The PGA Tour returns to Utah this week — so it only feels like Utah’s favorite golfer is returning to the PGA Tour as well.
“It’s nice to have a home game,” Tony Finau said on Wednesday earlier this week. Utah Bank Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah.
Finau grew up in Salt Lake City and lives in Lehigh; This is the third edition of Utah’s premier PGA Tour event, but it marks Finau’s debut.
“To have a PGA Tour event in Utah and now to participate in it on this stage for a home crowd, I’m really excited,” he said.
The course is a visual stunner; red rocks and black lava line the fairway.
“If you left me here, I think I could be on another planet. It’s incredibly cool,” said Finau.
Finau enters a precarious and unknown place: a 100th in the FedEx Cup. After half a decade where we got used to seeing him in every US team (he missed only one from 2018-2024) Finau’s level has skyrocketed in recent seasons; in 2026 he did not play in any of the four majors.
And while his status on the PGA Tour is safe for next season – he has accumulated victories in 2022 and 2023, which exempted him for 2027 – there is still a lot of incentive to improve his position. There are ways to enter the big-money, big-point Signature events, for example. They are there too great advantages that come with the win: a win this week would guarantee a spot in the 2028 Championship Series.
If his recent stretch of substandard golf — Finau has only one top-30 finish in his last 15 starts — has gotten to him, he gave no sign of it during Wednesday’s media availability.
“I didn’t have the PGA Tour season that I wanted in the whole 26 season, but the great thing about this game with the experience I have is any time you play well, it’s a good time to play well. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the fall, in the spring, in the summer,” he said. “I hope to start playing better in this tournament this week.”
Finau, a six-time PGA Tour winner, said this is “a situation I’ve never really been in,” thinking about his ranking and future status. That sent him down various rabbit holes, looking for an edge. That’s why it uses…
“No secret, I use a hockey stick to put it,” Finau said. He debuted the new putter at the Biltmore Championship two weeks ago and said he “really enjoyed it,” despite a missed cut. Now he’s back for more. You can read the story behind the Caliber Golf putter here; on Wednesday Finau extolled the virtues of his flat grip and easy aim.
“The way you put your hands on it, everything makes the same angle as the face of the putter. I thought it was a really nice thing, and I just think it’s easier to aim,” said Finau. “I’ve always been really good from 20-, 25-plus feet throughout the history of my PGA Tour career, and then when I got close to the hole, not so good.
“Aim to me is the most important thing. The closer to the hole, the better you aim. You don’t have time to manipulate the face on a short putt. So it seems to help me aim better, and that’s why I put it in the bag.”
Finau says he will play a bit more this fall, including the two events in Mexico – one of which he won in 2023 – but this week is particularly special, playing at home. In Tuesday’s practice round he played in an all-Utah quarterback with three fans: Kihei Akina of BYU plus Bowen Mauss and Boston Bracken, who plays at Arizona State.
“They were just trying to get, I think, the experience, they asked me a lot of questions about my career, how I got to where I am. They all followed me,” he said. “But to actually have that experience with them on the golf course at a PGA Tour event was something special, not only for them, but also for me.”
Finau expects to hit a lot of driving irons in an attempt to steer clear of the lava hazards that he said play as effectively as out of bounds. But he plans to enjoy a game at home, with his family driving, his parents in town and plenty of support behind him.
“You can’t beat the view in St. George,” he said. “There’s nothing like it really in the world.”
Top Dodgers prospect Josue De Paula spoke ahead of his highly anticipated Major League debut after receiving a surprise call-up directly from Double-A. “You’re...
Josue De Paula celebrated his first National League West championship just days after making his major league debut with the Dodgers. De Paula described...
