Tony Finau cruises to 2023 Mexico Open title in rematch with Jon Rahm

While Jon Rahm is still undeniably the hottest player in golf right now, the man who held him off Sunday might submit his name for consideration.

In a rematch of the 2022 Mexico Open, where Rahm picked up his first of seven wins in the last year, Tony Finau came out on top this time.

Finau started Sunday with a two-shot lead over Rahm and Akshay Bhatia and ended it with a bogey-free 66 to finish at 24 under, good for a three-shot win at this year’s Mexico Open at Vindanta over Rahm. The top three on the leaderboard are identical to a year ago with Brandon Wu following his co-runner-up with a solo third this year.

Now Finau joins Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Max Homa as multi-time winners on the PGA Tour this season. He moves up to fourth in the FedEx Cup standings, after the aforementioned trio.

By picking up his sixth career PGA Tour win, it’s also his fourth in the past 18 starts (280 days) after he won back-to-back events at the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic last July.

Finau may not have captured many headlines since his win in the fall portion of the schedule at the Houston Open, but he’s quietly put together an extremely solid season. He’s missed just one cut in 12 starts and finished in the top-25 nine times.

He was equally as steady on Sunday, making birdie on the opening hole and then another at the par-3 5th.

Wu was the only player to mount a serious challenge all day, briefly tying Finau after an eagle-birdie run on 6 and 7 brought him to 21 under. However, Finau made a birdie of his own at the drivable par-4 7th. Wu bogeyed the 8th and then suffered disaster two holes later when he hit his tee ball into the pond and walked away with double. He was tied for second with Rahm on 18, but made a sloppy bogey to finish at 19 under.

Finau’s lead was never less than three after that. He played a simple, mistake-free game. On the 490-yard 10th, he took the water completely out of play by hitting two driving irons onto the green.

Rahm was in neutral for much of the early going and only could muster a charge late on the back nine with back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at [email protected].