Latest news with #TonyFinau
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
The Open: Shane Lowry's two-shot penalty as Rory McIlroy grinds his way back into contention at Portrush
Today 02:43 PM Adam McKendry 'We're looking to get two spots better than last time': Tony Finau is aiming high after a 68 leaves him at -4 On his repeated success at Portrush:"I'm playing the golf course a lot differently than I did in '19. The conditions are a little bit different, but I'm hitting a lot of different clubs off the tee. I'm a little more aggressive. This year I'm hitting more drivers than I did in '19. But that's just the way I'm playing and the way I see it right now. But it is nice to come back to a golf course you've had some success and had a nice finish. We're looking to get two spots better than last time." Having an Irish caddy on the bag:"Colin Byrne is my caddie this week. He's obviously a very well-known caddie. He caddied for Retief Goosen for many years and had a lot of success with him. But being on this side of the pond, he's from Ireland so it's pretty cool to have him on the bag, knows this golf course pretty well, and he's definitely been helpful the first two days. He came pretty highly recommended when I was looking for a guy here this week. I can see why. He's got a lot of experience, veteran caddie. He's been on the Tour for many years and also caddied on LIV. So he's been around the block and caddied for a lot of great players. I thought he'd be a good fit for me this week."
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Finau very much in the hunt at Open Championship after strong second round
Tony Finau safely made the cut at The Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland after carding a solid 3-under-par 68 in round two on Friday. Finau entered the second round at 1-under but made a bogey on the first hole. The Utah native followed with back-to-back birdies on the next two holes and eagled No. 12 with a 35-foot putt to get to 4-under. The cutline is projected to be 2-over par. The leader in the clubhouse when Finau finished his round was Brian Harman at 8-under. Haotong Li caught Harmon atop the leaderboard after 14 holes. World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler was tied for third at 6-under after six holes. Harmon fired a 6-under par 65. Finau had a chance to go to 5-under with another spectacular tee shot on the tough 222-yard par-3 16th. Finau birdied that hole on Thursday and had just 7 feet for birdie Friday but he missed with a runout putt that settled 3 feet beyond the cup. Finau finished his round with pars on 17 and 18 amid a downpour of rain to set up a solid weekend for himself in the winnowed field. He is one stroke ahead of his childhood friend and local Northern Ireland favorite, Rory McIlroy, who finished with a 69 and is at 3-under for the tournament. Players who finished at 5-under par midday at Portrush when Finau signed his card included Harris English, Tyrrell Hatton, Rasmus Hojgaard and Robert MacIntyre.
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Open Digest: Tony Finau links up with Irish caddie Colin Byrne at Portrush
Colin Byrne – aka The Bagman – answered an SOS call from Tony Finau to caddie here at the 153rd Open and the two have made an instant connection. The Dubliner, of course, caddied for Retief Goosen en route to the South African's US Open successes and more recently had worked with Louis Oosthuizen on the LIV tour. With Finau not using his usual caddie Mark Urbanek, the American reached out to Byrne late last week to inquire about his availability. 'Colin's obviously a very well-known caddie. He caddied for Retief Goosen for many years and had a lot of success with him. But being on this side of the pond, he's from Ireland so it's pretty cool to have him on the bag, knows this golf course pretty well, and he's definitely been helpful the first two days. READ MORE 'He came pretty highly recommended when I was looking for a guy here this week. I can see why. He's got a lot of experience, veteran caddie. He's been on the Tour for many years. I know he also caddied on LIV. So he's been around the block and caddied for a lot of great players. I thought he'd be a good fit for me this week,' said Finau, who carded a second round 68 for four-under 138. Of enjoying playing links golf, Finau explained: 'I like working the golf ball and I don't mind playing it on the ground. I think it gives you that opportunity on a links golf course. In the States, the game is kind of played in the air. How far can you fly it, how much can you spin it. 'These courses ask you for shot making, creativity, and I'm able to kind of dig back into my creativity a little bit and play shots that I normally wouldn't be able to play in the States. It's pretty fun.' McIlroy bags himself a new sponsor Eagle-eyed bag watchers will have noticed a new sponsor name on Rory McIlroy's TaylorMade bag. Versant – a group of US cable networks which came out of Comcast – is prominently placed on the front of his bag below his name. McIlroy has a number of commercial deals, one of which is with GolfPass, part of NBC, which now comes under the Versant corporation. In recent events, McIlroy's bag has alternated the prime patch. At the US Open, it was his new investment company TPG Sports. At last week's Genesis Scottish Open, it was Optum. The rotation policy is expected to continue going forward. 