Accompanying major championship golf is major championship pressure and major championship purses. When the pressure and the purses come together — especially late on a Sunday afternoon — there can be some monumental swings in earnings as Tony Finau found out in brutal fashion at the U.S. Open on Sunday.
What an experience today! So fun being in the hunt in a major. 5th place finish today.
Congrats @BKoepka incredible playing!
Thanks for the support guys. Team Finau onward and upward ? ? #inspiresomeone pic.twitter.com/ZBtBHs2oLb— Tony Finau Golf (@tonyfinaugolf) June 18, 2018
Entering the final round in a share of the lead, Finau got off to a slow start bogeying three of his first four holes. He was able to claw his way back to even par for the day after a birdie at the par-3 11th, putting him squarely in the mix coming down the stretch.
After swapping a bogey and a birdie over the next three holes, Finau was unable to make any hay on 15, 16 or 17 leaving him an unlikely shot at a playoff needing to hole a 224-yard shot from the right rough on the 72nd hole to tie the 1-over par score Brooks Koepka had posted. Instead, Finau yanked his second shot left, hit his next one into a bunker 40 yards short of the green and missed his nine-foot bogey putt.
The double bogey dropped him from 3-over par and a potential tie for third with Dustin Johnson to solo fifth place at 5-over par, which cost Finau a whopping $217,746. Had he made par at the last and split the third and fourth place earnings with DJ, he would have taken home just over $690,000.
It wasn’t all bad news for Finau, however. He still notched his first top-5 in a major championship and made $474,659 for his efforts.
“Reflecting on the week, it’s a cool thing. It’s a goal of mine to be on the (Ryder Cup) team,” Finau said. “I haven’t won this year — that’s something I want to do — but hopefully, just proving to the captains, whether I play myself onto the team or not, that I step up on the big stage and I can compete.”
Brooks Koepka made $2.16 million for winning, Tommy Fleetwood cashed $1.296 million for second, Johnson made $812,927 for solo third and Patrick Reed made $569,884 for finishing fourth.
