Tony Finau Continues Sizzling Form Into Opening Round At BMW Championship

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Tony Finau has continued his recent streak of form with a five-under-par opening round at the BMW Championship to sit three back from the leading group with three rounds remaining.

Finau, 31, enters the BMW Championship as the most recent PGA Tour victory following his playoff win against Cameron Smith at The Northern Trust earlier this week.

The opening nine holes for Finau were tame, it was the back nine that Finau made his move.

Chaotic Closing Nine

Finau, Jon Rahm, and Smith all teed off the first tee mid-morning. Finau’s first birdie dropped on the par 5 2nd hole before his last opening nine birdies dropped on the par 5 4th. He made no bogeys or worse throughout the front nine.

However, after making the turn at two-under-par, Finau’s scorecard would quickly change.

Finau put together a stretch of three consecutive birdies to climb up the leaderboard on holes 10, 11, and 12. Finau settled for bogey on the par 3 13th after missing the green off the tee. Disaster struck on par 4 14th when he made a double-bogey and all of the good work to start the back-nine was undone within the blink of an eye.

But Finau has proven that he is capable of maneuvering through adversity, and that is exactly what he did.

He went on another three-hole stretch that only included birdies down the stretch. He settled for par on 18 and ran into the clubhouse with a first-round 67 and three shots off the lead.

ROUND 1 STATS

12/14 fairways💣
15/18 greens✅
Average Driving Distance: 318.9 yards💥
8 birdies🐦
1 bogey❌
1 double bogey💀

— Tony Finau Tracker (@tracker_tony) August 26, 2021

Currently, despite a handful of players still out on the course, Jon Rahm and Scott Burns lead the field at eight-under-par.

Friday’s tee time will begin off the first tee at 11:43 a.m. alongside Rahm and Smith.

The Numbers

The BMW Championship is being played at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland and is hosting the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings as they fight to secure a top 30 spot and qualify for the Tour Championship and a chance at a $15 million winners purse.

Following Finau’s win last week, he currently sits atop the FedEx Cup standings and is in a prime position to make a lot of money over the following week.

He also climbed the Official World Golf Rankings and is now ranked ninth in the world. Moreover, Finau’s victory put him in a position to be a Ryder Cup lock as he sits sixth on the Ryder Cup points list.