Finau's Top 10 Record

[Canadan]

It's obviously been a story if you spend any time on social...

The repetition;
- 35th top 10 finish since 16/17
- Hasn't won in ages
- His win was one of those *** events

I agree that some guys don't have that extra gear. It's a special talent. That in mind, he shot a final round 68 today to go along with his 68, 66, 67 to finish solo 4th. He didn't shoot over par, he played well and simply had other guys play better (scores ahead of him on the day on the leaderboard were -8, -11, and -8).

What's the story? Guy can't catch a break? Guy doesn't have that special element? Guy is a hack? Golf twitter needs to relax?

 

[BigMac]

Definitely not a skill issue, he's got what it takes to win physically. I think it's a mental/psychological issue, he just can't hold it together on Sundays.

 

[Bernoulli]

It’s tough to win on Tour. He just can’t put together a good enough round on Sunday. Needed better than 68 today.

 

[ArmyGolf]

Professional golf has always been cutthroat like this.
Finau can't close tournaments - he's a choke-artist, a mental midget, a p**sy cat - despite the fact that he's a top 10 machine on the toughest Tour on Earth.
Different guy has plenty of wins but can't win a Major - he's wasting his talent, a letdown, can't rise to the occasion.
Different guy won 4 Majors young but has lost the magic - he doesn't care enough, he's distracted, he's too content, doesn't want it anymore

Back to Finau. He's an amazing player and a great guy (by all accounts) who struggles when all the lights are on him, simple as that.

 

[Stemmy66]

Great player, all the skill to win with exception of that 'killer' instinct... eye of the tiger (Rocky not Big Cat) whatever you want to call it to step up and step on someone's throat when he has the opportunity. Also, not a clutch putter IMO and that is a must to be able to close the deal when opportunities present themselves. Love is story and root for him to get over the hump.... but aren't there other guys out there struggling to make hay on Sundays?

 

[Templet0n]

It's obviously been a story if you spend any time on social...

The repetition;
- 35th top 10 finish since 16/17
- Hasn't won in ages
- His win was one of those *** events

I agree that some guys don't have that extra gear. It's a special talent. That in mind, he shot a final round 68 today to go along with his 68, 66, 67 to finish solo 4th. He didn't shoot over par, he played well and simply had other guys play better (scores ahead of him on the day on the leaderboard were -8, -11, and -8).

What's the story? Guy can't catch a break? Guy doesn't have that special element? Guy is a hack? Golf twitter needs to relax?

Twitter needs to relax. That kind of consistency is no joke.

 

[BigMac]

Great player, all the skill to win with exception of that 'killer' instinct... eye of the tiger (Rocky not Big Cat) whatever you want to call it to step up and step on someone's throat when he has the opportunity. Also, not a clutch putter IMO and that is a must to be able to close the deal when opportunities present themselves. Love is story and root for him to get over the hump.... but aren't there other guys out there struggling to make hay on Sundays?

Sure, plenty of them. Tony just draws fire because he can shoot lights out and play himself into contention Thursday through Saturday, but can't close the deal on Sunday. Nobody pays attention to the guys who are T45 and struggle to make a move on Sundays, a lot of them are done playing before the TV coverage even starts.

I think part of it might be that Tony seems to be a real likable guy and people actually want to see him win, and maybe get frustrated when he can't close the deal.

 

[Canadan]

Twitter needs to relax. That kind of consistency is no joke.

Over 20 mill in career earnings.

Obviously not breaking any records, but what a life!

 

[Stemmy66]

Sure, plenty of them. Tony just draws fire because he can shoot lights out and play himself into contention Thursday through Saturday, but can't close the deal on Sunday. Nobody pays attention to the guys who are T45 and struggle to make a move on Sundays, a lot of them are done playing before the TV coverage even starts.

I think part of it might be that Tony seems to be a real likable guy and people actually want to see him win, and maybe get frustrated when he can't close the deal.

Oh, You mean guys like Rickie? Well, 18th or whatever he was and shot 68 on Sunday

 

[BigMac]

Over 20 mill in career earnings.

Obviously not breaking any records, but what a life!

Like Kiz said last week, "They give away a lot of money for 20th!" If I was Tony I'd be like "Say whatever you want bishes, I'mma be over here in the corner counting my millions!"

It's like when I used to rag on Tony Romo as a QB - he was great between the 20s but couldn't score, never even went to a Super Bowl, choked every time they needed him most, etc. Then I pictured the dialog in my head if anybody ever told him to his face that he sucked - "Hey, say whatever you want - I'm the star quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, "America's Team". I'm worth over $50 mil. I've hooked up with Carrie Underwood and Jessica Simpson. What'chu got?"

