ATLANTA — This is the eighth straight year that Tony Finau has qualified for a spot in the Tour Championship, the longest active streak that he shares with Xander Schauffele.

He just wants more than a participation trophy.

“I’m extremely proud of how many times I’ve been able to be a top-30 performer on the PGA Tour,” Finau said. “I’m looking to give myself a chance on Sunday.”

Finau began the week as the No. 11 seed and started the tournament seven shots behind Scottie Scheffler. Finau followed Thursday’s 70 with a 5-under 66 on Friday and stands at 9 under and is tied for 8th, 12 shots off the lead.

Finau’s best showing at the Tour Championship is a tie for seventh in 2017 and 2019.

“I’ve said it all week, it’s nice to be here, but I want a good crack at it on Sunday,” he said. “I haven’t really given myself — no matter the position I’ve been coming into the week — I haven’t really been in the thick of it on a Sunday.”

There are still thousands of reasons — most of them preceded by dollar signs — for players to dig in and finish strong. The winner receives the $25 million bonus, but even the 10th-place finisher will win an extra $1.75 million. Last place is good for a $550,000 bonus.

“There’s so much to play for no matter what,” Finau said. “The guys at the bottom of the leaderboard aren’t going to have a chance to win, but there’s still so much to play for. When I’ve been in that position where I haven’t had a chance to win, you want to finish off the year great, not matter what.”

All quiet in the Dawg House

There wasn’t a lot of “woofing” from the Georgia fans in the gallery on Friday. None of the three Bulldogs in the field produced much to get excited about and none are in contention.

Russell Henley finished at even par and is tied for 18th at 6 under. Stepp Straka shot 1-under 70 and stands tied for 21st at 5 under. Chris Kirk shot 74, matching Keegan Bradley for the high round of the day, and is No. 30 at 2 over.

Clark no fan of new 18th hole

Put Wyndham Clark in the “no” category when it comes to the new-look 18th hole.

“I’m bummed about 18,” Clark said. “It’s a poorly designed fairway that I hit and it goes into a tough lie.”

Clark was able to get his approach shot to within eight feet for birdie but missed the putt to shoot 4-under 67.

“All-in-all, 4 under on this golf course is always pretty good,” he said.

No one tamed No. 1

The first hole was the toughest of the day. The 508-yard uphill par-4 surrendered no birdies on Friday. There were 19 pars, eight bogeys and two double bogeys. The average score was 4.467.

The easiest hole was No. 14, a 558-yard par-5. It gave up three eagles, 15 birdies, 10 pars and two bogeys. It played to an average of 4.367 shots. Clark, Matthieu Pavon and Akshay Bhatia had the eagles.

Weather delay clears course

Play was stopped at 5:15 p.m. on Friday when dangerous weather conditions approached the area. Play resumed after a delay of an hour and 33 minutes and the remaining three groups were able to finish.

Weather delays are common for the tournament. Last year’s third round had a similar situation that delayed play for an hour and 15 minutes. Two years ago the third round was delayed twice before play was eventually called.

The weather forecast for Saturday calls for partly cloudy conditions with a 40% chance of rain and scattered thunderstorms. The high temperature is expected to be 92.

©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.