The DD podcast, Finau-t and Stray Shots
A new Daily Drive podcast highlights a busy Wednesday in golf's longest week
Tony Finau has failed to qualify for a major in 2026 after playing in 33 straight (Jorge Lemus/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In today’s edition of The Daily Drive, in addition to the usual stories, we introduce a podcast featuring DD’s Bob Harig with moderator Jason Powers. It’s a new element we plan to feature regularly, so patience is valued as we get our footing. Podcast starts at the 1:30 mark after an ad.
Down but not out, Finau keeps fighting
By Bob Harig
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Tony Finau checked the scores, new the outcome, and headed for the parking lot at Springfield Country Club without the prize he came to attain.
In position to qualify for next week’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, two bogeys over the closing holes saw Finau miss out at final qualifying by two shots, not even able to get himself into a playoff for one of the alternate spots.
Finau had been at the Springfield site years ago and remembered it fondly. It was where he came back after years of being a mainstay in the U.S. Open, one that he will now miss for the first time since 2017.
Now he’s missed a major championship for the third straight time this year, a somewhat stunning occurrence from a guy who posted nine top-10 major finishes in 13 starts from 2018-21.
“It’s odd,” Finau said afterward. “Obviously, I’m disappointed. It’s an open qualifier and you’ve got a legitimate chance to play. I gave myself a great chance. I played really nicely. Rub of the green. So many lip outs, when I really needed to shake one in, I just couldn’t, so disappointed that I’m not going.”
We’re used to seeing Finau in majors, who was once in the conversation of best players without a major win.
He had three consecutive top-10s in majors in 2018, including the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, where he tied for fifth after playing in the final group with Daniel Berger.
Remember 2019? Finau was in the final group with eventual champion Tiger Woods and Francesco Molinari at the Masters and was among a slew of players who found the water at the 12th hole on Sunday. He tied for fifth and finish third later that year at the Open Championship.
He’s had 11 career top-10s in 38 career majors and only eight missed cuts.
“No matter who you are, these are hard to get through, a 36-hole qualifier,” Finau said. “It doesn’t matter, there are so many great players. This is my first time doing it in like 10 years, right? But the level of play, it was 2- or 3-under par all those years ago and now it’s going to be 8-under (the score of co-medalists Neal Shipley and Zac Blair). The talent level has elevated.
“But I always stay optimistic no matter what. I have to be.”
Finau was headed to the RBC Canadian Open on Monday night where he will play in this week’s tournament. He’s focused on shaking off what has been a tough year, one that has seen a lot of missed cuts and just a single top-10 — a tie for sixth a few weeks ago in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson at Colonial.
Somehow, Finau has slowly slipped down the Official World Golf Ranking to 111th. A year ago, he was in the top 40. A poor end to the season saw him fall into his current predicament and now, all of a sudden, he’s staring at the possibility of not playing in any major championships this year.
“It would really be sour to have that goose egg,” he said. “To not play one at all after having played 30-plus (33) in a row. But I’ve seen a lot of good things over the past few weeks in my game. I’m not in the U.S. Open but I’ve got an invite to the Travelers (Championship) in two weeks and I’m looking forward to a lot of good golf. We know how these things go.
“I feel like I haven’t had things go my way all season, but I’m a fighter. I’m going to keep righting and soon that door is going to be busted down here.”
One of those opportunities comes this week. The RBC Canadian is an Open Qualifying Series event where the top three finishers not already exempt who make the cut earn a spot at the Open to be played next month at Royal Birkdale.
“It stings right now but I’m playing some nice golf,” Finau said. “I’m looking forward to getting after it in Canada. Play to win.”
There were 43 players who qualified for the U.S. Open on Monday at the 10 qualifying sites, nine in the U.S. and the other in Canada. Those who earned alternate spots are still in position to get to Shinnecock once the field is set on Monday.
Here is a rundown of each of the qualifying venues.
Stray Shots: LIV, Memorial and ‘Longest Day’
By Peter Kaufman
1. LIV and investors: It’s a concept in search of an idea in search of a plan. With all of the Saudi money, profitability was elusive. Are there monied folks who like to sniff sports jocks, including golf? Always. Will anyone want to invest in a format where individual LIV teams are their own profit center and value proposition, with a league wrapped around them? Maybe, at best.
And that’s if they really do not care if they ever get a return on their investment. It’s great that the bankers are trotting out Bryson DeChambeau to help sell the concept. We note Jon Rahm refuses to be a prop.
But perhaps more importantly, team golf has never caught on beyond the Ryder Cup and a few other biannual international team events and to a lesser extent the NCAA Championships. And what players are left on LIV that galvanizes interest, eyeballs and deep pocket books?
So the bankers are showing putative investors financial models that miraculously show profitability in year two or three, if all the underpinning assumptions pan out —including, almost necessarily, players ripping up their guaranteed contracts and taking equity in the new ventures. Hmmm. The most dangerous thing in finance has always been a 23-year-old with a computer and spreadsheets — those can portend whatever the author wants to portend.
By the way, should not enough players elect to rip up their contracts to finance a retooled LIV, any new investors could try to flush “LIV” (whatever that entity may still be) through an insolvency (bankruptcy) proceeding, which would enable the shedding of player contracts. But at what overall cost to the “enterprise value?”
2. Memorable Memorial: Coming down the stretch Sunday there was a logjam at the top, with five players tied at 11-under with just four holes to play.