 

[Tenputt]

He is a really good guy. I am close enough to his circles to know. I hate to be cynical, but I wonder if he is too nice. So many of the big winners are simply a-holes (excuse my language). On the one extreme, you have the Michael Jordans, Kobe Bryants, Tigers, etc. In many aspects of their lives, at least until they get the competitiveness out of their systems, they care about winning and run over everybody in their paths.

Yes, there are exceptions, but I think that this element of competitiveness is what allows many to hit that next gear when the lights are burning bright. Tony just doesn’t seem to have that in him. It is not a character fault. Indeed, the character fault may be in what allows some to find that extra gear.

 

[nicklongdrive]

When people talk about the "extra gear" I think a lot of that boils down to two things for Finau:
1.) He is a choker, he needs to get a sports psychologist if he doesn't already have one to be able to fine tune his attitude going into day 4. He almost always lets it slip there and it's not usually recovering from a bad day 1 to make up the difference.
2.) He needs to play more aggressively, I feel like too often he isn't taking the tournament winning plays. If he wants to get that win he needs to be able supercharge his confidence and attack the pin and let loose with the driver more often.

That's at least how I see it from the outside.

 

[Tenputt]

It’s tough to win on Tour. He just can’t put together a good enough round on Sunday. Needed better than 68 today.

This is sort of my point. He isn’t a choker. He just doesn’t seem to be able to go low on Sunday, at least relative to what those who win shoot at any particular tournament.

 

[JB]

 

[chile]

Over 20 mill in career earnings.

Obviously not breaking any records, but what a life!

 

[KEV]

He's a great talent but doesn't seem to have whatever gene it takes to close. Maybe he's just too nice and not able to have that cutthroat attitude needed to win. He's incredibly consistent which is pretty impressive in itself though.

 

[JB]

View attachment 8990167

All kidding aside, I think Finau is a freak talent and one of the nicest guys on tour. I think him winning in bunches would be fantastic for golf, but at this point, he has not gotten there yet. Is he headed towards more late bloomer or CHIII in his future?

 

[TheDoctor]

It is a very good achievement and not something to be ignored, but there must be something missing outside of the consistency he has shown to have that many top 10 finishes that is stopping him from getting the wins

If he can get that big win and get this record off his back, maybe it will open the door to more success

 

[mikeg_74]

I think the case could be made for fading on Sundays in previous tournaments, but this week he didn't do anything to lose the tournament. Cantlay and Kim just went out and played better. I think Tony has that gear and we will see him win and i'll take his success anytime.

 

[Jimmy3864]

I think Tony is a great player and agree with most of the feedback on this thread so far, I just noticed that this weekend he had a couple shots in the water that we’re at put it mildly bad times to do it. I’m not sure if it’s just a lack of focus that he gravitates in and out of but you just can’t put balls in the water when there’s lots of room around the green, Especially when you’re leading or co-leading the tournament. I think he’ll win this year though he’s got too much skill to not win.

 

[JB]

I think the case could be made for fading on Sundays in previous tournaments, but this week he didn't do anything to lose the tournament. Cantlay and Kim just went out and played better. I think Tony has that gear and we will see him win and i'll take his success anytime.

I think there is some truth to that, but you could also say that everybody else in the top 5 went out and shot 66 or better and Finau didn't. The course appeared to be setup for solid scoring and guys were stuffing it close.

 

[USAF Retired]

Over 20 mill in career earnings.

Obviously not breaking any records, but what a life!

Tony won $328,000 yesterday. Didn't win, but that's a lot of cheddah

 

[mikeg_74]

I think there is some truth to that, but you could also say that everybody else in the top 5 went out and shot 66 or better and Finau didn't. The course appeared to be setup for solid scoring and guys were stuffing it close.

could be worse, he could be Max Homa this morning, lol.

 

[JB]

could be worse, he could be Max Homa this morning, lol.

Haha. True.
Its weird, we see this all world talent with explosive distance and there is a level of expectation. If he rarely fared well, not much would be said, see Cam Champ. Yet he is always so close, you just expect him to break through.

 

[TRA024]

could be worse, he could be Max Homa this morning, lol.

That wasn't pretty...need to listen to Get a Grip as he is usually pretty candid with how he plays. For Finau skimming through his stats he seems to sit in that 68 - 71 for a lot of his rounds. He's plenty long (although not super accurate) and hits decent amounts of GIR, his putting stats have improved. But watching him throughout the weekend he had at least 2-3 putts you just can't miss (one on the par 5 yesterday if I recall) if you want to win. And several putts where he just puts a bad stroke on it and it's just not even close. That puts a lot of stress on all other parts of the game and even if he doesn't throw it away he just doesn't go low enough. Maybe he needs to position himself farther back before the final round to take some pressure off...