Tony Finau recalls Cameron Champ’s impromptu long-drive performance

NASSAU, Bahamas – Driving distance leader Cameron Champ is not among the 18 players in the field at this week’s Hero World Challenge. No matter -- his legend continues to grow.

Tony Finau, no slouch himself off the tee, told the story Tuesday about Champ’s appearance during Finau’s charity event in September at Alpine Country Club south of Salt Lake City, Utah. Champ soon engaged in a long driving contest against Finau’s cousin, Ben Tua’one, who in 2011 was the World Long Drive runner-up and reached the final four the next year.

“Just on the range, they were sending drivers and put him on TrackMan, so we got the accurate distance,” Finau said. “They both went after it and both their (ball) speeds were right around 200 (mph), just over 200, maybe 202, 203.

“Cameron was obviously a little more efficient, hitting in the center of the face. So his ball in Utah was going just over 400 yards, so it was quite impressive to watch.”

Those speeds surpass Champ’s average ball speed this season on the PGA TOUR. In his four starts in his rookie season – among those, his first TOUR win at the Sanderson Farms Championship – Champ has an average ball speed of 193.61 mph. Naturally, that leads the TOUR in that category, more than 7 mph faster than his closest challenger, Brandon Hagy.

Champ has been measured with 14 drives. His fastest ball speed for a single drive was 198.91.

Champ’s clubhead speed average of 130.20 also leads the TOUR, as does his driving distance average of 328.2 yards in measured drives.

If Champ maintains his current driving distance pace, he would shatter the TOUR record currently held by Hank Kuehne, who averaged 321.4 yards in measured drives in 2003. A year ago, Rory McIlroy led the TOUR with a 319.7-yard average.

In his first four full seasons on TOUR, Finau has had the second highest ball speed three times, including the 2017-18 season when averaged 181.81 mph on his 66 measured drives. Trey Mullinax led the TOUR with a 182.22 mph average.

“I haven’t seen anybody hit it further than Cameron Champ,” said Finau, who played the first two rounds of the Mayakoba Golf Classic with the rookie from Texas A&M. “Maybe once I had that type of speed and that type of length, but not anymore. That’s pretty incredible. He has the flexibility and the length I’ve never seen before.”