Finau showing golf game equal to his surroundings

Emerging from humble beginnings and enduring unrelenting struggles through his travels across many of golf’s lower tiered professional tours, Finau always checked his ego at the first tee.

Persevering until his game over matched his surroundings, he’s now attracting eyeballs with his prodigious power and overall game in his rookie campaign on the PGA Tour.

With a tie for 12th in the season opener and a tie for seventh last week, the graduate of the Web.com Tour is within reach of joining the conversation centering on the next big thing in pro golf.

His length is awe-inspiring he’s hit a drive 374 yards this year and his driving average of 321.9 yards is seven yards longer than what Bubba Watson averaged when he led the Tour last season.

And he’s won nearly as much money in his first two starts this season $310,833 as he won in 27 starts on the Web.com Tour last season, which included a victory in the Stonebrae Classic.

But Finau, who finished second in 2009 on Golf Channel’s Big Break Disney, finally earned playing status for the Web.com Tour in his sixth attempt at Q School.

All of which has led to a strong start to the new 2014-15 wraparound season, even though there are major differences between the Web.com Tour and the PGA Tour.