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BLAINE, Minn. – When Tony Finau was a kid, he and his six brothers and sisters often came to Minneapolis to visit relatives. They’d have luaus, and he’d put his Polynesian dancing skills, which sometimes included fire and knives, on display. Finau still performs, even celebrating his 2018 Ryder Cup captain’s pick by tweeting out a dance, but he’d never played golf in Minnesota – until this week at the 3M Open. The 29-year-old made the most of the opportunity on Thursday, too, shooting a 5-under 66 at TPC Twin Cities and left him among the leaders in the inaugural event. “I think I had a few fans out there,â€� grinned Finau, who played with Phil Mickelson and last week’s surprise winner, Nate Lashley before a good crowd on a blustery morning. He would probably have had a few more people in his gallery had he been able to wear the jersey the Minnesota Timberwolves gave him earlier in the week. The 6-foot-4 Finau played center in high school, averaging 11 rebounds as a senior, and actually was recruited to play basketball in college. His love, though, was golf, and Finau turned pro after graduating from high school at the age of 17. The T-Wolves jersey had his name and his high school number – 34 – on the back. “It was awesome,â€� said Finau, whose cousin Jabari Parker most recently played for the Washington Wizards. “I was thinking about doing a funny free agency Tweet or Instagram story saying that I signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves. … Really thankful that they were able to do that. It’s pretty cool. “I’m a huge NBA fan, and even though I’m a Lakers fan, I’ll take a jersey from any team.â€� Finau came to TPC Twin Cities on the heels of three straight missed cuts that followed his best finish of the season, solo second at the Charles Schwab Challenge in May. Prior to Thursday, he hadn’t broken par in his last six rounds, so he summoned his coach Boyd Summerhays for a second set of eyes. “I think when you’re trying to get better, sometimes you complicate the process and you think about too many things, try to change too many things at one time,â€� Finau said. “Just keeping it simple, and that’s a lot easier said than done when you’re trying to get incrementally better in this game. “But I think we’ve done a good job of that in the last couple weeks to say, hey, those swing thoughts that have worked, stick with those, and I was able do that today.â€� Still, Finau, who is seeking the second win of his career and the first since 2016, didn’t feel particularly good as he warmed up on the range in advance of his 7:20 a.m. tee time. He wasn’t hitting the kind of solid shots he wanted to see, but was able to regroup once he got on the course. “Sometimes that’s how it goes,â€� Finau said. “You’ve got to muster up something to play with and I was able to find something out there and play well. I made some key putts I feel like were the biggest things.â€� Finau, who started on the back nine, made the turn in 32. He bogeyed the third hole, though, and drove into the deep rough at the sixth, but managed to save par, which he called a “huge turning point in my round.â€� Birdie putts of 3 and 15 feet followed on the next two holes to cap off the 66. The TPC Twin Cities has been toughened and lengthened to 7,468 yards in the year since the PGA TOUR Champions played its last tournament here. Finau, who averaged 324 off the tee on Thursday, called it a “beastâ€� of a golf course made more difficult by ample water hazards and lakes. “I think it fits a guy with length,â€� Finau said. “It’s a big golf course. I think three or four holes are 500 yards plus into the wind today. I was hitting some 5‑ and 6‑irons into some of those par 4s, which is not something I usually do on par 4s. “But I do like the golf course, but I wouldn’t say I’m extremely comfortable. Obviously, there’s a lot of water to deal with and trying to keep away from that.â€�

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In the final round of THE NORTHERN TRUST, Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth give fans a thrilling duel and a fascinating clash of styles that ends when Johnson blasts a 341-yard drive, hits a wedge inside 4 feet, and birdies the 18th hole in a playoff at Glen Oaks Club. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where the start of the FedExCup Playoffs gave fans in New York and around the world two of the most dynamic players in golf going head-to-head. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. We’ll see more D.J./Spieth battles. Although they have contrasting styles, Johnson and Spieth tend to play the same golf courses well. Both have won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Spieth in 2017, Johnson in 2009, 2010) and the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua (Spieth in 2016, Johnson in 2013). They were headed for a playoff at the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay before Johnson’s freakish three-putt on the 72nd hole. Then came THE NORTHERN TRUST at Glen Oaks on Sunday, when the two heavyweights found themselves going toe-to-toe yet again. “It seemed 50/50,â€� Spieth said of the fans’ preferences between the two. “I think everyone wanted a fight to the end. I think the way it played out, if I had been a fan, I would have been obviously very pleased with the way this tournament went. “But you know, it’s very difficult holding a lead on a difficult golf course when the guy you’re playing with goes bogey-free and doesn’t even really sniff a bogey and shoots 4 under. You know, hats off to D.J. But no surprise, either.â€� Food for thought: Johnson and Spieth have been paired together 23 times, with Johnson (48-under par) holding a slight edge over Spieth (46 under) in relation to par in those rounds. Spieth, though, has the head-to-head edge, shooting the lower score 12 times to Johnson’s nine. 2. This wasn’t David vs. Goliath. Much has been made of Johnson’s 341-yard drive and aggressive line over the water on 18 in the playoff. He had just 95 yards left, hit wedge to 3 feet, 7 inches from the pin, and made the birdie putt. But while Johnson’s power is impressive, Spieth had some pop of his own. He averaged 302.9 yards off the tee, ranking 18th in the field in driving distance. (Johnson averaged 314.3, and was second.) In fact, Spieth said afterward he regretted not taking the same line over the water, which he believed he could have cleared, what with the wind change in the playoff. Sometimes it’s more illuminating to examine how a winner performed in what is traditionally the weakest area of his game, which in Johnson’s case is putting. At Glen Oaks, he ranked 24th in strokes gained: putting (.667), heated up on the greens over the course of his back-nine 32, and salvaged par with a 17 ½-foot par putt on the last hole of regulation. Without that burst of Spieth-like putting, the winner wouldn’t have had a chance to wow, as he so often does, with the driver. 