PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 17, 2025

Tony Finau

Quail Hollow Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Tony Finau at the 107th PGA Championship.

Tony, a real nice day for you. How would you summarize your third round.

TONY FINAU: Yeah I thought it was a solid go. I had some nice looks there on the back. I thought I hit some good putts that just didn't go in, which, you know, would have been nice to have fall, but to capitalize on some of the good shots I hit. But overall, I think playing some nice golf and find myself in contention going into tomorrow.

Q. Talking about that, finding yourself in contention, tell us about that feeling, especially on Saturday, and getting ready for tomorrow?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, you can't win the golf tournament on Saturday. But you can lose it if you're near the top of the leaderboard and make some mistakes. I thought I did a good job of hitting high-quality shots, and just giving myself looks. I think that's all you can do is try to get as many looks as you can, and I was able to do that.

You know, I've got to capitalize on some of those looks tomorrow. But overall, I've had a nice solid week, and look to try to make a run at this thing tomorrow.

Q. You've been in the mix a few times going into the last day at majors. Just wondered what sort of things you've learnt from those experiences and what your mindset is going into tomorrow based on being in a similar position a few times before.

TONY FINAU: Yeah, I think every event is different. Your game is that different place. I feel like I'm playing some solid golf, pretty simple golf at the moment, which is a good feeling. If I just continue to do that tomorrow, give myself some looks and make some putts, I think I'll have a nice chance to win this thing tomorrow.

I've done a good job of trying to stay where my feet are I feel like all week, and it's kind of led to being within a few shots. Not exactly sure how many shots I'll be behind. Looks like Scottie is tapping in for eagle on 14, is what I've been told.

I'm sure I'll be within a handful of shots going into tomorrow. So no matter what the case is, I'm going to have to play a good round. Happy with how my game has set up so far this week.

Q. It's a volatile leaderboard, guys going up and down. Could you feel the energy on the course with the fans, and how did you not get sucked into that and focus on yourself?

TONY FINAU: I think where the experience comes in. Being in contention a few times in major championships, you just try to keep your head down and stay in your lane and do what you can do to the best your abilities at the moment and see where the chips stack up at the end of the round.

I feel like I've done a good job of that this week so far, just stay in my lane and hit quality shots and see where the chips stack up at the end of the round. I'll continue to do that tomorrow. With Scottie on the top of the leaderboard, most likely he's not going to go backwards. So if somebody is going to come from behind to catch Scottie tomorrow, you're going to have to play a really good round of golf. Hopefully that happens for me tomorrow.

Q. Do you hear that noise out there, a buzz in the crowd when something happens?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, I heard a lot of loud cheers behind me. I don't know what was happening. I think maybe Adam Scott holed out for eagle in front of me on 15. I definitely love that energy. Major championships bring energy, bring a lot of people, and the fans are into it. Any time something special happens on the golf course, rightfully so, there's a lot of noise.

But I love that energy. I think it's great to feed off of, and I think it's going to be quite the show tomorrow.

Q. What is the hardest part about preparing for the final round in contention at a major?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, the hardest part is, I would say, for me, is just not getting ahead of yourself and not thinking too far ahead. No matter what type of start you get off to, 72 holes is a marathon. But Sundays in major championships are their own marathon. It's like an individual race. Once you get yourself now into contention, it's a whole different race now on Sunday than it was the first 54 holes. The nerves are there, no question. All of us will be feeling them.

At the end of the day you try not to get ahead of yourself, and you guys hear it from the guys that win every week: Stay in the present; stay where your feet are. You try to do that to the best of your ability. I'm going to try to do that tomorrow and we'll see what happens.

Q. How much harder is that to do when you have a guy like Scottie leading the tournament?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, I mean, as I mentioned before, Scottie, he's the best player in the world and he's an incredible frontrunner because of how good his ball-striking is. He can ball strike his way into winning golf tournaments, even with an average putter. And so when he's on top of the leaderboard, he's extremely hard to catch but that's the task that I'm presented with this week. It looks like Scottie is going to be leading after today.

He'll be a tough guy to catch tomorrow, but you know, we've got 18 holes to see what happens.

Q. Just wondering how you'd assess your season so far, mixed bag?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, I would say exactly that. Mixed bag for sure. I've had a couple good finishes, and I would say mostly kind of disappointing finishes, nothing too special. But the great thing about, again, having experience that I have, being out here, this is my 11th season now. Every week you have an opportunity to do something special, and I try to not be nonchalant about every week and approach each week that you can change the mojo of your career, your season, in that week.

So again, I try to use my experience to my advantage. It hasn't been a season to remember, you know, to be quite honest. But that can all change in a week and I try to keep that attitude, that fresh attitude every time I have an opportunity to tee it up, and I've got a cool opportunity to change the season and change the course of my career.

So we'll give it the best shot we have tomorrow.