Alright, so I was looking into some golfers the other day, just kinda browsing around, you know? And Tony Finau’s name came up. Great player, seems like a solid guy. Naturally, my brain went to, “Okay, where’d he play in college?” ‘Cause, let’s be honest, most of these top guys have some big NCAA program on their resume.
So, I did what anyone does, I popped open a search and typed in something like tony finau college. Simple enough, right? I was fully expecting to see a university pop up – maybe BYU, given his Utah roots, or some Pac-12 school known for golf. Just waiting for that name to appear.
But here’s the thing… nothing came up. Well, not in the way I expected. Instead, I kept seeing articles and snippets mentioning he turned pro. Like, straight out of high school. That caught my eye immediately. I thought, “Wait, really? No college golf at all?” It seemed kinda unusual compared to many other players I follow.
Digging a Bit Deeper
Okay, so my first search gave me a surprising answer, but I wanted to understand it a bit better. My next step was to try and figure out the ‘why’ or the ‘how’. I changed up my search terms. I think I tried stuff like:
- tony finau turned pro early
- tony finau high school golf
- what did tony finau do after high school
Basically, I was trying to piece together that timeline right after high school, where college would normally fit in for an athlete like him.
And yeah, the story started to come together. Found out he made the decision to go pro when he was just 17 years old. That’s incredibly young to make that jump in professional golf. It wasn’t about skipping college because he wasn’t good enough; it was a deliberate choice to start his professional career right away. Sounds like it involved a lot of family support and belief in his potential from a very early age.
Instead of hitting the books and playing college tournaments, he was out there grinding it on mini-tours, trying to make his way up. Talk about a different path! Most guys get that structured environment, the coaching, the team competition in college. He basically jumped right into the deep end of professional golf.
So, after poking around for a bit, the conclusion was clear. When it comes to Tony Finau and college, the simple answer is: he didn’t go. He chose the direct route to professional golf right after finishing high school. Pretty interesting story, and definitely not the typical journey you hear about.
