LA QUINTA, Calif. – In another life before he became an American Ryder Cup star and a perennial contender on the PGA Tour, Tony Finau was among the anonymous thousands grinding out a livelihood on the mini-tours.
It was one of those mini-tour events in 2011 at PGA West, site of this week’s American Express where Finau is among the favorites, that the 31-year-old enjoyed his first financial breakthrough.
“I made my biggest check here. It was $21,000 to the winner,” Finau said. “That was my biggest check I had made in my mini-tour days. And it ended up being like my second biggest check overall that I've ever made in my mini-tour days, but at that time, that was the most money I had ever made in a week's work.