3. Spieth did a lot with what he had. Although Spieth started with a three-shot lead, the final round could easily have turned into a walkover—for Johnson. His birdies at Nos. 9 and 10 left them tied, and signaled that Johnson’s putting was finally warming to match his red-hot tee-to-green game, which has long been a daunting (and often unmanageable) prospect for his fellow competitors. Still, Spieth fought hard despite struggling from tee to green. His double-bogey at the par-3 sixth hole was uncharacteristic of him—of the last 10 times he’d led going into the last round, he’d won nine times—and hit just 10 greens in regulation, his worst of the week. “Played well,â€� Spieth said. “Game feels good. And I recognized a couple tendencies that I got into my swing towards the end of the round that prevented me from hitting great iron shots like I did before, so I know what to work on.â€� 4. Jon Rahm looked like his old self. The new FedExCup No. 1 Johnson joked that he needed a win more than Spieth, since Johnson, who is also No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, hadn’t hoisted a trophy since the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in late March. But they weren’t the week’s only big winners. Jon Rahm, who shot a final-round 68 to tie for third with Jhonattan Vegas, broke out of a mini-slump that saw him miss the cut at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and the U.S. Open, and finish a blah T44 at The Open and T28 at the WGC-Bridgestone. At Glen Oaks, Rahm looked more like the sensation who won the Farmers Insurance Open and rocketed up the FedExCup standings earlier this season, in just his second year as a pro. He also moved up to fifth in the FedExCup standings, an important distinction given that the top five will control their own destiny at the season-ending TOUR Championship, Sept. 21-24. “It’s been quite a long time since I had such a good tournament on the PGA TOUR,â€� said Rahm, 22, “and it’s good to be back on track.â€� 5. Jhonattan Vegas compartmentalized well. Venezuelan Vegas, who lives in Houston, shot a final-round 65, tied for third, and all but wrapped up a spot on the International Presidents Cup team that will take on the Americans at Liberty National, Sept. 28-Oct. 1. Somehow, he did all of that as Hurricane Harvey slammed the Texas coast with torrential rain and winds of over 100 mph. Vegas, who lives in The Woodlands, slightly northwest of Houston, said his wife, daughter and mother were still back there, but safe. “The main thing is the family is OK,â€� Vegas said. “I know there’s a lot of people hurting right now with the rain but you know, it’s one of those things that sometimes you have to learn to deal with and try to putt as much things behind. “There’s not much that I can do at the moment, so you know, I’m sure they are feeling a little bit better that I actually had a good day today.â€� FIVE INSIGHTS 1. The cream rose to the top. Four of the top-nine finishers at Glen Oaks started the week in the top 10 in the FedExCup standings, but, oddly, not all four moved up in the standings. The top two, Johnson and Spieth, started at fourth and third before moving to first and second, respectively. So far, so good. Rahm tied for third and went from sixth to fifth. Fine. But because of the one-two finish by Johnson and Spieth, Justin Thomas, who started the week at No. 2 in the FedExCup, actually went backward, to No. 3, with his T6 finish at Glen Oaks. Tough league. 2. Big movers were few and far between. Only three players moved from outside to inside the top 100 in the FedExCup, playing their way into this week’s Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston. That’s the fewest number of gate-crashers since only two played their way in at the first FedExCup Playoffs event in 2007. The three: Bubba Watson (T10) went from 113th to 72nd; Harold Varner III (T20) moved from 123rd to 91st; and David Lingmerth (T29) narrowly got through, going from 103rd to 91st. Watson, incidentally, has spent the fourth most weeks (62) inside the top five of the FedExCup standings since 2013. Johnson (88) tops the list, followed by Jimmy Walker (73) and Spieth (66). 3. DJ’s pin-seeking was statistically historic. Johnson’s proximity-to-the-hole average of 25 feet, 1 inch was not only tops in the field, and it was not just nearly 12 feet better than the field average. It also was the second-best proximity-to-the-hole average by a winner in the history of the FedExCup Playoffs, trailing only Camilo Villegas (23 feet, 10 inches at ’08 BMW Championship). 4. Cantlay’s trajectory keeps going up. Thanks to a seven-way tie for 10th, there were more than the usual number of top-10 finishers at THE NORTHERN TRUST. Patrick Cantlay, who shot from 78th to 50th in the FedExCup, was not the biggest mover in the group—Bubba Watson climbed 41 spots to 72nd—but has made the biggest strides this season. The No. 1-ranked amateur in 2011, Cantlay started the year on a major-medical extension and with more inspired play could make the TOUR Championship. 5. Spieth is still a tough front-runner. Runner-up Spieth has now converted nine of his last 11 54-hole leads to victories on the PGA TOUR, which is just under 82 percent. That’s still darn good, and approaches the gold standard in the category, Tiger Woods (92 percent). Overall, Spieth is nine of 15, or 60 percent, for his career. In 43 TOUR events this season, only 13 winners led through three rounds, a conversion rate of just 30 percent. The number would be even worse without Spieth, who accounted for three of the 13 with his victories at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Travelers Championship and The Open. TOP VIDEOS 1. DJ’s drive on the first playoff hole was incredible. But the line he took? Wow. 2. This is MUST-SEE content. Rickie Fowler goes all-in for one lucky fan. 3. Texas wedge? Yup.

