Tony Finau’s Instagram account makes it clear that his life is about much more than golf.
He posts regularly about his wife and five kids, as well as about their involvement in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In Instagram post captions, Finau writes about the importance of his faith. He thanks the Lord for being with him and his loved ones for modeling religious values day in and day out.
“Sage willingly chose to follow his Savior Jesus Christ’s example. He proudly proclaimed his testimony twice over the last 2 days expressing his love for his family and the lord Jesus Christ. I’m so thankful for his example to me,” Finau wrote this month in a post about baptizing his youngest son.
Tony Finau’s faith
Finau’s faith has played a major role in his golf career from the beginning.
In 2017, he told the Deseret News that it was prayer and fasting that led his family to feel confident about him turning down college scholarships to turn pro.
“It was a family decision, but I just put faith and trust in the Lord,” he said.
In the same interview, Finau talked about how following his faith’s Word of Wisdom has helped him protect his body and prepare for a long career.
“I want to try and have as long a career as possible,” he said. “That’s only going to happen if I take care of my body now. … My church teaches me the same thing with the Word of Wisdom, that you have to be healthy, you have to take care of yourself and take care of your body.”
But Finau also noted that, in some ways, his golf career makes it impossible to practice his faith in a traditional way. When he’s playing in tournaments, he can’t be at church on Sunday.
“I don’t really get to attend church. That’s definitely one of the challenges,” he told the Deseret News in 2017. “I’m always playing on Sunday and that’s tough because I really never get to take the sacrament — maybe once every three or four months when I’m home and have a week off.”
Finau’s busy schedule during the golf season helps explain why he seems so thankful for moments when he can leave his golf clubs at home and focus on his faith.
On Instagram, he posts somewhat regularly about opportunities to visit temples or hear from leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and writes about his gratitude for these moments. Temples are his religion’s most sacred buildings, where faithful church members perform ordinances and commit to doing all they can to increase their faith in God and Jesus Christ.
“The temple makes me feel closer to the Lord. It gives me peace and strength to endure the challenges of life. The temple gives me understanding and meaning. The temple helps me to serve others with charity. The temple makes me a better person,” Finau wrote in the caption for an Oct. 28, 2023, Instagram post.
Finau also regularly shares pictures of his family taking part in religious activities together, like celebrating Easter or a new baptism.
In the caption on his recent post about his son Sage’s baptism, Finau noted that two of his older kids supported their brother by offering testimonies.
“Jraice and Neenee shared a talk and testimony about the holy ghost and it was so precious to hear them share,” Finau wrote.
Tony Finau’s family
Finau, in general, is a big family man.
He often has not just his wife, Alayna, with him at PGA Tour events, but also their five kids: Jraice, Leilene (“Neenee”), Tony (“ToneTone”), Sage and Sienna-Vee.
In interviews and on social media, Finau talks about how grateful he is to be a dad and how thankful he is for his own parents.
Kelepi and Vena Finau sacrificed a lot for their sons, especially early in Tony Finau’s golf career when he needed a lot more money than he was bringing in.
At the 2024 Memorial Tournament, Finau spoke with CBS about bringing his family together on Memorial Day to honor his mom, who died in a car accident in 2011.
He said they gathered at her gravesite to have a picnic, play football and reminisce about how wonderful she was, as the Deseret News previously reported.
“It was just an overall great time to reminisce about the wonderful mom we had,” Finau told CBS.
In November 2022, Finau shared a message for his mom in an Instagram post.
“I try to keep you alive the best way I know how. I talk about you and I visit you and I try to make you proud by living the way you raised me. I try to serve others like you would and show charity, that Christ like love towards others. I always smile because that’s how I will always remember you,” he wrote.
He added, “You’re gone from this life but never ever forgotten.”
Tony Finau wins
Finau has six career wins on the PGA Tour.
- 2023 Mexico Open.
- 2022 Houston Open.
- 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic.
- 2022 3M Open.
- 2023 Northern Trust.
- 2016 Puerto Rico Open.
Finau has not yet won one of professional golf’s four majors: the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship.
His best finish in a major came in 2019, when he came in third at the Open Championship.
Finau has made more than $40 million from tournaments over the course of his career, according to the PGA Tour.