THE AMERICAN EXPRESS

January 24, 2021

Tony Finau

PGA WEST Pete Dye Stadium Course

Quick Quotes

Q. You were 4-under 68 today, but obviously comes up short. Tough to beat these guys out here. Just some thoughts on the day today.

TONY FINAU: Yeah, Si Woo played great. I saw a 61 by Cantlay when we got onto 16th tee. That was pretty impressive. A couple, yeah, those guys, a couple of those guys just went really low today. I had some opportunities, I think, to shoot a number. But, man, I'm kind of leaving today pretty encouraged. I played nicely. I've been working on some things in my golf swing, changed up the putter this week, some positives for me and I like where the game's at. It's real early in the calendar year. I didn't play very good in Maui, so this is actually pretty encouraging for me.

Q. And you are headed to a place next week at Torrey Pines where you've played really well. Six starts, never outside the top-25, so you got to be looking forward to that.

TONY FINAU: Yeah, no doubt. Torrey Pines seems like a place that sets up great for me. It's a golf course that I like and have had some success and hopefully I just carry this one over into next week.

Q. You say you were encouraged, just like you were yesterday, but I would be curious of all kind of you near misses, where do you think this one ranks as far as how long it will bug you?

TONY FINAU: I don't know, usually when I walk off the 72nd hole I have a pretty good sense of how long it's going to sting. I'm pretty encouraged right now. I've been working on some things in my golf swing and I was able to hit a lot of good shots this week and so I know I'm heading in the right direction.

I've always -- I've said before, I feel like I've got to get a little bit better to win again and I think (wind noise.) So it's an encouraging week on a lot of levels. So another crack at Torrey Pines next week, a place I've had a lot of success (wind noise.

Q. Take me what happened on 11, the club choice and your decision making?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, that's probably where I'm looking back on the back nine where I had some momentum and hit a good tee shot on 11. I had a take a little bit off my 3-iron so I decided to just hit a really low draw and just barely pulled it, just enough for it to go in the water. All hope wasn't lost, of course, I should have been able to get that up-and-down. I was almost too confident in that short putt, I hit it too hard. Still thought I made it and it just power lipped out.

So that was a tough pill to swallow at the time because I just never thought I was going to walk away with 6 there and there we were on the 12th tee, having bogeyed the hole before, so. But, you know, as I know in this game, golf goes on, life goes on, after that hole I got to keep playing and keep pushing, trying to make birdies coming in. Si Woo did a great job this week and he's a well-deserved champion.