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SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN

October 5, 2019

Tony Finau

Las Vegas, Nevada

Q. Good solid playing out there today, bogey-free. What's more surprising is you shoot 9-under only making a little over 47 feet of putts. You obviously were hitting it real well.
TONY FINAU: Yeah, I was the first couple days, and was really disappointed in myself yesterday. Just wasn't comfortable over the putter, and it cost me quite a few shots. But paid a little bit more attention to detail with my coach, and we stuck with something today, and obviously it worked. It was nice to hit it the same as I have been and make some putts.

Q. This is your first event of the season; what does it mean to you to know you can go out and shoot something low this early in the year?
TONY FINAU: It's nice. My lowest round of my career, one of the best rounds I've ever played out here on the PGA TOUR. So it's really nice to get off to this type of start this early in the season. I'm coming off some good momentum. The last couple weeks I played in Europe, played some nice golf, and it was nice to see some putts fall today.

Q. I know last year was a good year. Disappointing in a couple different ways, particularly just finishing outside that top 8 that qualify for the Presidents Cup team. Obviously it's important for you to play well leading up to that event. Does that motivate you?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, it does. It motivates me, but again, like you said, I have -- I'm a little bit disappointed that I didn't make the team. Maybe that's lighting a little bit of a fire in me going into the season. Every week I tee it up and I try to put myself in contention to win. This week I've got that opportunity, and you know, there's a lot of golf to be played out there today, so who knows where I'll be at the end of the day, but I'm happy that I'm back in the tournament and I'm going to have a chance to win this thing tomorrow.

Q. It looks like conditions are absolutely perfect out there. I wouldn't say easy, but how did the golf course play?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, you've still got to hit the shots, but it's scorable for sure. If you hit the fairway, I think you're going to have a lot of looks. Again, somebody can still go really low that's already started the day four or five in front of me, so I could very well still be trailing going into tomorrow, but to be able to shoot a good number on moving day on a golf course like this where sometimes you shoot 2- or 3-under you don't feel that great, you know you're going to get lapped. To shoot 8-, 9-under today, it was what I needed, and again, I'm going to have a chance to win tomorrow, which is exciting.

Q. Tony, a third-round 62. How did you take advantage of the scoring conditions today?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, I made some putts early, which was nice. Kind of opened up the hole for me, and I just kind of rode that momentum. I was a little bit disappointed in myself after yesterday. I hit it so nice the first couple days and got nothing out of my round. Just didn't make a lot of putts. I did a little bit of work with my coach this morning and changed something up, and I was able to make some more putts. I was happy with the way I started, but especially finishing the round, it was a solid day.

Q. Are you going to let us in on the secret of what exactly you guys changed together?
TONY FINAU: No, it was just basic fundamentals. Getting a little static over the putter, moving a little bit, and I was able to make some more putts today.

Q. Although it is your first PGA TOUR start of this season, you've been playing a lot of golf because you played back-to-back weeks in Europe and then that travel playing into the mix, how are you holding up?
TONY FINAU: I feel good now. It's taken a few days, though. The jet lag was real coming back to the States after the last couple weeks, but I feel good, and today has got my full attention coming down the stretch there, so happy to cap off a good round, and looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. How motivating knowing that Presidents Cup is on the horizon and that's a place you want to be?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, very motivating. It was a goal that I had last season to make the Presidents Cup team. As far as I'm concerned, I've got a chance to do that with some good play in the fall, and this is a good start.

Q. Can you fill us in on the travel?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, so as soon as I finished Sunday night, we flew over from St. Andrews, straight into Salt Lake City. I was fortunate to have my buddy amateur who I played with, my sponsor, have a jet to fly over, so that was nice. I was home in my own bed by 11:00 Sunday night. But it has taken a few days. Usually coming back to the time zone that I'm used to is a little easier than going over there, but my body must have got used to that time because I feel like I was a bit in a daze the last couple days. Not to throw a disclaimer in there or anything, but I haven't felt the energy that I usually feel leading into a new season and feeling good about my body and myself. But today I feel great, and I think jet lag is behind me.

Q. After three in a row, what is your schedule going forward?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, I'll take the next two weeks off, and I'll play Japan and China, and yeah, hopefully Presidents Cup would be great.

Q. Will you send this scorecard to Tiger then, just a quick text?
TONY FINAU: I'm saying he's paying attention, he's watching. He's the captain of the USA team, and it would be great to play on the team, but I unfortunately haven't played my way on yet, and the only thing I can do is play some good golf in the fall and see what happens.

Q. You just need to force his hand, right?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, exactly. It would be hard to win a golf tournament in the fall and it would be hard to not get picked I feel.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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