Five years and five months feels like an eternity in sports. Professional golf player Tony Finau had to wait exactly 1975 days before he finally achieved his second victory on the PGA Tour. The 31-year-old American from Salt Lake City won the first of the three play-off tournaments for the FedExCup season, The Northern Trust in Jersey City (New Jersey) on Monday. Finau prevailed against Cameron Smith in the jump-off at the first extra hole. At least the success in this sudden death was easy for Finau. His Australian opponent immediately sliced ​​his tee shot over the wall that separates the course from the Hudson River, far out of bounds.

Finau, who moved up from 22nd to ninth in the world rankings, could not only look forward to his second victory after the Puerto Rico Open in spring 2016 and the first prize money of 1.71 million dollars.

He also pushed himself to the top of the FedExCup, the winner of which is rewarded with 15 million dollars in the end.

In addition, he moved up to sixth place in Team USA's Ryder Cup ranking and will certainly compete with the best Europeans on the Whisthling Straits Straits Course from September 24th to 26th, just like in Paris three years ago Measure Haven, Wisconsin.

"It's bitter"

“I've always had a lot of confidence.

I've worked extremely hard, not only on my game but also on my body, to get myself in the position to win a tournament.

I knew it would happen at some point, ”said Finau.

But he also admitted: "It's bitter when you lose and it's even worse when the world is watching."

Because in the long winless time he had done almost everything right, but just couldn't win.

In the 142 tournaments in which he took part between his two successes, the 1.93 meter tall model athlete was among the top ten 39 times, including eight times in second place with two defeats in the jump-off.

This is how a narrative developed: Finau can do anything, just not win.

Long haircuts

It was not only Smith who had a small part in teaching all doubters wrong. Also the world number one Jon Rahm, who seemed to be heading for a victory until shortly before the end, helped with two bogeys at the end. So the Spaniard had to be content with third place. But none of that diminishes the performance of Finau, who with 65 strokes played the best round of the final day postponed to Monday due to tropical storm Henri. The former high school basketball star impressed not only with the length of his tees: only Bryson DeChambeau hit the ball. But Finau also impressed with his irons. He was the very best in the field both in the tee-to-green category and in his strokes on the green. And that he can put under pressure, he proved when he was born on 18.Hole from almost two meters saved the Par.

DeChambeau played no role in this tournament. The fans held back with insulting heckling, perhaps also because the "Golf Hulk" was twelve strokes behind in 31st place and never appeared in the top group. Nevertheless, the world number six made headlines. He announced on Instagram that he has accepted the invitation from the Professional Long Driver's Association and will participate in the World Championship in Mesquite, Nevada the week after the Ryder Cup: “I want to show the world how incredibly talented these hardworking athletes are are. I've worked hard to achieve their speeds, ”wrote DeChambeau, who has refused to give any interviews for weeks.

DeChambeau leads the "Driving Distance" statistics of the PGA Tour with 321.5 yards (294 meters). His longest tee shot at a tournament that year was measured at the Sentry Tournament at 414 yards (378 meters). Although DeChambeau is also ahead in the "Club Head" and "Ball Speed" categories with 132.51 and 190.62 miles an hour, it is still far from the values ​​of the reigning American World Champion Kyle Berkshire (152.6 and 228, 5), whose longest drive in a competition was 474 yards (433 meters).