SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s Tony Finau will be playing in his sixth straight PGA Championship and looking for his best finish this week when he tees off Thursday at TPC Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco.
While the Salt Lake City native has played in the PGA more than any other major, it has been his least successful of the four.
Except for his first appearance when he tied for 10th in 2015, Finau hasn’t done well at the PGA, missing the cut in 2016, and finishing in a tie for 44th, a tie for 42nd and a tie for 64th the last three years.
In contrast, he has a tie for 10th and a tie for fifth in his two Masters’ performances and finished fifth at the U.S. Open in 2018 and third in the Open Championship last year.
Finau tees off at 8:27 a.m. MDT Thursday with Patrick Cantlay and Danny Willett off the No. 10 tee. Friday, the same threesome will tee off at 1:52 p.m. MDT.
He has played well lately, contending for two straight weeks at the Memorial Tournament in mid-July, where he finished eighth after leading the tourney early, then coming back with a tie for third the following week at the 3M Open in Minnesota. Last week he didn’t fare so well, finishing tied for 65th at the World Championship-Fed Ex St. Jude Invitational in Memphis.
The only other local golfer in the PGA is Salt Lake club professional Zach Johnson, who tees off with Corey Conners and Chez Reavie at 10:06 a.m. MDT. On Friday, they will tee off at 3:31 p.m. MDT.
The PGA Championship, which was originally scheduled for mid-May, is the first golf major of the season, which was revamped because of the COVID-19 virus. The U.S. Open is scheduled for Sept. 17-20 in New York, while the Masters is scheduled for Nov. 12-15. The Open Championship was canceled.