ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 23, 2021

Tony Finau

Cameron Champ

TPC Louisiana

Quick Quotes

Q. Tony, can you talk about how important it is to get a round like that today, difficult format, difficult conditions, put yourself ahead?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, I think it's extremely important in this golf tournament. We played great yesterday, but we knew the day, I think, that counted more out of the two days was today. I was really happy with the way we played. He drove it great, hit some key putts for us on 13 and 14 to keep the momentum in our favor, and yeah, it was a huge round for us.

Q. I think you were shaking your head a little bit on 18 after his drive. Any comment to that?

TONY FINAU: Well, I said, maybe on Sunday I'll hit on 18 so I can get it a little closer in. (Laughing).

Q. Cam, what do you make of the format? I know it's kind of new, but I'm sure it's something you've played before, but was it a different kind of pressure and something you enjoyed?

CAMERON CHAMP: I mean, you're always going to have your interpersonal -- you don't want to play bad for your teammate, but again, we just -- on the range we just coin flipped who was going odds, who was going evens. Just make it as relaxed and as fun and enjoyable as we can and that's what we've done. Obviously we knew today with the wind and just the format in general it was going to be a grind, and that's what we did, especially coming down the last nine holes. We just kind of grinded it out, but I finished with a good birdie on 18.

Q. Some guys have talked about choosing their strategy based on who's hitting a certain golf ball on what hole and who's hitting the approach shots. What golf balls do you guys hit and did that factor into it at all?

TONY FINAU: Luckily for us, he was able to use my golf ball and was okay just playing mine so we haven't put too much thought into the ball because I was lucky, he was happy to play mine. That's what we've done with the alternate-shot. Cameron has allowed me to just use my ball, so we've just been using that one for alternate-shot.

Q. What ball do you use?

TONY FINAU: I've got the left dot Pro-V1. I think 13 ball, so it's been out for a while.

Q. Cam, what was the best thing Tony did in the round today?

CAMERON CHAMP: Saved me on the last hole after that terrible 40-footer I hit. No, like I said, we just fought together. We both hit a few squirrelly shots but we were able to make some good pars that just kept the round going. In this format I think that's huge. I think we made on 13 and 14, 15 we made a good up-and-down. And then we took advantage of 18. That stuff just kind of helps keep the round going, and like you said, today we just grinded it out, kind of just stayed even keel and make your birdies when they come, and we'll take it.

Q. Who had heads, who had tails today?

CAMERON CHAMP: I think you called heads and it was odds.

TONY FINAU: Heads was odds and tails was even. We flipped and I had heads, so I was going first. So that's how it happened. It was right on the range right before we teed off.

Q. Tony, you've had a few chances to win the past couple years. Is there any pressure that gets taken off by having a partner you can lean on in a format like this these last two days?

TONY FINAU: I mean, I haven't thought about that much this week. You know, when Sunday comes I'll probably have a better answer for you. I know we're having a good time with this format up to this point. We've both played some really solid golf, and we find ourselves at the top of the leaderboard. I haven't done much leaderboard watching. We knew we were playing well, and on 18 I happened to peek over, and wow, we were on top of the leaderboard. I think we'll do what we've been doing the last couple days, which is enjoy each other's company and not add any bonus pressure when it comes to teammate golf. We've done a good job of that, and we'll continue that the next couple days.