2028 Open date and venue complicated by clash with Olympics When and where the 156th Open will take place in 2028 remains a mystery, complicated by a clash of dates with the Olympics. Next year's championship returns to Royal Birkdale in England while the Old Course at St Andrews will play host in 2027. There are three different golf events scheduled for the Los Angeles Olympics, with separate men's and women's competitions and a new mixed two-player team event between those at Riviera Country Club. The opening ceremony for the 2028 Olympics is scheduled for July 14th. The R&A's chief executive Mark Darbon remarked: 'We're working with a group of stakeholders because it doesn't just impact ourselves, it impacts the wider schedule. I think we're pretty close to a solution on that, which I would like to think will be announced over the next few months, so we'll bring it to life then.' A computer generated image issued by Galgorm Collection of their proposed first championship-standard links golf course in Northern Ireland for more than 100 years at Magilligan Point in Co Derry. Photograph: Harry Cook/PA Wire Northern Ireland to get new £30m links course in 2029 A brand new links will be created on old sandhills at Bellarena in Co Derry – 20 miles west of Portrush – as part of a £30 million (€34.5 million) project by luxury hospitality group Galgorm Collection. The site for Northern Ireland's first new links course in over 100 years is located near Magilligan Point in an area of outstanding natural beauty and will add to the necklace of links gems along the Causeway Coast. Subject to planning approval, Galgorm Collection said development of Bellarena Golf Links will start next year and open in 2029. The group already run the Galgorm Castle and Roe Valley golf resorts and this extension of its portfolio adds links golf to its collection. As for the designer? Well, that's yet to be revealed as the group remains in discussions with its preferred architect. Quote of the Day 'I've said this a million times, but I really can just be a player when I'm inside the ropes. It's the only time I can sort of not be the captain. When I'm inside the ropes with a card in my pocket, I really can just focus on playing' – US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley after a bogey-free second round 67 for a midway total of three-under 139. Number of the Day: 8 That's the quadruple bogey which young Danish player Jacob Skov Olesen ran up in becoming the latest victim of the first hole on the Dunluce links. Olesen hit two drives out of bounds.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tony Finau posts solid round during Day 1 of The Open Championship
Tony Finau was sailing along just fine until he stumbled with a bogey on the par-4 17th in the first round of the British Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland on Thursday. He is tied for 20th with a round of 1-under-par 70. Finau got within two shots of the leaders, all bunched up at 4-under when he hit a beautiful approach to five feet on the treacherous par-3 No. 16 hole. He made the birdie putt to get to 2-under par. But his tee shot on the 17th ended up in a gnarly uphill lie in deep rough left and short of the green. His attempt to pop up a soft-landing approach shot from a bad lie ended up looking like a topped shot and only went 10 yards right next to a crowd control barrier. With a free drop, he made the green in three, but missed his long par putt and had to settle for bogey. 'I played really solid. Kept the ball in front of me, hit enough fairways. When I didn't, sometimes you have to get fortunate out here to miss the bunkers,' Finau told reporters afterwards. 'A couple of tee shots that I thought could be in bunkers weren't. I thought I capitalised where I needed to, and I played pretty nicely. I made a mistake on 17, and it cost me a bogey. Overall, pretty solid round.' Finau is tied with three Americans, including Zach Johnson, Justin Leonard and Sam Burns. Also in at 1-under is 2019 British Open champion (also at Royal Portrush) Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy — both favorites and local heroes to the home crowd at the famed course located just outside Belfast. Five players are tied for the lead at 4-under entering Friday's second round. They include Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa, Harris English of the USA, Britain's Matt Fitzpatrick, Haotong Li, China, and Jacob Skov Olesen of Denmark. Finau said Royal Portrush presents huge challenges for everyone. 'You have to try and execute the shot that you see. There's so many cross-wind shots on this golf course that make it hard to hit the fairway, but you have to commit to your shot and try to hit the best shot you can and just accept the result. 'You make a good swing and it happens to be in a bad spot — I made one of the toughest tee shots on the course was on 11 today. Couldn't hit a better tee shot, and I get there, and I'm right in the middle of a sand divot. 'Things like that just happen. You roll with the punches and just move on. Overall, I feel like I did a pretty good job of that today.'
