Tony Finau returns to elite speed off tee at Torrey Pines thanks to offseason training

LA JOLLA, Calif. – Tony Finau has an extra gear we seldom see.

By design, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Finau has spent most of his career averaging around 180 mph ball speed off the tee. That’s well above the PGA TOUR average but far from Finau’s potential. His famously short backswing tantalizes us with “what could be” if he simply reached back a bit further. It’s not that he can’t or that he never tried – he hits 200 mph ball speed frequently when training – he just never wanted to.

He still doesn’t. However, he also doesn’t want to drift towards average, which is where he found himself in 2023.

So this offseason, Finau actively sought distance gains for the first time in a long time. Not to chase the fastest guys on TOUR, but to regain his baseline. Through 36 holes at Torrey Pines, he sees the fruits of his labor. Finau is 9-under (69-66) and tied for fifth through two rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open, three shots back of leader Stephen Jaeger.

“There's no reason why I shouldn't be in the low to mid (180s) on my stock driver. We're to that now, which is a nice feeling where I don't feel like I have to get on it to get to that speed,” Finau said after his 6-under round on the North Course Thursday. “It's paid off. I am able to kind of let it go on some of these holes.”

The ball speed numbers are back to being unremarkably above average, where Finau likes to sit. Through three events in 2024, Finau has averaged just over 181 mph off-the-tee, the 10th-fastest mark on the PGA TOUR. That’s up from 178 mph in 2023, which ranked just outside the top 40. He ranks 21st in driving distance this week, up from his 2023 season average of 66th.

But gaining the distance back was only part of the reason Finau tried to get stronger. The six-time PGA TOUR winner dealt with some nagging knee issues last season. He spent his offseason training with the Utah Jazz, focusing primarily on his lower body. He is still around 200 pounds but has more muscle than last summer. Finau, 34, hoped the strength training would help eliminate those issues, too. So far, so good. He feels healthy and is already making his third start of the TOUR season.

“I never had an issue with speed, but for some reason, because of my lower body, my speed has gone down each year out here on TOUR,” he said. “I wanted to clean that up.”

His first chance to test his improved physique came in December at the Hero World Challenge, where he finished fourth. His first two starts of the 2024 season – T38 at The Sentry and T25 at The American Express – were solid but uneventful.

The weekend at the Farmers Insurance Open will present Finau with his best test yet. He hasn’t been inside the top five through 36 holes since the 2023 3M Open, where he finished seventh. What he makes up for in recent form, he makes up in experience. None of the players he’s chasing – Jaeger, Nicolai Højgaard, Thomas Detry and Matthieu Pavon – have won a PGA TOUR event. Only Jaeger and Detry have played in the Farmers Insurance Open before. Meanwhile, Finau has five top 10s in nine starts.

If his re-discovered distance doesn’t give him an edge, that experience certainly should. Put them both together, and Finau might rediscover the winner’s circle, too.