Less than a week after Jon Rahm bolted for LIV Golf, Tony Finau revealed he won’t be following him.
Finau announced in an Instagram post Monday that he’s “looking forward to playing my 10th season on the PGA Tour” in 2024, where he’ll have a chance to defend his titles at the Mexico and Houston Opens.
“As this year comes to an end I’m grateful to play the game that I love and to have the opportunity to compete at the highest level,” Finau wrote in his post. “… Thank you to my partners for your continued support. Thank you to the fans for all the love for our whole Finau fam.”
Finau had emerged as one who could bolt from the tour along with Rahm, who confirmed his decision Thursday, and when asked about the possibility Friday, Finau’s answer only continued to fuel speculation.
“I have nothing to say right now,” Finau told reporters, according to ESPN. “I haven’t heard anything. … I haven’t let anything marinate other than just playing right now.”
The Tour had already lost its No. 3 golfer in Rahm.
He left for a deal that could reportedly pay him at least $300 million and up to $600 million, and it marked a seismic shift in the golf landscape ahead of the Dec. 31 deadline for the Tour and LIV Golf to finalize their merger that featured a framework agreement in June.
“This decision was for many reasons what I thought was best for me,” Rahm told reporters on a conference call Thursday. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great deal. I had a really great offer in front of me and that’s why I took it. They put me in a position where I had to think about it and I did.”
Finau currently sits No. 20, and he has peaked at No. 9 in 2021 and 2018. He has six wins — including two in 2022-23, as part of five top-10 finishes this year — since joining the Tour in 2007 and starting a full schedule in 2014-15.
The 34-year-old had a 1,975-day stretch without a victory that lasted between 2016 and his Northern Trust win in 2021.
Four of his wins have come since that point. And after his announcement, Finau will have additional opportunities to add to that number — starting with his participation in the season-opening event for 2024 at The Sentry.
“I have an extreme belief in myself, and I have to,” Finau said after the win in 2021. “This game is hard as it is. These guys are so good as it is. If you can’t believe you can beat them, man, it’s just an uphill battle, and I just continue to believe. I believe in myself. I believe in my team.”
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