Tony Finau May Regret Having Skipped Zurich Classic

With the Zurich Classic now in the past with Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin taking the honors, a few players were noticeably missing.  Billy Horschel had to withdraw due to a back injury, but there was also Tony Finau, who opted to skip the classic.  It was a move that garnered some criticism given his fairly rough season, and it could negatively affect his ranking for the FedEx Cup.

Finau’s Rough 2025

For the 2025 season, Tony Finau has tried for 11 events without a single win.  Not only was he cut from four of those events, but only made the top ten once during the Genesis Invitational.  Aside from those, he was only in the top 20 twice.  This has resulted in him currently being at 46th for the FedEx Cup.  Needless to say, it has not been a good year for Finau.  

Skipping The Zurich Classic

With Finau skipping Zurich, his ranking could easily drop further.  This is where a lot of criticism comes.  On the Shotgun Start podcast, Joseph Lamagna lays out why Finau should be at the classic.

“I’m telling you, that’s one of my biggest notes for this – where’s Tony Finau, and I’m serious. He should be playing in this,” he said.  “He’s having a bad year, he’s 46th in the FedEx Cup, he may not be in the top 50 at the end of this year.  Fits this place well.  If he got a decent partner and teed it up, that could be the difference at the end of the year in having status in the signature events or not.  A lot of guys are going to look back on this and regret not playing it.”

Lamagna is not alone in this criticism.  The entire golf world is sharing this opinion.  Finau’s absence is a mistake of the highest order.  He could use the unique way the classic works to his advantage.  Given that this is one of the few PGA team events, if he had a good partner, he could have given his ranking a boost.  The benefits for him were obvious; skipping the event would only leave him even further behind.  

Tony Finau’s Rankings

It has been a rough 2025 for Finau.  His performance has been called lackluster, underwhelming, and disappointing.  Only being in the top ten once all season, he’s in a bit of a hard place.  Skipping Zurich is such a baffling decision that everyone is calling it a grave mistake.  This has been a year full of upsets and surprises.  Just this year, there have been two new rookies who are already making names for themselves.  Aldrich Potgieter is already setting records with his strong swing, and Danny Walker won the hearts of fans after getting into the Player Championship as an alternate.  With his performance this year, Tony Finau has not been in a good position.  With him skipping Zurich, it’s hard to say that he will bounce back before the start of the next season.