Tony Finau Press Conference 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open © PGA Tour
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Okay we’ll get started we’d like to welcome Tony Fen now into the interview room our defending champion of the now Texas Children’s Houston open you were just talking about this new trophy here you held a trophy from this tournament two years ago I know you’re ready to get
Your hands on this one as well talk about being back for your title defense yeah that’d be awesome to hold this one as well the I was just saying the other trophy was massive it’s the heaviest trophy I’ve ever lifted and that I have
By far I bet it’s for I bet it’s 35 pounds it’s wild but um it’s nice to be back at a place always nice to be back at a place that he won and um especially at golf course where I you know I really performed well all week um in 2022 so
It’s quite a different title defense I just not playing the same time of the year um and 16 months later but um I am happy to be back and um looking forward to playing some good golf this week and let’s just talk a little bit about your
Season up to this point what’s the state of your game coming in yeah well I didn’t have the result I wanted last week coming into my title defense I missed the cut at the at the V bar last week um and 45th at the Players so not
The not the best finishes that I would have liked but um I’ve been working hard at my game um I’m a strong as I’ve ever been as far as getting in the gym and doing the work so I know at some point the results will come you know the work
Is there and um the body of work is there and uh I just know sometimes you go through spurts where you just don’t score it nearly as well as as when you do at other times throughout the season so um but hopefully this week I can
Spark a nice run is it is it a different mindset when you are defending or is it business as usual for the tournament um I yeah I wouldn’t say different mindset but you know you just I have more obligations this week than any you know than than you do than I
Would on a normal week um and you know also I just I have great memories uh on the golf course so that’ll just that will just help um as I as I play throughout the week lights out okay yeah that’s right are you good Mitchell still yeah okay all right we
Questions Dale we’ll get a microphone to you I mean you know defending championships and in events is you know it’s it’s more the exception than the rule it’s hard to do it uh is you come in with a great you know great memories and great confidence because of last
Year but but it sometimes that also maybe adds to the pressure a little bit yeah I think it I think it definitely can add add to the pressure um I guess being a champion out of place um people can expect you to always play well there you also there’s that added
Pressure but um I’ve been fortunate to have to try to defend a few titles um over the last couple years and um so at least I’m starting to become a little bit more familiar with how it feels to defend a tournament and um hopefully have a nice title defense this week well
Nobody is repeated here since VJ back in 04 and 05 so that’s kind of proof that it’s it’s not an easy thing to do no yeah yeah defending any title isn’t easy and um I saw my name actually next to vj’s on the uh on the on the Winner’s
Plaque so hopefully I can add my name to that back toback uh very different time of the year to be playing here your observations on how the course is different from what you remember in the fall yeah I I haven’t been out on the golf course yet I plan on doing that
After this um but just from what I I I expect you know my expectation is that the golf course will play a little softer with the over seated grass um back in the fall it was playing quite fast you know the ball ball was running the greens were were firm I don’t think
That’s going to be the case as much this week you know I hope it firms out a little bit looks like the weather’s going to hold up not going to be too much rain so um if that’s the case I do see it firming up a little bit but I don’t
Think it’s going to play nearly as firm as it did back in November and you uh you know you pretty much you led almost from the get-go you were rarely out at first that that scores a great feeling how how hard is that to do yeah I think
It’s yeah I think it’s a tough tough task um I guess they call it wire to wire where you’re pretty much leading every day and um I think here and Detroit are the two my two titles where um I led pretty much from start to finish and yeah it’s an incredibly tough
Thing to do you know you usually don’t have your best stuff for 4 days but um sometimes uh certain weeks you do and um last time I played here I definitely did and it’d be pretty amazing thing to do that twice is there a particular memory or perhaps even more precise even a
Particular hole that you comes to mind when you think about what you accomplished last year yeah last time I last time I was here I walked off the ninth green on Sunday uh I believe with a eight eight shot lead going into the back nine and I just remember for me
That was Uncharted Territory just in that uh I had never held the lead that high on the corn fairy Tour on the PGA tour um maybe the maybe the last time was in junior golf you know so uh it was it was a situation where it was
