Tony Finau could break out to become the poster man for a PGA Tour that desires diversity, but often appears full of golfers tough to tell apart.
Finau, known for his loud drives and quiet course presence, might be about the average age (28) on tour, but pretty much all else is unique.
His ethnicity can be traced to Tonga and American Samoa. His length is legendary. He started his own foundation his rookie year.
Then there is his Hawaii connection.
His grandmother moved to Hawaii. Finau’s wife is Kahuku graduate Alayna Naliai Finau and they have four kids under the age of 6.
His late mother, Ravena, was a dancer at the Polynesian Cultural Center and taught Tony how to spin the knife in the fire knife dance.
“It’s good eye-hand coordination and good nerve training,” Tony says. “You do something wrong there and you can not have a finger.”
Then there is former Rainbow Wahine volleyball star Aneli Otineru Lefiti. She adopted the “very open and warm-hearted” Finau family in Utah when she played with Tony’s older sister Kaylene “Pudgie” Finau at Southern Idaho. The families grew close and visited each other often.
Aneli, now the mother of her own 17-month-old son, watched Tony golf twice. The first time, he won a Utah state high school championship. The second was at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
“He was very sound, very steady. He doesn’t really show emotion,” recalls Lefiti, who admits to knowing nothing about golf. “When we were following him, Pudgie just said you can’t be loud or cheer. I’m like, ‘What, why would you want to play this kind of sport?’ ”
But back to Finau’s ridiculous talent.
A lean 6-foot-4, he could dunk without a running start in high school, where he also was Utah’s high school player of the year in golf, twice. His second cousin is Jabari Parker of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Finau fell for golf when Tiger Woods took home the 1997 Masters, and won Junior Worlds before he was a teenager. Tony turned pro at 17 to play in the “Ultimate Game” exhibition, which helped finance his early golf career. He took second in “Big Break Disney.” Soon after, he and brother Gipper began representing Turtle Bay Resort.
Tony is now ranked 33rd in the world and basically hits the ball farther than anyone on the planet. He leads the tour in driving, averaging 327 yards off the tee. He aced the Sony Open’s 17th hole (179 yards) this year with a sweet little 8-iron.
“I put some height on it,” Finau says of his 11th hole-in-one, and first on the PGA Tour. “I knew that was the only way I was going to stop it on that green.”
While precise Waialae Country Club might not suit his massive game, he never misses a chance to play here.
“I just enjoy being here, Hawaii is a great place,” Finau says. “So many great memories. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. I love the beach, love the weather and I love the aloha. It’s some of my favorite food on tour as we travel. So nothing can go wrong when I come here. Whether I play well or I don’t, I have a great time.
“It gives my wife the opportunity to come back home and it gives me the opportunity to play in front of what I feel like are great fans of mine — Polynesian people in Hawaii who can connect with who I am. They don’t get a chance to see me play otherwise.”
The Monday before Sony, his Tony Finau Foundation held its second annual “Dinner Gala” to raise money for Shriners Hospital for Children Honolulu. The next day, he drove to the North Shore to donate $5,000 each to three elementary schools, for academic programs, administrative support and athletic equipment. Back in town, he visited Shriners, then got to Waialae in time to play the Pro-Junior Challenge.
Alayna and his father and uncle help run the foundation. It was in the planning stages about the time Finau won a 2014 Web.com event to cement his status on the big tour, after five failed Q-Schools.
Why start it his rookie year?
“Why not? — that’s the way I look at it,” Finau says. “I got a lot of support in Utah. I grew up a lot different than most guys out here on the PGA Tour. I knew if I had the opportunity to help kids in my area maybe with my background, then I would. It speaks to my upbringing. I had great parents who supported what I wanted to do and starting my foundation, as well as my wife.
“To me, that’s the greatest thing about being on the PGA Tour — kids look up to you, people look up to you. If you’re a good example, then you are a shining light on things that are good.”
Finau won his first PGA Tour event in 2016 and led the tour with 50 rounds in the 60s last season. He is eighth on this season’s money list, with $1.9 million and two runner-up finishes, including last week.
For all the big numbers and bold game, he points to patience as his greatest virtue.
“I don’t let shots bother me as much as most guys,” Finau says. “I’m willing to stay very, very patient and it usually serves me well.”
Being a poster man can wait.
“Playing on the tour is great, and performing well and all the accolades are great,” he says. “But touching people, changing people’s lives, is what it’s all about.”