PALM BEACH GARDENS — Tony Finau went from TGL spectator to star. In less than a week.
Finau became the first player in TGL history to sign a one-match deal after Los Angeles Golf Club needed a man because Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood had overseas commitments. He got the proverbial call from the bullpen, and he turned out to be the closer.
Finau overcame a tough start to lead Los Angeles to the biggest comeback in TGL’s short history, rallying L.A. from a 4-0 deficit with four holes left for a 5-4 overtime victory over New York Golf Club on Monday night at SoFi Center. L.A. had a 2 percent chance of winning when it trailed 4-0 after 11 holes.
“It’s incredible,” Finau said. “I didn’t expect it to be this big and kind of grand. I was watching some of the past events. But it kind of exceeded my expectations being here, being a part of it, and just to be able to have a comeback like we did today and help these guys get to the playoffs, it was kind of a dream couple days for me, honestly. I stepped up when I needed to for the team.”
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Trailing 4-1, Finau won the 13th hole after the hammer was thrown, the two points moving L.A. back into the match with two holes left. Teammate Collin Morikawa’s birdie at the 14th hole tied the match at 4-all, forcing the league’s second overtime chip off. Finau went first from 44 yards, hitting his chip to 29 feet, 11 inches, 4 inches closer than Matt Fitzpatrick’s. Morikawa clinched the win when his chip stopped 6 feet away, about 4 feet inside Rickie Fowler’s chip.
Morikawa had the tying and clinching points, but he knew who to give credit to: Big Tony.
Collin Morikawa gives credit to Tony Finau
“Time out, time out,” Morikawa interjected during the post-match press conference. “The entire team, we all want to thank Tony because you see something, and you never know if players buy into it. For someone like Tony to come out and say, yeah, I’m going to try it out and love it over the past few days, it’s been a lot of fun. That’s what you want to see. You want to see that for the league. We just want to say thank you, Tony.”
Interesting that Morikawa started his praise of Finau by asking for more time. That’s because Finau constantly came close to letting the 40-second clock expire, much to Morikawa’s dismay.
Finau deserved a spot in TGL. The six-time PGA Tour winner is ranked 27th in the latest world rankings and has played for the U.S. team in a combined five Ryder Cups and Presidents Cup. The man can golf his ball.
He also showed off another of his talents before the first drive of the match. Instead of addressing his ball, he displayed some dance moves that brought Los Angeles part-owner Serena Williams out of her seat. Problem was, the shot clock had only one second left when Finau piped his drive down the middle.
“I had to show my moves off,” Finau said, smiling. “I’ve got a few dance tricks in the bag, and I’m like, this is the perfect time. This is the perfect setting that you’ve got to show your bag off a little bit with your dance moves. I kind of pointed at Serena. Hopefully she liked the dance move, and then I looked at the clock and it was like 11 seconds. I’m like, I’d better get into the shot and hit it.”
Morikawa went up to counsel the rookie: “You’re scaring me. You’ve gone down to 1 second a couple of times.”
Finau’s response? “But I like hearing the heartbeat (when the clock goes under 10 seconds), all of that. It adds to the intensity, the excitement of it. It was getting close at the end.”
In more ways than one.
It was surprising to many that Finau was not among the 24 players selected for TGL’s inaugural season. Besides his six PGA Tour wins and loads of team experience, he also charisma that’s perfect for a league striving to create entertainment value.
Plus, Finau in many ways is the epitome of a video-game player. When asked if he would break New York’s Cameron Young ball speed TGL record of 191-mph, the 6-foot-4 Finau danced around the question.
“If I wanted to, I would,” he said.
Despite not playing in TGL, Finau said before the match he’s been keeping up with the new league from his Utah home.
“I have watched more TGL this year than the PGA Tour, which is kind of funny,” Finau said. “The time frame was right where my family was sitting around and watching TV.”
And the time was right when he got the call last week. He quickly agreed to become the league’s first player to sign a one-match deal.
“I didn’t know that something like that existed,” Finau said. “I’m just grateful for the opportunity to get the TGL experience.”
Finau’s late heroics were necessary because New York was putting out of its mind Monday night, making putts from Hobe Sound. Fowler made the longest putt (37 feet) on the first hole to take a 1-0 lead. Young did even better, holing a 38-footer and Fitzpatrick added a 17-footer. Combined, N.Y. holed putts of 109 feet on the first six holes. It still wasn’t enough.
“This one is a bummer because we got off to a good start,” Fowler said. “But those boys closed pretty hard on us, making some birdies in singles.”
Now that he helped Los Angeles (3-0-1) clinch a playoff spot – the win also put The Bay Golf Club (3-0-0) into the postseason — might Finau get more than one match?
“Rosey and Tommy Fleetwood will be back,” Finau said. “I was happy to step in just to help, and I’m just happy I didn’t ruin the party for them getting to the playoffs.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Tony Finau goes from TGL spectator to star, leads Los Angeles past New York