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FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Daniel Berger was playing some of the best golf that no one noticed. Three months away because of the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t slow his momentum, and he made it pay off Sunday with a victory at Colonial. The PGA TOUR made a healthy return to golf at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Berger saved par from behind the 17th green on the first playoff hole and won when Collin Morikawa missed a 3-foot par putt. Berger closed with a 4-under 66, his 28th consecutive round at par or better dating to Oct. 11 at the Houston Open. Even over the final hour, a half-dozen players were still in the mix. All that was missing was the sound and energy of a gallery, with the PGA TOUR not allowing spectators for the opening five events in its return. Berger won for the third time — all victories during this week on the calendar, just not in circumstances like this. It was the first PGA TOUR event since March 12 when the spread of the new coronavirus shut down golf and other sports. From no positive tests to a dynamic finish at history-rich Colonial, PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan sized up the week by saying, “This has been a phenomenal start to our return.” Morikawa has been equally steady. Since graduating from Cal a year ago, he has won and made every cut, a streak now at 21 events, the longest streak by a newcomer since Tiger Woods. He took a share of the lead with a 50-foot putt on the 14th hole. It was the short ones that hurt. Morikawa also missed a birdie putt from 6 feet on the 18th hole in a 67. Berger was the only one who delivered, making a 10-foot birdie on the final hole that put him at 15-under 265. The last time Berger was in a playoff, Jordan Spieth holed a bunker shot to beat him at the Travelers Championship. So he could feel for what Morikawa felt int he loss. “It’s going to hurt for a little while, but he’ll get over it and he’ll be winning again,” Berger said. Even the optimism of being back to golf didn’t eliminate the sting, and more than Morikawa felt it. Xander Schauffele gave new meaning to the phrase “Horrible Horseshoe” at Colonial. He hit into the water on the 15th from a fairway bunker, hit a poor chip after the penalty shot and then made a 30-footer to escape with a bogey. He followed with a 25-foot birdie to regain a share of the lead. And then his 3-foot par putt on the 17th hole dipped in one side of the hole and spun out of the other. His 25-foot birdie putt to join the playoff came up just short and he shot 69. Bryson DeChambeau cringed when his 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th narrowly missed, giving him a 66 and leaving him one shot out of the playoff. Ditto for Justin Rose, whose 18-foot birdie on the last hole was a turn short. He also had 66. Jason Kokrak finished well ahead of everyone else. he also missed a birdie on the last hole in his round of 64. Spieth, trying to end three years without a victory, left with a consolation prize of progress. He missed a 2-foot par putt on the sixth hole — part of three bogeys in a four-hole stretch — but was still in the mix until a tee shot out of bounds on the 14th. Even then, he made a 35-foot putt to save bogey. He wound up with a 71 and tied for 10th. Rory McIlroy had seven straight tournaments no worse than fifth, a streak that came to a stunning halt. Starting the final round three shots behind, he was 5 over through seven holes and closed with a 74 to tie for 32nd. The final round was as wild as expected with eight players taking turns or sharing time in the lead, all without having any idea without fans to give a hint of what was going on. “If there are fans and everything with the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs,’ I’d probably be a little more (ticked) off,” Schauffele said. “Maybe that’s a good thing for me right now. But it was definitely weird. It was sort of an internal battle, which it always is for me, but more so internal this week just with no fans.” Monahan conceded his biggest concern going into the week, even with its testing and safety procedure, was positive tests popping up. “That’s something, candidly, that I lost a lot of sleep over in the weeks that preceded coming in,” he said. All 487 tests at Colonial were negative, and the golf lived up to its part with a star-filled leaderboard and a half-dozen players still in the mix the final hour. Next up is the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head on the South Carolina coast, and Monahan said the first week won’t be complete until then to see how players handled the interstate travel. Those on the charter were tested for the new coronavirus after the third round. Everyone else would be tested when they arrived at Hilton Head. “This is about a sustained return,” Monahan said. “But I think as we sit here late in the day Sunday, there’s no question that this has been an exceptional week.”

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