Tony Finau has become one of the most talented players on the PGA Tour. He’s got seven top 10s in majors over the last three years, he’s played on the last two American teams in team play and he’s qualified for the Tour Championship each of the last four years. Quite a solid resume for a guy who’s been on Tour for just over seven years.
Despite all that talent, Finau has also earned a reputation as one of the biggest underachievers in golf. Even though he’s always in contention, his trophy room is rather empty. He’s got just one win on Tour, and that triumph came over five years ago.
So what gives? Some attribute Finau’s lack of success to the supposed Puerto Rico Open curse, while others think he’s just plain overrated. There’s even one camp that thinks the affable Utahan just doesn’t have that killer instinct. According to his longtime swing coach, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I think people misunderstand just how competitive he is,” GOLF Top 100 Teacher Boyd Summerhays said on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar. “He’s a killer, he really is.”
Summerhays postulated that Finau’s easy-going nature and respect for his peers that earns him the adoration from fans might also be the reason for the false, he’s-too-nice-to-win narrative. Even though he says all the right things when he loses, that doesn’t mean they don’t upset him.
“Some of these losses have busted him up pretty bad,” he said. “He doesn’t show it, because that’s just the way he goes about his business. You saw how his interview went when he lost at Riviera, and that’s all class … He has the maturity and the class the presence of mind to give Max [Homa] his due.
“He needs a couple more wins and people will stop talking about it.”
Check out the entire episode of Subpar below as Summerhays discusses his son growing up on Tour, getting pranked by Finau and more.
