Tony Finau grabs Houston Open lead, matches Scottie Scheffler’s course record

Finau, ranked 30th in the Official World Golf Ranking, has underwhelmed through the first third of 2024. He’s made eight of nine cuts, but only has one top-10 — a sixth-place finish at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in January.

On Wednesday, the 34-year-old sounded optimistic that the friendly confines of Memorial Park could be just what the doctor ordered.

“I’ve been working hard,” he said. “I haven’t got the results out of the season that I would’ve liked, especially leading into major championship months. But the work continues. It’s always a work in progress. I know I’m always one thought, one swing, away from a spark … Looking to maybe spark something in the game this week for sure.”

Finau was grouped with Wyndham Clark and Si-Woo Kim for the first two rounds in Houston.

“Our last nine holes, we had good 15 miles per hour wins,” Clark said about Finau. “He made everything. He hit it amazing. He made a lot of putts. It was fun to watch.”

Clark — coming off runner-ups to Scheffler at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and heartbreakingly, the Players Championship — is two-under heading into the weekend, despite injuring his back while training on Monday.

“I was a little tight today, it’s getting better every day,” he said. “I’m not at my best. I kind of feel like I shot the worst score I could for the two rounds. All in all, making the cut and battling the back, I’d say it’s solid thus far.”

Clark sounded confident that his pain should be gone in time for The Masters (April 11-14).

Scheffler, meanwhile, got rolling in the afternoon. Put the Jaws theme over this:

Like Scheffler, Finau is one of golf’s most effective ball-strikers, so any round that features quality putting results tends to be a birdie-fest. As always for the major-less Finau, the question won’t be whether he can stay hot in Houston, though that would be nice.

Can he bring the heat to Augusta?