Notebook: Tony Finau Finally Finds Harmony at TPC Sawgrass After Pep Talk From Wife
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Tony Finau’s success rate around TPC Sawgrass is abysmal. In his previous six visits he has missed the cut four times and finished T57 in 2018 and T22 in 2019.
On Thursday, after a round of 1-over 73, Finau did not hide his disdain for the course.
“I'm probably not the best as far as playing good around this place,” Finau said after his first round Thursday morning. “But every time I walk off the last hole, whether it's the ninth or 18, you just always feel like you got beat up emotionally. You can never take a rest and mentally can't ever really take a rest on any hole. So, it definitely is everything you can handle.”
When asked if he thought about skipping the event since he doesn’t seem to have a good feeling for the course, Finau was honest – he said it was tempting, but that he still feels like it’s a golf course he can play.
“I just struggled to put it all together this week, it doesn't matter what my game, the state of my game is coming in here,” Finau said. “It's kind of the same story every year.”
Two days later, Finau made the cut by one shot and then posted a third-round 6-under 66, his best ever at TPC Sawgrass.
It turns out that after his interview on Thursday he talked to his wife, Alayna.
Finau shared with her his frustration with the course and how no matter what he did, it didn’t seem to work.
“Hey, you, the reason why you can't play is because you talk like that,” Alayna Finau said.
So, on Friday Finau told his coach Boyd Summerhays and caddie, Mark Urbanek, that his wife gave him a pep talk and said “I just must appreciate this place for what it is.”
“I've tried over the last couple days, and it seemed to work better,” Finau said.” I came on a nice run here this morning to finish off and made the cut. And then I have my last round today. Again, just trying to keep my head in it and not hate the place and the mental space is a little bit better right now.”
The nice run consisted of three-birdies on the back nine to shoot 33 and move from 4 over to 1 over .
No longer a torture chamber, TPC Sawgrass will still test Finau’s patience, but the pep talk by Alayna seems to have done the short-term trick.
“I think I'm appreciating the place more for what it is than I ever have,” Finau said. “So, it just started with my attitude.”
Notes
- Scottie Scheffler takes his seventh career 54-hole lead/co-lead on Tour with a 65, his career low at the Players
- Min Woo Lee seeks to become the third player in tournament history to make the Players their first career Tour title
- Aaron Rai aces the par-3 17th hole, marking the first Players Championship with multiple aces at the 17th
- 21 Third-round leaders/co-leaders to win the Players Championship (most recent: Webb Simpson, 2018)
- Tommy Fleetwood (T4/-9) ties his career low at the Players with a 7-under 65 (R1/2019); stood 4-over after his first 25 holes and played his next 29 holes in 13-under
- After making the cut on the number, Tom Hoge (T8/-8) sets the new course record at the Stadium Course with a bogey-free, 10-under 62, besting the 63 shared by nine players; began the third round on No. 10 and birdied Nos. 8 and 9 to finish his round
- 18-hole leader and Players first-timer Chad Ramey (T4/-9) rebounds from 75 in round two with 68; would become the sixth player on Tour to make a quadruple bogey and go on to win since 1983 (No. 17/R2)
- The third-round scoring average of 69.573 marks the lowest scoring average in any round at the Players Championship, breaking the previous record of 70.014 (R4/2018).