Um you know I I knew I was playing good enough golf to to to win the tournament but it was a situation in my head where I was kind of fighting like man this is like this could be the choke job of a century or this could you know I can win
By 11 you know I can try and run away with this thing so you know it it was kind of just a weird feel that’s what you know that’s what I remember from the from the I had played so well um all week to build that lead and um and then
It was just like all right let’s get this thing let’s get this thing in the clubhouse and and get this trophy in my hands so all right let’s go to Kevin um Tony you mentioned work being in the gym a little bit more and is there anything
Kind of you’ve added to your routine or more so doing kind of more of certain things how’s that kind of played out yeah I just I’m in the gym more often than I’ve ever been well and the numbers have shown me this year you know my my
Speed is up I think I’m fourth on ball speed or swing speed this year which is for me I haven’t been that high since really my first couple years on tour um so it s you know for me it’s paying off it hasn’t paid off in results yet but
Again the work is there and and I know at some point you know it just it’s how the game is you know at some point you start getting results and that turns into more confidence and and hopefully better results more often so um the work is the work never ends
But I I’ve put in a lot of work outside the golf course to make sure that my body’s um strong and fit and um again I at some point I know it’s going to pay some dividends the um the numbers and strokes gained approach you’ve always been pretty solid but it’s gone on
Uptick the last two or three years is there anything you’d attribute that to I think just learning really just learning about how I do it how I swing the club um what are the good things that I do what are some things that I
Need to work on and and just try to be more diligent and and working on the little things um really that’s that’s really it I think I’ve you try to get better every every day and ultimately every year you’re out here and fortunately for me in that area I’ve
Gotten better each year um hitting it a little bit closer to the whole each year and um yeah just the little things have have paid off I think in a big way just in that I’m hitting it closer to the hole which allows me to make more
Birdies this is your um 10th year on tour does it seem that long does it feel like it’s flown by or how would you kind of assess that when you think of it being your 10th year on yeah it’s it’s crazy my 10th year um it’s a little bit
Of both it feels like it’s flown by and it also feels like yeah I could see how it’s been 10 years you know as I think back on um maybe my first win or my first you know uh major championship I was like wow did feel like quite a long
Time ago so uh it’s a little bit of both but it’s quite the journey it’s quite the journey to to be out here for 10 years um I didn’t really know what to expect when I got to the tour but um it’s definitely exceeded any of my
Expectations um just being able to do what I love every single day I think is is quite the blessing for me and the um you’re part of the esteemed corn fairy tour class of 2014 which this year has already become the winning cor fre tour class which is pretty quick in 10 years
To do that when you think back to being part of that class kind of what are the memories that come to mind from That season and just what it was about that class that has allowed it to have so many great players from it yeah it’s
Quite cool to be part of that um I played a lot of golf with Max hom in on the corn FY tour Justin Thomas and so I got to know those guys pretty well on the corn Fury tour as we were paired together um really often um but you know
I think Nick Taylor Adam hadwin these are all guys that we all you know we all competed hard against each other on the corn Ferry tour and it’s cool to see that our class has had so much success um in on the PGA tour you know and it’s
It’s really cool for me just to be a part of that class all right let’s go to Mark and then back over to Dale Tony everybody sets goals at the start of Seasons usually um but can you just tell like so far this season what do you feel
Like you’ve been doing really well in your game and what do you feel like you struggling with and need to continue working on yeah so I I’ve been I’ve been hitting the golf ball close um you know I think historically um ball striking has been my my strength on the PGA tour and
Especially over the last few years driving the golf ball has been my strength and I would say this year I haven’t driven the golf ball nearly as well as I have in the years in the in the past and so I’m I’m not hitting as many Fairways
So then my ball striking um just hasn’t been as good as I needed to be um my putting’s across the board a lot better and I feel a lot better with the putter in my hand and and again it’s one of those things where so far up to this
Point I think I’ve played either eight or nine events so still um a a big enough sample size to know what I need to work on and what I’m doing but I’m still a small sample size compared to what um a full season looks like so um I’m optimistic that good things are
Going to happen uh soon and and hopefully I spark that this week all right back to Dale going back to the the back that back nine on Sunday in the fall what what how protecting the lead is is is as you mentioned can be really hard what
