THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 12, 2026

Tony Finau

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. Tony, quite the start for you here today. What are your main takeaways from today's round?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, overall it was a roller coaster type of day. I was cruising early, and then just got punched in the mouth in the middle of the round with a bunch of bogeys, kind of jumped on the bogey train. Really happy with the poise I had to just finish off where I started and shoot a few under.

Q. Would you say the delay helped you today?

TONY FINAU: I don't know about that. I'd like to say that, but I can't quite point to that as making some birdies down the stretch. I just -- it definitely -- I guess it didn't hurt just to regroup a little bit and try to make some birdies. But I was just happy the roller coaster ended up moving this direction at the end and not down.

Q. How is the course playing now after a little bit of rain? I think the wind changed, as well.

TONY FINAU: Yeah, surprisingly, still pretty firm. The greens are still pretty firm. But the speed of the greens definitely slowed down. Just the moisture on the greens. I don't know how much more rain we'll get. Obviously if it does rain it is going to soften the golf course. But I didn't see too much of that. It didn't really rain enough for it to really soften as far as the way the ball bounced, but the greens are definitely slower than they were to start.

Q. Putting has been pretty solid this year and really good today. Anything you attribute that to, something you're working on?

TONY FINAU: No, I mean, the putter has been nice. I got a new -- I put in the Scottsdale TEC putter from Ping back in February, about five, six weeks ago. It's kind of been nice to throw a different type of putter in there. I used a blade for a long time, but that mallet seems to be working pretty well.

Q. A lot of compliments on the fit out there today?

TONY FINAU: Oh, yeah. Rocking the old-school look.

Q. What's your relationship to Pete Dye's design of this course after today's round?

TONY FINAU: After today's round, if you're just asking that, we've got a good relationship. Eight birdies is good, I think, around this place. If I can eliminate some of those bogeys we'll have a shot on Sunday, but I definitely put myself in contention today.

Q. What's the most demanding shot on this course for you?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, 17 and 18, you're going to hear it through eternity. Those two shots, when the wind is off the left, those are nightmare shots, nightmare holes.

I've got to play them better over the next few days. But those holes are about as hard as it gets.

Q. Just wanted to ask about playing with Akshay today and how he battled and what's it like playing with him and his game.

TONY FINAU: Yeah, Akshay is a good friend so I know him well. Super pumped for him and his team coming off an unbelievable week. The kid, I've said it for a long time, the future is -- there's no ceiling for this kid. To be able to play with him, again, he's a good friend, and to be able to play with him when he's playing good golf, and me just kind of trying to play good golf, it was a lot of fun.