New York Post
7 days ago
- Sport
- New York Post
2025 Open Championship picks: Four long shots to win British Open at Royal Portrush
Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards for more information. The Open Championship may not have the transcendent power of the Masters, but if you ask golf bettors to rank their favorite tournaments of the season, it will be at the top of a surprising number of lists. That's because the Open is a bundle of chaos, where the players are competing against the conditions as much as one another, and that levels the playing field. It's no wonder that the British Open has produced several long-shot winners in its history. Six of the last 15 Open Champions have gone off at odds of 80/1 or longer, and four of those players were in the triple digits when they teed off: 2009: Stewart Cink (125/1) 2010: Louis Oosthuizen (200/1) 2011: Darren Clarke (150/1) 2015: Zach Johnson (80/1) 2019: Shane Lowry (80/1) 2023: Brian Harman (125/1) And it's not like all the other winners in that span were chalky, either. Only one of them (Jordan Spieth, 2017) was the betting favorite (Spieth was a 12/1 co-favorite with Dustin Johnson), and only four other champions boasted odds shorter than 20/1 before Round 1. The average price of the last 15 hoisters of the Claret Jug is 63/1. Despite all of this data, you can feel pretty confident that the two most popular bets to win this week will be the two favorites, Scottie Scheffler (+550) and Rory McIlroy (+675). But we will swerve the top of the board and hope that this year's Open Championship, which will be hosted by Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, plays true to form and that chaos rules the day. 2025 Open Championship picks Adam Scott (80/1, FanDuel) He will be a trendy pick, but Adam Scott is worth a hard look at this number. The Aussie has been playing in this tournament since 2000 and has come very close to winning the Claret Jug on a number of occasions. Scott comes into the week in decent nick, with three top-20 finishes in his last five outings. Tony Finau during a practice round at Royal Portrush. AFP via Getty Images Tony Finau (175/1, bet365) It's been an unremarkable season for Tony Finau, but he could be a real threat to make some noise this week. The Utahn finished third at Royal Portrush in 2019, and he's had a couple of other decent showings at the Open Championship in his career. Finau has just one top-10 finish on the season, but he's been OK of late. He hasn't missed a cut since the Masters, and he's got a couple of top-20 finishes in his last five starts. None of that may sound like a ringing endorsement, but it's also why we're getting a massive number on a player who has the upside to win this tournament. Kristoffer Reitan of Norway teeing off at the Genesis Scottish Open. Getty Images Kristoffer Reitan (300/1, bet365) Very few golfers come into the Open Championship in better form than Kristoffer Reitan. The Norwegian has a win, a runner-up, a T4, and a pair of T13s in his past six outings, and he is coming off a strong showing at the Scottish Open. Reitan may get some love from golf die-hards who pay attention to the DP World Tour, but the fact that he's not on the PGA Tour means we'll get a terrific price on a red-hot player. Get the lowdown on the Best USA Sports Betting Sites and Apps John Parry (700/1, DraftKings) It wouldn't be the Open Championship without at least one huge long shot, and we've landed on John Parry to be this year's roughie. Parry is a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, most recently at the Mauritius Open, which is a tournament played on the coast of a windswept island, sound familiar? The 38-year-old Englishman wasn't great at the Scottish Open, but getting four rounds under his belt in similar conditions to what he'll face this week is a plus. But the real reason Parry is worth a bet at this price is that, according to Niall Lyons of Oddschecker, he has spent a lot of time in County Antrim and will be more familiar with Royal Portrush than most players in this field. Why Trust New York Post Betting Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
