DETROIT — Tony Finau ran away with the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club on Sunday and became the first PGA Tour player in three years to win consecutive regular-season events.
Finau finished with a 5-under-67 for a 5-shot win and a tournament record 26-under-262 overall. Taylor Pendrith (72), Patrick Cantlay (66) and Rookie of the Year leader Cameron Young (68) took second place.
Finau drove to his fourth career win, a third title in over eleven months. He was the 3M Open champion last week in Minnesota, where he bounced back from 5 strokes to win by 3. Brendon Todd was the last to win back-to-back wins in the regular season, back in 2019.
The Salt Lake City product of Tongan-Samoan heritage, Finau began his winning streak last August at the Northern Trust, where he recorded his first win in five years and 142 PGA Tour starts.
Finau halted another Detroit drought and won for the first time in six tries when he held or shared the 54-hole lead in a PGA Tour event. With his sixth birdie in 17th place and a finishing par, he broke Nate Lashley’s tournament record of 25 under set in 2019 during the inaugural PGA Tour event.
The PGA Tour will wrap up the regular season at the Wyndham Championship, with the event opening in North Carolina on Thursday. Players on the bubble have one last chance to finish in the top 125 of the FedEx Cup leaderboard to secure a playoff spot and a full map next season.
Finau and Pendrith started Sunday with a draw and their possible duel in Detroit turned out to be duds.
Pendrith had his first lackluster round of the tournament, having shared the lead with Finau in the first round, leading him by one shot after the second and equaling his 21-under total in three rounds.
The 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie from Canada hit an errant tee shot on the second hole on the right in the rough behind branches – after being deflected by a fan running down the fairway – and later pulled a 9-foot putt to lose the lead to lose forever.
World No. 4 Cantlay had his third straight round in the mid-60s after opening with a 70. Young bounced back from a 71 in the first round to finish second for the fifth time.
Pendrith struggled in the last round just as he had the only other time he had a 54 hole lead. He led the Bermuda Championship by 3 shots last October before a 76 dropped him to fifth place, which was his best finish before his Motor City appearance. Pendrith was playing in his third tournament after missing almost four months with a broken rib.
Finau began moving away from Pendrith with an 11-foot birdie putt at #4 and a tap-in for birdie at #7.
He made a 21-foot putt for birdie at number 10 for his third birdie. After his first bogey of the tournament at number 11, Finau made a 31-foot putt with a right-to-left break at number 12, and Pendrith missed an 11-foot putt on the same hole, falling 4 shots behind.
Cantlay took the lead within 3 shots with a 5-foot eagle putt on the par-5 14th. On the same hole, Finau made his fifth birdie of the last round and led by 4 strokes.