Tony Finau has the Ryder Cup on his mind.
The defending champion of the 3M Open returns to Blaine, Minnesota, and TPC Twin Cities with some work cut out for himself in the next month if he’s going to represent Team USA in his third straight Ryder Cup when the biennial competition is held in Rome in late September. He enters this week at No. 19 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings – top six automatically qualify and U.S. Captain Zach Johnson will make six picks to round out his 12-man side.
“The Ryder Cup’s always has been on my mind from the start of the year. It’s a goal of mine,” he said. “The good news is I’ve been in this position before, I’ve made the teams before and hope to show some good form to make my case for myself over the next few weeks.”
Finau, who went 2-1 in 2018 in Paris and 1-2 in 2021 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, won back-to-back weeks last season on the PGA Tour at the 3M and the Rocket Mortgage Classic during the summer and added a win in the fall at the Cadence Houston Open. Since the calendar flipped, he notched his sixth Tour title at the Mexico Open in late April.
He’s gone cold since, missing two cuts in a row and three of his last five; not to mention that he doesn’t have a top-20 finish in his last seven starts since his victory in late April. Finau is ranked 19th in the world and the second-highest-ranked player in the field this week. In addition to the win at TPC Twin Cities last year, where he erased a five-stroke deficit with 11 holes to go, he finished T-3 in 2020.
This week’s happy hunting grounds, where he also likes to fish once a year with his family, could be just the place to kickstart his run for a Ryder Cup spot. Finau remains confident that his body of work in the past two years, which includes four wins in his last 25 starts, should be worthy of a captain’s pick if it comes to that.
“I think if winning and experience holds a lot of weight, then I feel like I’ve done enough. If consistency and form is the formula that the captains are looking for, then the answer’s probably no. That’s how I see it, I’m looking at it,” he said. “But the great thing for me is the picks aren’t tomorrow, the picks are still in about a month. I’ve got four tournaments to make my case if there is a question and that’s what I intend to do.”
