Featured Groups: John Deere Classic

Can Wake Forest have another player in the mix? What big name is coming in without much fanfare? A look at all the key storylines.

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He has not played well in 2020. But the rescheduled trip to Augusta National is coming. Is there enough time to flip the switch for his title defense?

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – This season started with Kevin Tway becoming a first-time winner in his 91st career start on the PGA TOUR. Since then, we’ve had Matt Kuchar ending his drought after 116 starts, followed the next week by Charles Howell III winning for the first time in 333 starts and nearly 12 years. Last week, Rickie Fowler returned to the winner’s circle for the first time in nearly two years. That brings us to 29-year-old Tony Finau. Since his lone win in a playoff against Steve Marino at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, he’s made 78 TOUR starts. He’s come close several times to that elusive second win – four runner-up finishes, including a playoff loss last fall to Xander Schauffele at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions. He’s posted 20 top-10 finishes since his breakthrough win, and last season was the highest-ranked player in the FedExCup standings without a victory. He’s given himself opportunities. He’s made noise in the big events (three top-10 finishes in majors last season). He’s shown the ability to handle pressure; his opening tee shot at last year’s Ryder Cup still resonates as a defining moment, as does his 2-1-0 match record in Paris – one of just four Americans over .500 in an otherwise losing effort. “I played well on a big stage,� Finau said – and he hopes to do so again in December at the Presidents Cup in Australia. He’s among the biggest hitters on TOUR, his putting made a big leap in improvement last season, he’s easy-going and seems ultra-steady and calm inside the ropes. At the Masters last year, he even showed super-human recuperating powers, overcoming a dislocated left ankle while celebrating an ace in the Par-3 Contest to finish T-10. There’s a lot to like about Finau’s game, his demeanor and his future success. In this season of drought-busting, Finau would seem to be next on the list – perhaps starting with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Even if it doesn’t happen this week, Finau is confident it will happen soon. “I’ve gotten a lot better every year and in every part of my game,� he said Wednesday. “And if that trend continues, then I know I’m going to win some golf tournaments. “That’s all I can do is try and get better, and my coach and I have worked on a lot of great things over the past few seasons and the progress has been continuous. And in the process of getting better, I’ve had some nice results. “That’s all I’m trying to do is continue to get better, and I’ve done that these last few seasons. If I continue to do that, then I know some wins will be on my resume this year.� Not a win. Some wins. That’s the expectation level that Finau asks of himself, and that’s probably an accurate assessment of what the golf world also expects of him. But it’s not easy. Fowler showed that last week at TPC Scottsdale. A five-shot lead disappeared in two holes, starting at the 11th when Fowler ran his third shot through the green and into the water, then suffered an additional penalty shot when his placed ball on the downslope rolled back into the water while he was on surveying his line on the green. He would go on to card a triple bogey, and then bogeyed the next hole, eventually falling one shot behind Branden Grace. Fowler managed to shake off the two-hole disaster and regain the lead to win for the fifth time on TOUR. Finau, who missed the cut last week – just his second missed cut in his last 24 worldwide starts – was an interested observer of how Fowler persevered. “To be able to finish in the fashion he did after basically something tragic in the middle of your tournament happens. … That’s a tough pill to swallow for anybody,� Finau said. “I feel like mentally I’m pretty strong when I play. And Rickie’s the same way, and he showed his true colors.� Finau led by three shots after 54 holes in Shanghai last October and shot a respectable 71 on the final day, only to be caught by Schauffele, who made an unlikely birdie at the 71st hole, then won the playoff with another birdie. Since then, Finau worked with swing coach Boyd Summerhays on a higher swing plane in hopes of avoiding the flat swing that sometimes got him in trouble. He called it a minor adjustment, but with additional practice time, he finally committed to it in the off-season. The results were immediate – a runner-up finish to Jon Rahm at the 18-man Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. “Someone being my height,� said the 6-foot-4 Finau, “I think it’s a lot better to swing up and down more so than around you.� But more than the physical work for Finau, it’s the mental approach he wants to improve on the most. His off-season wasn’t spent so much on pounding balls each day but working on the proper mindset to turn those second-place finishes into wins. “Getting my mindset right and seeing what I can learn from,� he said. He thinks he’s on the right track, but validity will come only with a big trophy. “I look forward to the season,� he said. “I think it’s one that I carry a lot of momentum from last season.� Rain is in the forecast for the final three days this week at Pebble Beach. That should make the courses play longer, giving Finau and the other big hitters in the field an even larger advantage. Wet and favorable conditions – seems like a good week to end a drought.

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