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SALT LAKE CITY — Tony Finau's run of bogey-free golf at the PGA Championship came to an end on the back nine of Friday's second round.
But that's about the only negative to his game at the moment.
The Rose Park native finished 27 holes without a bogey, hit some trouble on the back nine, and recovered to shoot 2-under 69 and four shots back of the lead Friday at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
On a day where Scottie Scheffler opened the morning in jail before shooting 66, and Xander Schauffele maintained his lead, Finau quietly put together another round that has him just four shots off the leader's two-day total of 12-under 130.
The Lehi resident who also keeps a home in Scottsdale, Arizona, opened his second round with back-to-back birdies before making the turn at 2-under 33. He hit a rough patch on the back nine, carding double bogey on the par-4, 478-yard 12th hole in between a pair of birdies, but rallied with a birdie on the par-5 No. 18 to finish in a three-way tie for eighth at 8-under overall.
"As your career unfolds, you love playing good golf," Finau said after Thursday's opening round, when he shot 65. "I think at the end of the day, there's no question. Again, sometimes the results go your way, sometimes they don't.
"But you keep trying to stack up wins each day and work hard, and just see where it takes you," he added. "You can only do as good as you are. I'm just trying to be the best I can. .... It is always nice anytime you can post a good round in a major championship, it adds to your aura and your confidence for sure."
The end of Round 2 was suspended late Friday, with the round scheduled to resume at 5:15 a.m. MDT with 15 golfers still yet to finish their rounds. That includes Zac Blair, the former BYU golfer and reigning Utah Open champion who is tied for 67th at 1-under, just one stroke above the cutline, with two holes to play.
Dan Horner clinches 3rd Utah Mid-Amateur title with 73
One of the elder statesmen in the Utah Mid-Amateur ranks safeguarded his third title Friday at Bonneville Golf Course.
Dan Horner, who won Mid-Amateur titles in 2011 and 2017, added his third by shooting 73 in the final round to finish with a 54-hole total of 210. The 46-year-old Horner, the 2008 state amateur champion who turned pro and later regained his amateur status, took a two-shot lead over St. George's Daren Johnson and held on for the win.
"It's nice to win,"Horner told Fairways Media. "I still have some ability to play good golf. A lot of it comes down to concentration at times, depending on what you have going on in life, work, or whatever it may be. It's sometimes hard to get a clear mind at this age with a lot of responsibilities."
JT Timmons, Devin Tovey, Brandon Hargett and Steele DeWald finished tied for third at 214. Hargett won low senior honors by five shots.
