One day late, after the tropical storm Henri wreaked havoc around New York – up to 150 liters per square meter fell – The Northern Trust Open, the first FedEx Cup playoff tournament, fell to Tony Finau (65), the extrovert Mormon who had to wait in 1975. days to re-raise a title. In between he had added 44 ‘top 10’ and 10 second places.
Like that Puerto Rico Open in April 2016, When all the great players were in the World Cup match play, he took the tournament in a playoff that was a calamity for Australian Cameron Smith (67) whose ball went out of bounds. He who has won five titles, three from the PGA Tour, four of them in a playoff, gave up as soon as Finau, father of four, reached the 18th green in the extension with the second shot.
Another final jam, three bunkers visited on the last four holes In the regular tournament, he deprived Jon Rahm (69), third at the end, from discussing the title with both. Two bogeys fell on him and he squandered the rent he had stored up. As a minor button he took the provisional third place in the FedEx Cup, the great goal that remains of the season together with the Ryder Cup, and to keep the world number 1 for another week.
Barrika’s had turned the ordinary into extraordinary in the first nine holes of the final round, delayed four hours by the storm. In relative calm, Rahm took almost all the fairways and all the greens until the 13. It was enough for him to take advantage of the two par 5s to open a difference of two shots with Smith and Finau who had the inspiration in the final stages, when Jon was I clouded the view.
But then a fairway bunker was crossed on the 15th hole, which was the beginning of evils. He missed a two-meter putt and, for the first time, from hole 5 he saw Finau ahead, who was packed with a sequence of birdie-eagle-birdie between the 12th and 14th. 16, a short par 4 of just 70 meters with a very bad approach, and in an already bad spiral, I barely saved the par on hole 17, after falling into the sand, and paid with another bogey the third trap of a final unexpected because of how he had played until the last straight.
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