Camilo Villegas sees a rainbow, shoots 64 for daughter Mia

BLAINE, Minn. – Tony Finau had a simple solution to combat the inevitable jet lag of crossing seven time zones from The Open at St. Andrews to this week’s 3M Open. RELATED: Three takeaways from Finau’s unique putter setup “I tell people this all the time,” explained Finau after opening rounds of 67-68 at TPC Twin Cities, firmly in contention into the weekend in Minnesota. “A lot of people sleep. Coffee is a huge thing. But when you have five kids in your face, as soon as you see them, jet lag’s all gone. “Maybe that’s a huge reason why I’m not feeling a lot of jet lag. I’ve got my family here and it’s been a lot of fun.” After carding a final-round 66 at the Old Course at St. Andrews, Finau has carried the momentum into the third-to-last event of the PGA TOUR regular season. Standing No. 30 on the FedExCup, the 32-year-old is well positioned into the Playoffs. He’s also chasing a spot on the United States Presidents Cup team. Finau currently holds the No. 11 spot on the standings; a win at the 3M Open would project him to No. 7. After the 3M Open, four events remain to cement a spot inside the top-six for automatic inclusion on the United States roster at Quail Hollow Club in September; the cutoff occurs after the BMW Championship. Six Captain’s selections will be added afterward. Finau has represented the United States in the past three international competitions – 2018 Ryder Cup, 2019 Presidents Cup and 2021 Ryder Cup. He was a Captain’s selection all three times and has compiled a record of 3-4-3. “It means everything, everything to your career,” said Finau of the significance of competing in international team competitions. “The best experiences I’ve had in this game have been at those team events … what it does is it keeps you hungry for more, that’s all it does. “That’s definitely a motivating factor, but I would say every week you tee it up, you have a goal in mind, and for me this week it’s to put myself in contention to win on Sunday and I’ve done a good job of that for two rounds.” He has indeed, thrilling the legions of fans that turned out Thursday and Friday to watch Finau in his pairing alongside Jason Day and Davis Riley. Finau made bogey on his first hole Thursday at TPC Twin Cities but has kept a clean card since, adding eight birdies to move onto the front page of the leaderboard. The two-time PGA TOUR winner hasn’t earned a TOUR title in Minnesota, but he has been close. He finished T3 in 2020, three strokes back of Michael Thompson, and carries fond memories of a week with longtime friend and swing coach Boyd Summerhays on the bag. “He forgot to put sunscreen on his legs,” Finau laughed regarding Summerhays. “His legs were red the last couple of rounds, and he was quite embarrassed. That was quite funny, and that was the last time he’s ever caddied for me.” Finau doesn’t want to leave his Presidents Cup fate in the hands of Captain Davis Love III; he’s motivated to make the team on merit. But he knows that thinking outcome over process does little good. “It’s almost impossible to make those teams if you’re looking that far ahead,” he said. So he’ll get away from golf between rounds at TPC Twin Cities. Accompanied by his wife and five kids in Minnesota, their Friday afternoon plans involved time around the water. Fitting for the Land of 10,000 Lakes. “We got an Airbnb right on (hole) No. 10,” Finau said. “We’ll be fishing on that lake later this evening.”

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NAPA, Calif. — Rickie Fowler began his 15th professional season Thursday. From clubs to coach to caddie, just about everything is new for the five-time PGA TOUR winner. Fowler, whose last victory was the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open, enjoyed immediate success. He shot a 5-under 67 and was among nine players who finished their rounds four shots behind leader Justin Lower at the Fortinet Championship. Lower, beginning his second PGA TOUR season, concluded his career-low, 9-under 63 in the early evening at Silverado Resort and Spa. He held a two-shot cushion over defending champion Max Homa and a three-shot lead over Byeong Hun An, S.H. Kim and J.J. Spaun at the fog-delayed PGA TOUR season opener. Lower, whose career-best finish in 28 PGA TOUR starts dating to 2013 was a tie for eighth in July at the Barbasol Championship, had a bogey-free round. “I’ll take it. I birdied half the holes, so that’s always a good start, I guess,” Lower said. “I’m honestly just happy to be in the position I am having I guess, full status.” Homa, finishing just before play was called because of darkness, birdied two of the last three holes for his 65. Fowler, who had a bogey-free round, has only four top-10 finishes in the past three seasons. He recently began using a new putter and this week is also using a new set of irons. Once ranked as high as No. 4 in the world, Fowler is now 176th. With his new clubs, Fowler hopes to rekindle his career with the assistance of a new caddie and new coach. On the bag is friend and veteran PGA TOUR caddie Ricky Romano. Butch Harmon, who has worked with Fowler in the past, replaced John Tillery, who was Fowler’s swing coach for the past three years. “Yeah, I always like it when there’s a bogey-free round in there,” Fowler said. “For the most part, there wasn’t an issue today other than having to make a 15-footer when I hit it into the bunker. Other than that, it was a fairly simple day.” An, a three-time PGA TOUR runner-up who regained his card via the Korn Ferry Tour, had seven birdies and one bogey en route to his 66. Kim, a PGA TOUR rookie, had eight birdies and two bogeys in the opening round of the PGA TOUR’s new season — its final time using a wraparound schedule. Two groups were on the course Thursday morning when play was suspended for 90 minutes because of fog. There were 35 players left on the course when darkness halted play at 7:20 p.m. PDT. Among those, Robby Shelton had the best round going at 5 under through 13 holes. The first round was to resume Friday morning. Fowler missed the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time in his career in 2021. He got into the first playoff event this past season, the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August, but did not advance. “I’ve had some good weeks in the past few years, but it shouldn’t just be a few weeks in those years, there needs to be more,” Fowler said. “I’m just trying to get to be more consistent.” Greyson Sigg, Nick Taylor, Sahith Theegala, Scott Harrington, Matti Schmid, Emiliano Grillo, Sung Kang and Brice Garnett all matched Fowler’s 67. Grillo won the event in 2015 and had two runner-up finishes last season. Fowler hadn’t played in the event since 2010 when it was played at CordeValle. “Well, not going to the playoffs and not being on a Presidents Cup team, that’s been really the only reason I haven’t been to Napa yet,” Fowler said. “I’ve always heard good things about the event, so not to say thanks to bad play or anything, but that’s kind of the reason we’re able to be here this week.” Fowler was pleased with his overall play, particularly off the tee. “I set the round up by driving it fairly nicely, especially the second half of the day,” Fowler said. “And I was just able to keep moving forward. There weren’t many times where I had to play too defensively.” Matt Kuchar, whose 2019 win at the Sony Open was the last of his nine PGA TOUR titles, was among several players at 4 under.

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