Utah golf: Tony Finau win No. 6 comes in Mexico; BYU clinches final WCC title

There was no green jacket at stake, but Tony Finau fended off the current Masters champion for his sixth career victory Sunday afternoon.

Finau shot 5-under-par 66 en route to a four-day total of 24-under 260 to close out a three-stroke victory at the Mexico Open at Vidanta in Vallarta, Mexico.

With the win, the Rose Park native clinched his fourth win in the last 18 starts, vaulting him to fourth in the FedEx Cup rankings in front of a crowd of spectators that included his wife Alayna and the couple's five children.

World No. 1-ranked Jon Rahm, who carded rounds of 67, 68, 61 and 67 with his fifth birdie of the final round on the 18th green to finish two shots ahead of Brandon Wu, who was seeking his first PGA Tour victory.

"We love this place," said Finau, surrounded by his family in a post-tournament press conference after becoming the fourth PGA pro to win multiple tournaments in the 2022-23 season. "After coming here last year, we knew it was a place that our family really enjoyed and it was a golf course that I really liked. My scores on

he weekend especially last year kind of showed that, so I was looking forward to coming back here and getting some more of that good mojo.

"This tournament propelled me I think into the season that I had last year," he added. "This was the first high finish that I had all season in my season last year. I was playing not very good golf and then I make a run on Sunday and after that I played great golf throughout the rest of the season. To get this win was huge and hopefully propels me to do more great things as the season unfolds."

Akshay Bhatia was two shots back Wu at 17-under, with Emiliano Grillo, Eric Cole and Austin Smotherman tied for fifth at 16-under.

Finau posted five birdies in his final seven holes Saturday to finish with a 6-under 65 and hold a two-shot lead over Rahm, the reigning Masters champion who carded a course-record 61 on moving day to move into a tie for second with Bhatia.

The defending Mexico Open champion started the final round with a pair of birdies but couldn't keep up early with Finau. The Lehi resident who also lives and trains out of Scottsdale, Arizona opened with a birdie on the par-4, 414-yard first hole and added two more on the front nine.

But it was a par save on the par-4, 460-yard eighth hole — where Finau putted from the fringe to save par — that may have been equally crucial in carding 3-under 32 on the front nine and taking a two-shot lead over Wu into the final stretch of nine.

Wu started the final round three shots back of the lead, but an eagle on the par-5, 622-yard sixth hole highlighted a 4-under 31 on the front nine to drive him into contention.

But Wu fell back with a double bogey on the par-4 10th hole, and couldn't make up the ground as Finau added a birdies on the 11th and 14th holes to keep his challengers at arms' length en route to the $1.386 million purse.

BYU men's golf clinches WCC championship by one stroke

Zac Jones captured an individual championship in a playoff to help No. 44 BYU men's golf hold off NO. 46 San Francisco by one stroke to clinch the West Coast Conference men's golf championship in the Cougars' final year in the conference Saturday at Golf Mountain in Bremerton, Washington.

BYU trailed the Dons by two shots with two holes to play, but Jones and Tyson Shelley each birdied No. 17 to pull the Cougars within one, and Carson Lundell and Max Brenchley added a birdie on the closing hole to take a one-shot lead with only Jones left on the course.

The reigning Utah State Amateur champion who prepped at Lone Peak was tied with LMU's Riley Jones after 54 holes. But on the first sudden-death playoff hole, Jones hit a pitching wedge from 166 yards to within 10 feet of the hole before rolling in his birdie putt for his second win of the year and the Cougars' first WCC individual title since Peter Guest in 2017.

BYU finished at 21-under-par 843, one stroke ahead of USF. No. 6 Pepperdine finished third at 10-under 858, followed by No. 45 San Diego (867) and Santa Clara (867).

The Cougars will find out their NCAA regional selection from the NCAA Selection Show this Wednesday, May 3 at 11 a.m. MDT on the Golf Channel.

Galeai finishes top-30 on Epson Tour sponsor's invite

BYU women's golfer Lila Galeai, playing on a sponsors' exemption, shot 6-under-par 68 to finished tied for 29th at the Epson Tour's Copper Rock Championship at Copper Rock Golf Course in Hurricane.

The former 4A state champion from Lehi and Utah State women's amateur champ carded four birdies and an eagle with two bogeys in Saturday's final round of the third-year tournament on the developmental tour.

Savannah Vilaubi survived a two-hole, three-person playoff to clinch the tournament title. The UC Riverside alum shot 63-69-69 to finish at 15-under 201 en route to her first career win on the Epson Tour, good for a winner's purse of $34,500.

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