Salt Lake teen Finau wins State Am championship

MIDWAY — Anyone watching Sunday's Men's State Amateur final, may have noticed the bright green paper bracelet on Tony Finau's right wrist. It looked like one of those silly bracelets they give you when you go to the hospital.

Actually, it was one of those silly paper hospital bracelets.

You see, less than 24 hours before the start of the State Am, the 16-year-old Finau was in the hospital diagnosed with "walking pneumonia." He kept the band on his wrist all week to remind himself how close he came to not being able to play in the tournament he's been hoping to win since he took up golf eight years ago.

Amid a lot of sun and a little rain at Soldier Hollow Golf Course, Finau duplicated Daniel Summerhays' feat of winning the State Am as a 16-year-old by beating the now-22-year-old Summerhays 3 and 2 in the scheduled 36-hole final.

"It feels awesome to win," said the strapping 6-foot-3, 190-pound Finau, who hits the ball a mile. "I played great and feel like a worthy champion, especially beating Danny, a two-time champion. This will be a big boost for me."

Finau, who lives in the Rose Park area of Salt Lake, felt fortunate just to be competing in the State Am, which he had played in the previous four years, reaching match play three times.

Earlier in the week, Finau was checked into Primary Children's Hospital. After spending Monday night there, he was released Tuesday afternoon around 3 with antibiotics to take. He said he felt "horrible" and doubted whether he could play the next day.

"I didn't know if I had the strength to do anything," he said. Still, he made it out for his Wednesday morning tee time. "I hit my first drive 100 yards to the right. I was thinking, 'maybe I should just go home.' "

It's a good thing he didn't.

Finau managed a first-round 73 and followed with a 69 Thursday to earn the No. 12 seed for match play. He won his first two matches Friday and came back to win two more Saturday, setting up his big match with Summerhays, who won the State Am in 2000 and 2001 and is a junior-to-be at BYU.

After falling behind by two holes on the front nine, Finau came back to win No. 9 and four holes on the back nine to take a 3-up lead at the lunch break. Then in the afternoon, after seeing his lead slip to two, he won three holes in a five-hole stretch and won it at No. 16 with a conceded par with another of his tremendous lag putts.

"He played great," said Summerhays, gracious as always. "Tony doesn't act like a 16-year-old. He never gets rattled. He hits the ball long, he hit some great iron shots and made some great putts. He certainly deserved to win."