Tony Finau goes out in 6-under 30 in title defense at 3M Open

BLAINE, Minn. – Tony Finau’s win at the 3M Open last season sparked a run of four victories in 19 starts. After an underwhelming start to his summer, it seems TPC Twin Cities has again served as an antidote to Finau’s struggles.

The defending champion opened this year’s 3M Open with a front-nine 30 to take a familiar post atop the leaderboard.

Finau birdied his first two holes of the day, the 10th and 11th, sticking approach shots to within 10 feet and pouring in the putts. On the par-5 12th, Finau hit his second shot to 49 feet and holed the eagle putt. Sitting 5 under through four holes, Finau picked up one more birdie on the 15th hole after making a 17-footer to make the turn in 6 under. Finau gained more than 3.8 strokes on the greens in just his first six holes.

“This time last year I was able to change the way that the year was going and trended,” said Finau, who has wins at the Texas Children’s Houston Open and Mexico Open at Vidanta this season. “(I) started to trend upward right into the Playoffs and I'm looking to do some of the same starting this week.”

Finau hasn’t finished inside the top 20 since he won the Mexico Open at Vidanta in April. His only top-30 since was a T23 at the Wells Fargo Championship. He missed the cut at the Rocket Mortgage, the site of another one of his victories from last season, then shot 73-75 to miss the weekend at The Open Championship. His hot start to the season has buoyed this summer swoon. He entered this week 10th in the FedExCup, holding down the last spot in the Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10, which will be finalized after next week’s Wyndham Championship.

“It's quite a funny game we play, isn't it? That's the best golf I've played this year and haven't been in that form really since,” Finau said of his win in Mexico. “It's hard to put my finger on it. I'm still working at it, trying to get in the best shape of my life and still trying to do the right things.”

Finau is looking for his seventh consecutive TOUR Championship appearance and a spot on this year’s Ryder Cup team. Finau is 19th in the U.S. Team standings. He has played on the last four U.S. international teams, dating back to the 2018 Ryder Cup.

“The Ryder Cup's always has been on my mind from the start of the year,” Finau said earlier this week. “It's a goal of mine. I would say any American golfer playing, it's a goal of theirs to be on this team, that hasn't changed. But I've been in this type of position before, you know, where probably on the outside looking in. Going to have to play some good golf over these next few weeks and make my case.

“The good news is I've been in this position before, I've made the teams before and hope to show some good form to make my case for myself over the next few weeks”

He did everything right through his first nine holes on Thursday at TPC Twin Cities.