years ago. I think we evolve as players and as people, and I’m proud that my game has evolved the way it has.

At one point I was trying to hit the ball a little farther than I was doing because I have a lot of speed in the bank. What I learned from that and the evolution of my game is that I don’t really need to change anything. I just needed to be a bit more precise, my short game needs to be better and I need to putt better.

These are all things that I’ve experienced over the past couple of years and worked extremely hard on them, so now I’m enjoying success and it’s all in part because I’m looking myself straight in the eye and I know I’m not as good as I can be and I’m addressing the areas of my game that needed to be improved for me to be a great player.

I make it my goal every year to try and make it to the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup. As an American player, it’s really exciting and challenging. Making these teams is really difficult because there are so many great players. So for me, I have this goal every year to make these teams on merit.

I’ve been selected in the past and one of my goals was to make the Presidents Cup team on points this year. The last two weeks have been huge to earn my place. I think everyone deserves their spot to some degree, but I really wanted to earn my spot by earning enough points to qualify for the team.

Tony Finau is now a four-time winner and fans can watch him and the PGA Tour live on Sky Sports. The FedExCup playoffs begin with the FedEx St. Jude Championship August 11-14, live on Sky Sports Golf.