What what did you do differently just to make certain that you didn’t didn’t have the choke of the C well I I I Tred to just stay in the same mindset and just and try and I tried to increase the lead um that’s really what I wanted to do I
Thought it would be really cool to win to win the win a golf tournament by multiple or by double digits um because to play conservatively would probably that that would then send you in the wrong wrong direction yeah because I because I had been playing just so solid
All week you know I didn’t really think I needed to change anything it was more of a uh yeah it was more of a mentality thing than it was a physical thing I knew I was playing well enough I was hitting the golf ball well and putting it well
And um to me it was just keep playing the game you’ve been playing for the last 63 holes and and the tournament will be yours so I didn’t end up increasing the lead you know the the lead decreased but at no point um on that back nine did it cross my mind that
I wasn’t going to win the golf tournament which is um which is a rare feeling um you know you again I just I had such a big lead and was playing well that um as holes and shots went on you know to me in my mind it was evident
That I was going to win the golf tournament I just needed to continue to keep my head down and not focus on the end result just one shot at a time you know it’s it’s a very cliche thing to say but that’s um that’s really where
You’re at in those situations is um hit the best shot at that time and and move forward and and I was still able to pull off a victory by four shots did anything happen on Thursday that made you think think that wow I’m in a zone I’m in a
Zone this week is it just I’m kind of just throwing that out there but not really you know I I was coming off a miscut um last time I was last time I won as well so I guess that that’s the the one parallel I have going
Into this week is last time I won here by you know having one of my best weeks I missed the cut um the last time I played here as well so um I really didn’t feel like I was playing great going into the week um but sometimes you
Get out on the golf course and you make some putts you make some nice swings and um um and you just start to stack those things up throughout the week and that’s really one it was just one of those weeks where that just happened and I I
Was able to get into my groove and and again play some of the best golf of my career you last time I was here all right I’ll good yeah let’s take one more from Kevin and then we’ll wrap it up um Tony so this course is unique on tour in
That it’s a mun locals can play for 30 bucks during the week kids can play for 10 bucks what’s it like knowing that you guys are playing and on this platform and of course it’s truly open open to you know the Houston Community where anyone can go fight yeah I absolutely
Love it you know I grew up playing on a mini golf course a par three next to a uh an executive course um back in Salt Lake City and um I love that we’re playing on a public golf course I think it’s I think it’s important to do that
On the PGA tour and then the locals have an opportunity to play the same golf course that we’re playing see the shots maybe that we hit and um and have access to to the same golf course that we play so I think it’s quite special that that we’re playing here this week and
Hopefully this golf tournament is hosted here for many years to come and lastly I did want to ask um Scotty sheffler having such a great one back toback wins have you played much with him and what impresses you about his game yeah so just a quick Scotty Sheffer Story the
First time I ever played with Scotty I I I didn’t know who he I didn’t really know who he was he was a rookie on the PGA tour and I played with him at TPC Boston this was in I think 17 or 18 was his rookie year and
Uh we’re playing together and after nine holes I think he shoots like seven under or whatever and I’m not really paying attention you know kind of focusing on my own game and we get to number 17 and he makes another birdie and I look over
To my cad I’m like man this guy’s got to be eight or nine under you know like and my cat’s like uh how about 11 you know so anyways you know he birdies the last to to shoot 59 I was playing with him and that was the first time I it was the
First time I heard of him it you know was the first time that I played with him so um you know that gave you an idea maybe not the first time I’ve heard of him but I I vaguely knew who he was coming from the corn furry tour I knew
He was a good player but um anyways that was the first time I played with Scotty he’s shot of 59 at TPC Boston and I knew uh I knew he was special from that moment on you know being teammates with him on some of these rer cup and
President Cup teams over the last few years gotten to know him uh have played together a handful of times with him when he won the Masters I played with him the first two rounds and it was evident to me that uh that he was going to be hoisting the Green Jacket after
That on Friday so um I’ve played some enough rounds with him to know how great of a player he is but I think it doesn’t beat the person that he is I think he’s pretty fantastic for our game and um cool to see all the success that he’s
Having all right Tony as always thank you for your time best of Lu this week thank you
