With just two professional wins to his name, Tony Finau has not quite been able to get close to the list of the Top 10 golfers in the game today. Nevertheless, one list he sure ranks very high in is the Top 30 Nice Guys of the PGA Tour where he comes in at second place behind Jordan Speith. This is thanks to Finau’s outgoing attitude on the course as well as his humanitarian/charity efforts through the Tony Finau Foundation which looks to help underprivileged kids.
Tony Finau Biography
Tony Finau was born Milton Pouha Finau to Kelepi and Ravena Finau on the 14th of September, 1989, in Salt Lake City, Utah. From a very young age, he trained to become a professional golfer even though his parents could not quite afford to give him the conventional training the sport required.
Regardless of the circumstances, Finau was able to learn the game properly to earn himself a place at tournaments, with the very first one being in August 1997 at a junior event at the Jordan River course. The Finau brothers (Tony and his brother Gipper) soon became the talk of the Utah junior golf scene as they guided their high school to its first state golf championship in 114 years.
Tony Finau went on to win the Utah State Amateur Championship in 2006 before choosing to turn professional on the day he graduated from high school. He opted to do so despite him receiving scholarships to play college basketball and golf at schools like Utah State and Stanford. He first started with tournaments like golf’s lower leagues; the Gateway Tour, the eGolf Tour, the Canadian Tour, NGA Hooters Tour, and National Pro Tour since he failed to make it through to the PGA Tour’s demanding qualifying school.
By 2013, however, Finau made it through to gain full-time entry into the Web.com Tour. The following year, he won the Stonebrae Classic to qualify for the big leagues and it enabled him to gain entry into the 2014-15 PGA Tour.
Wife (Alayna)
Tony Finau is married to his beautiful Hawaiian princess, Alayna Finau. Mrs. Finau was born Alayna Sulesa Galeai, one of five children to Tipa Galei and Taliilagi Moana Galeai on August 10, 1990, in Laie, Hawaii. She is a former volleyball player who attended and graduated from Kahuku High & Intermediate School. Upon graduation, she attended Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont, California where she continued playing her favorite sport.
Almost nothing is known about how the couple met each other and when they got married but they seem to have been together for a very long time and have four children to show for it. They are Jraice, who was born sometime in 2012, Leilene Aiaga, born in 2013, Tony, born sometime in 2015, and the youngest, Sage, who they welcomed to the world in 2017.
Parents
Tony Finau has his parents to thank for him having a professional golf career. His father, Kelepi Finau, who grew up on the island of Tonga before migrating to the United States at the age of 12, taught him the game. He notably worked double shifts at his job as a baggage handler at the airport to make enough money to buy second-hand golf equipment for his sons to learn inside the family garage which had been turned into a makeshift golf course.
Even though Kelepi taught Finau the game, it was his wife, Ravena Finau, who came up with the idea of learning golf instead of the usual football or basketball which truth be told, they had the genes to excel in. It has been reported that while Kelepi had to work as many shifts as possible to make ends meet, it was Ravena who took Tony to PGA Junior Series events around the country where they sometimes had to sleep in the car because they could not afford a hotel room.
Unfortunately, Tony Finau’s mother was not present to enjoy the highs of her son as she passed away in November 2011 from an automobile accident.
Height And Other Facts About Tony Finau
Tony Finau is 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall and weighs 200 pounds (91 kg).
He is the first person of Tongan and Samoan descent to play on the PGA Tour. His brother, Gipper Finau, would have been the second but he failed to make it in the sport as a professional. Regardless, Tony is still not the only professional athlete in his family as his second cousin is Jabari Parker, a two-time Illinois Mr. Basketball award recipient who went on to be selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the second overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
Tony Finau and his wife are strong believers of the Christian faith who attend The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Because of this, Tony abstains from alcohol.
