Tony Finau Listed In Notable Group Ahead Of PGA Championship
May 18, 2022, 10:35 AM
Tony Finau of the United States plays his shot from the 14th tee during the first round of the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort's Ocean Course on May 20, 2021 in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
(Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah’s Tony Finau has been listed in a notable group ahead of this week’s PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Finau will play alongside 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and world number 10 Xander Schauffele throughout the opening two rounds of the major tournament. Their opening round tee time is scheduled for 6:38 a.m. while Friday will begin at 12:03 p.m.
Notable groupings for the @PGAChampionship:
🏌 Rahm
🏌 Scheffler
🏌 Morikawa️⛳️ Woods
️⛳️ McIlroy
️⛳️ Spieth🏌 D. Johnson
🏌 Thomas
🏌 Cantlay️⛳️ Koepka
️⛳️ Lowry
️⛳️ Scott🏌 Schauffele
🏌 Matsuyama
🏌 Finau️⛳️ Hovland
️⛳️ Zalatoris
️⛳️ Smith pic.twitter.com/k10UtXisaM— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 17, 2022
Other notable pairings include Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Jordan Spieth while Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, and Colin Morikawa will battle one another throughout the opening two days.
Finau’s history at the PGA Championship suggests that the 31-year-old should once again contend at a major tournament. His last two PGA Championship starts have both resulted in top 10 finishes as last year he finished in a tie for eighth at Kiawah Island and in 2020 he concluded in a tie for fourth at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
Southern Hills Explained
The Southern Hills Championship Course is measured at a whopping 7,556 yards. Certain holes on the golf course pose greater threats than others, for example, the par 4 second runs at 557 yards, the fifth is a 556-yard par 5, the 14th is a 230-yard par 3, and so on and so forth.
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But not every hole requires a driver off the tee, rather, ball placement and positioning are paramount at Southern Hills if you hope to score. Furthermore, Tulsa, Oklahoma is a flat metropolitan and is often battered by high winds; a golfer’s worst nightmare.
The stage: set. ✅ Southern Hills is ready.#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/qhz6tS3kdI
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 18, 2022
Hitting an array of shots while having control will likely prove pivotal this week as Finau looks to better his T4 finish from a year ago at the PGA Championship.
Fortunately, Finau is statistically growing as the PGA season is progressing. After struggling at the start of the year to make cuts, Finau has notched five consecutive tournaments where he has played on the weekend, headlined by a second-place finish in Mexico two weeks ago.
Moreover, Finau has showcased his ability to find the green in regulation despite wayward driving accuracy. Finau is finding the fairway on just 56.51% of the time, however, he is hitting the green in regulation on 69.7% of his approach shots. Finau has been superb at making good contact on or off the fairway as he attacks pin placements in 2021/22.
Broadcast Info
Featured groups, in which Finau will be included, will be broadcast starting at 6 a.m. on ESPN+ every day of the tournament. ESPN will pick up the coverage beginning at noon on Thursday and Friday whereas CBS will begin broadcasting Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m.
