Tony Finau has put himself in position to log yet another top 10 finish at the Masters following his second-round 66 on Friday. The big question for Finau, as it has been anytime he's in contention in any tournament, is whether he will be able to break through with a win by the end of the weekend.
A winner just once on the PGA Tour at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, Finau has been a runner-up 10 times in worldwide competition since that victory, including three second-place finishes just since the start of 2021. He's been a top-10 machine dating all the way back to the start of 2017 with a whopping 42 top-10 finishes in 115 starts in that span.
Finau has an even better clip than that here in his, albeit limited, Masters career, with two top-10 finishes in three starts entering this week. And in all majors? Finau has seven top 10s in 11 majors played since the start of the 2018 season. If that sounds insane, it's because it is remarkable.
So why could this week be different, and perhaps the career breakthrough that Finau and many around the sport have been waiting to see from him? Because the small sample size of 2021 suggests his game is in the perfect shape to win at Augusta National.
Ball-striking and iron play always come up when trying to identify the traits of contenders at the Masters, which might lead you to eliminate Finau due to his reputation as someone who wins with distance off the tee. Finau did ride that driving distance advantage to his top-five finish in 2019, but it's not been his greatest strength recently. CBS Sports' Kyle Porter pointed out earlier this week that Finau has been one of the top 10 golfers in terms of strokes gained on approach shots since Feb. 1.
That sample size includes both his playoff loss to Max Home at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club and also missed cuts at The Players Championship and the Texas Open. Even with a wide variance in results since the start of February, Finau is keeping company with the likes of Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and others in one of the most important categories for success at The Masters.
The pattern continued during Thursday's round as Finau ranked in the bottom 10 of the field in strokes gained off the tee and top 20 in strokes gained on approach, finishing with a 2-over 74. All Finau needed to do was hit the ball better off the tee, something that we have come to expect as a given with his game, and the results would turn quickly.
That's exactly what happened on Friday as Finau was both significantly better off the tee at finding fairways and slightly longer in terms of distance. Better drives meant hitting more greens in regulation, and for the second straight round, he avoided a three-putt. The birdie opportunities were more prevalent given better lies on approach shots, and that surging skill was on full display when he stuffed his approach shot to five feet at No. 10 to set up a third-straight birdie.
Finau's round did not come without hiccups as he flew the green on No. 12 and had to settle for bogey then had one of his few wayward drives contributor to another stroke being handed back on No. 18. But along the way, he racked up six birdies and an eagle, nearly turning one of those birdies into an eagle with an awesome putt on No. 15 after reaching the green in two on the final par 5 of the day.
While Finau's surge was exciting, it did fall in line with things he's done before at the Masters. His 6-under 66 matches his second-best round at the Masters (the best an 64 after the third round in 2019) and marked his fifth round in the 60s in 14 trips around Augusta National. If this round was in line with what we've seen before, then it's possible we will see another top-10 finish that falls short of giving Finau the win that's eluded him since 2016.
It's going to be on Finau to avoid the kind of results we saw on Thursday if he's going to chase down the leaders and make this the week he breaks through with his first major win.
"score" - Google News
April 10, 2021 at 05:12AM
https://ift.tt/3uvhYx4
2021 Masters score: Tony Finau makes big jump, may finally be positioned for breakthrough major win - CBS Sports
"score" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2OdbIHo
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "2021 Masters score: Tony Finau makes big jump, may finally be positioned for breakthrough major win - CBS Sports"
Post a Comment