Tony Finau’s sizzling run continues with Rocket Mortgage Classic win for second title in a week

Tony Finau’s hot streak continued as he became the first player to go back-to-back on the PGA Tour this season with victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Finau opened the tournament in hot form, kept his foot on the gas and pulled away on the back nine on Sunday for a five-shot win to become the first player since Patrick Cantlay to win back-to-back on the PGA Tour.

Finau had been viewed as a player not capable of getting over the winning line after a series of near misses down the years.

It was a deeper field than last week, but Finau is riding the crest of a wave at present with all aspects of his game in sync.

He said hard work in the past 12 months was paying off, and with the FedEx Cup playoffs looming on the horizon the sky appears to be the limit for the 32-year-old.

Final Leaderboard

• 1. Tony Finau, 26-under
• T2. Taylor Pendrith, 21-under
• T2. Patrick Cantlay, 21-under
• T2. Cameron Young, 21-under
• 5. Stephen Jaeger, 20-under
• 6. Taylor Moore, 19-under
• 7. Joohyung Kim, 18-under
• T8. JJ SPaun, 17-under
• T8. Wyndham Clark, 17-under

Finau began the day tied for the lead with Taylor Pendrith, but a bogey from the Canadian handed the world No. 16 the advantage – and he never relinquished it.

Cantlay threatened to cause alarm for Finau after making birdies on four of his opening five holes. But his charge stalled at the start of the back nine, at the same time as Finau kicked in the turbo with an excellent birdie on 10 to open up a three-stroke advantage.

Finau had a chance to go bogey-free for the tournament, but that disappeared on the difficult 11th – and opened the door for the chasers.

The Utah man shut the door one hole later with a superb birdie. His putt and subsequent fist pump piled pressure on Pendrith, who missed his par effort for a two-stroke swing.

As Pendrith stalled, it was left to Cantlay to keep up the pressure and an eagle on the 14th cut the gap to three shots – but Finau’s power made short work of the par five and a simple birdie moved him four clear and on the road to the finish line.

A birdie on the 17th left him with a four stroke lead for the final hole, and it proved to be a joyous victory walk up the 18th.

Will Zalatoris was another player to finish the tournament strongly, with his seven-under round of 65 moving him to 13-under.

Adam Scott tumbled out of contention with a 75 on Saturday, but he produced a blistering round of 65 on Sunday to raise confidence ahead of the FedEx Cup.

The low round of the day belonged to Joohyung Kim, who scorched round in 63 to tie the 18-hole scoring record at the event.