TONY FINAU SNAPPED a lengthy title drought, outlasting Cameron Smith in a playoff at the Northern Trust which needed a Monday finish and an extra hole to determine the winner.
Shane Lowry was the best of the Irish as he finished in a tie for 11th on 12-under, while Séamus Power ended on eight-under and just narrowly missed out on a place in the next FedEx playoff event.
Power grabbed five birdies and three bogeys on the way to carding a two-under 69 and was positioned to finish inside the top-70 on the FedEX table which would put him in the BMW Championship this week.
But he was felled by a late bogey which saw him drop down to 72nd.
“I still take away a lot,” Power told Irish Golfer. “I’ve played The Players Championship once but it’s probably the next best strength of field I’ve ever played in and you know, I didn’t have my A-game and I still finished in a decent spot.
“I’ll take a lot away from that. It was my first time around the course and I was kind of learning as I went but overall I just didn’t have my best game the last couple of weeks.
“It’s not a bad way to finish. You’d prefer to end up in East Lake but for me, starting the year in a kind of poor category and ending up in a winner’s category, I just don’t have too many complaints.”
Meanwhile, Lowry was well placed heading into the final day but had a mixed round of 72 which saw him drift out of contention. The Offaly man picked up four birdies but dropped shots with a double-bogey on the 10th and three bogeys in total.
Rory McIlroy started off his final round of 70 with four birdies before he slipped back after a double-bogey and bogey on the first and eighth holes finish on seven-under overall.
This is the second win of the American’s career and comes 1,975 days and 143 starts since Finau’s first PGA Tour victory at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open.
“It feels amazing. I knew I had to get to 20 under. That was my goal starting the day. I was able to do it,” he said of the biggest win of his pro career, which began in 2007.
Finau cruised to victory by making par on the extra hole in the first event of the FedEx Cup playoffs at the Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Organizers had to move the final round to Monday after 23 centimetres (nine inches) of rain fell on the golf course over the weekend. That made for difficult conditions in the final round as shots plugged in the ground and sometimes landed in puddles that dotted the course. The final round was also delayed one hour because of bad weather.
Finau closed with a six-under 65 in regulation and 20-under 264 total, then carried his strong play over into the playoff.
The same couldn’t be said for his Aussie opponent Smith who virtually handed the win to Finau on par-four 18 extra holes by smoking his tee shot out of bounds. Smith had to hit a second tee shot but there was no turning back with the way Finau was playing.
Finau went birdie-eagle-birdie-par-birdie during a five hole stretch on the back nine, beginning with the par-four 12th hole.
Finau also had to leapfrog over Jon Rahm by shooting a 30 on the back nine. Rahm appeared to be on his way to victory but made two bogeys in his final four holes to drop out of contention. Rahm shot 69 to finish at 18-under, two strokes back of the leaders.
“It took everything I had,” Finau said. “I was chasing down the best player in the world (Rahm). Jon is a good friend, but I know what type of game he has. He’s not going to let up on a lead.
“So I knew I was going to have to catch him and eventually pass him, and Cam was playing well. I gave it everything I had.”
Smith put himself in contention with consecutive birdies at Nos. 16 and 17 before he parred the closing hole.
“Just a terrible swing, mate. Just a mis-hit, and in these conditions, you can’t mis-hit the ball. My driver has cost me a few tournaments this year,” Smith said of his woeful tee shot.
The Northern Trust featured the top 125 players in the FedEx Cup standings. The top 70 from this event will move on to the BMW Championship, which tees off in Maryland on Thursday.
Rahm finished alone in third while Justin Thomas (70), Swede Alex Noren (66) and Tom Hoge (69) tied for fourth at 15-under, five strokes back of the leaders.
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