Scuffling Finau: Gym work will pay dividends ‘at some point’

HOUSTON: Tony Finau is making his sixth career PGA Tour title defense at this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open, but this one has a unique flair to it.

Finau’s title at the Memorial Park Golf Course came in the fall of 2022.

The event returns to a spring date for the first time in four years, and Finau expects to find a significantly softer golf course than the one he posted a four-shot victory on.

He also arrived in Houston coming off a missed cut at last week’s Valspar Championship and has a lone top-10 through his first eight starts in 2024. Finau has dropped to No. 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking, his lowest position since August of 2018.

“I’ve been working hard at my game,” he said. “I’m as strong as I’ve ever been as far as getting in the gym and doing the work.

“I know at some point the results will come. The work is there and the body of work is there and I just know sometimes you go through spurts where you just don’t score nearly as well as when you do at other times throughout the season. But, hopefully, this week I can spark a nice run.”

Finau was coming off a missed cut when he won in Houston 16 months ago, and he hopes to rekindle that form after missing the weekend by five shots at the Valspar. Previous to that was a disappointing T45 at The Players Championship, and there isn’t much time to find his form with the Masters in just two weeks.

Finau is confident that the results will start to come with the time he has put in the gym working on his body.

“The numbers have shown this year my speed is up. I think I’m fourth on ball speed or swing speed this year. I haven’t been that high since really my first couple years on tour,” he said.

“It’s paying off. It hasn’t paid off in results yet, but again, the work is there and I know at some point -- it’s how the game is, at some point you start getting results and that turns into more confidence and, hopefully, better results more often.

“The work never ends, but I’ve put in a lot of work outside the golf course to make sure that my body’s strong and fit. At some point I know it’s going to pay some dividends.”