{"id":217801,"date":"2025-09-11T09:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/217801\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T09:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:15:11","slug":"is-tony-finau-a-byu-or-utah-fan-its-complicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/217801\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Tony Finau a BYU or Utah fan? It’s complicated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tony Finau<\/a> grew up a Utah fan, but he\u2019s adopted a passion for BYU.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in Salt Lake City and I\u2019m a Utah fan, but I\u2019m not a BYU hater,\u201d Finau told a gathering at Cougar Day at Riverside Country Club earlier this week. Finau, along with former Masters champion and Presidents Cup captain Mike Weir<\/a>, joined Hall of Famer Johnny Miller<\/a> and other PGA Tour players at BYU\u2019s key fundraiser. <\/p>\n

Both Finau and Weir praised the experiences they\u2019ve had as members of international competition \u2014 calling it a once-in-a-lifetime experience.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Special Collector’s Issue: “1984: The Year BYU was Second to None”<\/p>\n

Get an inclusive look inside BYU Football’s 1984 National Championship season.<\/p>\n

As a kid, Finau quickly grew to love Utah with his friends and the special attention given him and his brother Gipper by former Utah football coach Ron McBride<\/a>. As a highly sought-after junior golfer, he was recruited by everyone in the country before giving a verbal commitment to BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank and director of golf Todd Miller to play for the Cougars.<\/p>\n

But with professional opportunities, including participation on The Golf Channel\u2019s popular \u201cBig Break\u201d series, he turned professional, which has led him to a career ranked as one of the top players in the world.<\/p>\n

Reacting to comments by BYU vice president Keith Vorkink, who praised Brockbank and Miller and BYU\u2019s nationally ranked team for setting high standards off and on the golf course, Finau said Vorkink summed up exactly what BYU is all about and he buys in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that integrity and the character of the type of individuals you hire to become the coaches and the players you recruit and it all starts at the top,\u201d said Finau.<\/p>\n

\u201cBruce and Todd, I\u2019ve known for many years. They recruited me when I was young, in high school and if I would have gone to college, I verbally committed to play at BYU when I had the opportunity \u2014 to be with Bruce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finau thanked BYU donors for building a practice facility in American Fork at the other end of Fox Hollow\u2019s driving range. It has covered hitting bays, chipping and putting greens and allows players to work out year round.<\/p>\n

Finau said he uses that facility as much as BYU players do, and he brings along his son Jraice, an aspiring junior golfer who is making a splash nationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to say thank you for building that over the last decade and sustaining it. You are not only helping the BYU players but I\u2019ve benefited from that. My son practices there as well,\u201d Finau said. \u201cI think that\u2019s been a big part to have a facility where guys can come and practice and continue to shine. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the hard part about playing golf in a state that doesn\u2019t have golf all year round. So, if you are going to attract guys, not only with high character, but great players, if you have a facility, I think that can be an attraction to these guys, just to play all year round. You have that at that BYU practice facility near Fox Hollow.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t say enough about Bruce and Todd and the players you have this year. I wasn\u2019t blowing any smoke when I told (athletic director) Brian Santiago, sitting next to him, that you have a special group of guys on this team. I think they are going to do incredible things over the next handful of years for BYU. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are great young men, great players, and I like the way they carry themselves,\u201d he continued. \u201cI know many of them individually and again, the integrity and character they display is really unprecedented. I\u2019m excited to watch them this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a Utah fan. Sorry if people don\u2019t know that. If anybody knows me personally, I\u2019m a Utah guy. I grew up in Salt Lake City, but I find myself hanging around BYU fans all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finau said he\u2019s become close friends with former BYU and NBA star Danny Ainge<\/a> and Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not like a normal Utah fan and don\u2019t like BYU, but it\u2019s hard for me to not love the energy, the people. Some of my best friends and my mentors like Ryan and Danny. I love these guys, and they\u2019ve really turned my heart to just be a Cougar more than anything else. By the end of the day, I love BYU. I love supporting these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finau, according to Miller, has supported BYU graduates who are now professional golfers on the different tours.<\/p>\n

BYU and Utah will face off Monday in the Wohali Classic hosted by Utah at Wohali Golf Club near Coalville, Utah. It\u2019s a two-day event and tees off the college golf season for both teams. <\/p>\n

Asked about his Ryder Cup experience, Finau said he can sum it up in one word: Fun.<\/p>\n

The 45th Ryder Cup Matches will be held in the United States from Sept. 26\u201328, 2025, on the Black Course of Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, New York. Europe is the holder of the Ryder Cup after its win over the United States in 2023 at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club.<\/p>\n

Nursing an injury most of this season, Finau did not make the Ryder Cup team this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun, no matter if you make the team or if you are a captain\u2019s pick or play my way onto the top six on the team. It\u2019s so cool in that month leading up to preparing,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of pressure there, but as they say, pressure is a privilege and I try to look at that way. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love that opportunity and the guys who are in there now, I think we have a great team. The European team is deeper, if I\u2019m being honest, but I think the U.S. side looks good enough to win the Ryder Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finau said having a home crowd is huge. He said it makes it tough to win when staged in Europe. \u201cThe U.S. hasn\u2019t won over there since Johnny (Miller) played.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finau said at Whistling Straits, the last time the Americans won, a huge crowd created so much energy it was a huge advantage and led to a lopsided, landslide win, one of the biggest margins of victory in the legendary event.<\/p>\n

Finau said he was so excited at the Ryder Cup he couldn\u2019t sleep the nights before practice rounds, and on tournament days he did play, it was the same \u2014 no sleep. \u201cThe crowd gives us a huge advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the event was held at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal in 2024, Weir, the International team Presidents Cup captain, agreed about the crowd, but he also addressed the pressure a player feels, especially on the first tee.<\/p>\n

\u201cTony is right, but I was always nervous and felt the pressure. Maybe he doesn\u2019t feel that pressure, but on the first tee I\u2019ve told younger players it is a pressure you\u2019ll never feel again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weir said that carrying the weight of playing for your teammates, country, and partner in alternate shot is incredible, like nothing else in the world.<\/p>\n

\"\"Team USA’s Tony Finau hits a drive on the 13th hole during a practice day at the Ryder Cup at the Whistling Straits Golf Course Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Sheboygan, Wis. | Charlie Neibergall, Associated Press<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tony Finau grew up a Utah fan, but he\u2019s adopted a passion for BYU. \u201cI grew up in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":217802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[3920,1430,62,67,132,68,28056],"class_list":{"0":"post-217801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-byu-cougars","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-utah-utes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115184908925354684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}