Tony Finau: Staying calm helps me on the big stages

I was just wondering, what are some of the things that you and Boyd work on in your swing especially heading into next season? Like what are some of the priorities with you and your swing?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, there’s a couple things. After Mexico I took a couple weeks off, so I only picked up the clubs a couple days ago, went over to Phoenix. But in the process of trying to have some leverage on my golf swing, make it a little higher so I can just swing more up and down and around my body, so that’s something we’re working on right now. I hit some nice shots out there today and the last couple days. It’s definitely something that we’ve wanted to address. Someone being my height, I think it’s a lot better to swing up and down, more so than around you, so that’s something that we want to work on this offseason and hopefully hit it a little better and a little straighter.

Q. And even further, too, right?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, and even further, yeah, get some more leverage. I’m known for having a short backswing and it works, but I think I definitely can hit it further. Not that I want to, it’s not like we go into this offseason like, can we get some distance and let’s try and hit it further, but I think that could be the result of that.

Q. How did you come to this conclusion?

TONY FINAU: It’s something that throughout the year we’ve noticed when I don’t swing it well, I’m a little flat, a little short. So it’s something that we want to work on, but now is finally the time that I have to actually work on it. When you’re playing competitive golf, you want to be careful with what you address and how much attention you pay to those sort of things. You want to be able to play when it’s time to play. But this week I’m playing, I play the QBE Shootout next week, and then I’m not playing again until Torrey, so I’ve got another month even after that to fine tune some things.

It’s always just about getting better. I had a great season but I know I can get better, and one of the areas I can get better on is striking the golf ball and I want to try and improve on that this year.

Q. What made this a special season to you considering your world rankings shot up and you end the year without a win, which has got to be frustrating. If you were to look at the season as a whole, the one thing that made it special would be what?

TONY FINAU: It started at the Masters, just the comfort level at the big tournaments for me. I finished in the top-10 at the Masters and that was a big deal for me, especially considering my circumstances; we all know a little different than most that week.

I think just the comfort level more than anything else. The air is thin at the top of the leaderboard and it’s that way for everybody. I seem to be more comfortable there as I played and competed, and that only comes from being there and having experience at the top of the leaderboard.

So I put myself in positions to win. Unfortunately, wasn’t able to get it done this past season, but I’m getting more comfortable in those positions and getting more comfortable playing against the best players in the world on the toughest golf courses in the world. That’s something that I’ve taken from this past season.

And then just to top it off, to be on the Ryder Cup team and to be with those 11 guys and the captains that we had on our American side was very special for me. The camaraderie was great, and to just be surrounded by those players and those captains, I think it’s contagious to want to get better and be inspired to be better.

Those are some of the takeaways I have from this past season.

Q. Tony, you mentioned Augusta. How long after Augusta did it take for you to get to 100 percent healthy?

TONY FINAU: The U.S. Open, so however long that was from Augusta, April until June, so only maybe about six weeks. I felt great at Shinnecock and that was the first time that I really felt like I could get to my left side. My left ankle was the one that was hurt. I could finally get to my left side and really commit. From then on I felt pretty good and there was no real issues.

Q. And then everything’s been made a big deal this fall season about Cam Champ, how far he hits the ball. As someone who’s up there in that stratosphere, when you hear those conversations sometimes, do you almost roll your eyes, thinking there’s so many other parts of the game. Hitting the ball a long way straight, there’s so many other elements that go into this. Do you have sort of that take on it?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, but I know how big a deal it is to hit it that far and hit it that good and 2

hit it that straight. It’s a huge advantage. I played with Cameron in Mexico, and I’ve actually played a lot of golf with Cameron. We have the same manager, Chris Armstrong, so I’ve known about him for a while and I’ve played with him quite a few times. It’s very impressive to see someone hit a golf ball that far and that straight with those type of mechanics. He’s one on the come-up, as we all know, but that’s where the game’s headed, I feel. Distance has always been a big part of the game. I think that it’s no more true now — it’s more true now than it’s ever been, that the game is going in that direction and now you’re going to see guys hit it that far and hit it that straight as well.

TONY FINAU: I haven’t seen anybody hit it further than Cameron Champ. It’s very impressive. So I invited him — just a short story. I invited him to my foundation event this year and he had a long drive contest against my cousin, who finished second in the World Long Drive twice. Ben Tua’one. He finished second in ’11, I think, and ’12 in the Remax World Long Drive, and they had a driving contest and Cameron won.

Just on the range they were sending drivers and put him on TrackMan so we got the accurate distance. They both went after it and both their speeds were right around 200, just over 200, maybe 202, 203. Cameron was obviously a little more efficient, hitting in the center of the face. So his ball in Utah was going just over 400 yards, so it was quite impressive to watch.

Maybe once I had that type of speed and that type of length, but not anymore. That’s pretty incredible. He has the flexibility and the length I’ve never seen before.

Q. Tony, going back to your swing, working on your swing, would you consider it a significant adjustment, is it a minor tweak? How do you put it in perspective?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, very minor, very minor. It’s something that I’ve addressed throughout the season. Just wasn’t fully committed to making the full change. I don’t think it’s a very big change at all. I look at changes I think different than most guys just in that if it doesn’t feel right within a reasonable amount of time, for me like within a week, I’ll bag it.

I’m just that way. I’m a very instinctive player generally, but I think there’s basic setup ways to address this and that’s what we’ve been able to do. I look forward to playing this week and seeing how it comes together.

Q. Have you ever made any significant adjustments to your swing at all?

TONY FINAU: Yeah. If you look at my swing from my rookie year until now, it’s pretty different. But it comes a little bit at a time, I don’t think it’s necessary to make a gargantuan change for me. I know I’ll continue to get better, but that is something that I feel like I need at this time in my golf swing.

Q. What kind of factor is intimidation on the Tour? Are there guys that you are paired with that intimidate you? Like Tiger always had that going for him, to beat Tiger Woods. And now someone like yourself, maybe you weren’t on tour when he was winning four majors in a row, but does that mystique still hold? Is there still intimidation?

TONY FINAU: I’m not intimidated by anybody. When I tee up and play with him, I respect everybody, all the players and especially all the guys that are the best in the world. But as far as intimidation, I’m not intimidated by most guys and I don’t think a lot of guys are intimidated by me or anybody else. I don’t know if that’s the Tiger effect. We just learned how to focus and learned how to overcome that, but I don’t know how much of an intimidating factor I see when I play with guys and when guys play with me. I think we do a pretty good job of playing and keeping our head down and just staying in our lane. We’re very complimentary, we want to play and beat guys at their best, so we want to see them have their best stuff and we have our best stuff and then just compete.

Q. As a little sidebar on Tiger, you got to play with him at the TOUR Championship I think for the first time, you saw him come up 18 with a win and all that. Is all of this, the buzz about him now, is that something you thought you might not get to see?

TONY FINAU: It’s really cool just to get to see it. To be on Tour now is really special because I think we’re going to have a few years to compete against Tiger when he’s playing good golf and is in a good mindset. It’s going to be a cool thing and I look forward to these next few seasons to be able to tee it up with him and play with him and hopefully we have some really cool battles together. It’s something that I dreamed of as a kid and now it seems like more of a reality and a possibility than it ever has. To potentially have that opportunity to play against him and maybe play against him in the final group of a big tournament, the reality is there and it’s pretty exciting for someone like me who’s looked up to him since I was a kid.

Q. What about going back to your Ryder Cup comments about being around the captains, what about getting onto Tiger’s Presidents Cup team, what would that mean to you?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, big goal of mine to be on the Presidents Cup team, and especially to play for Tiger is going to be very special. We’ve got a full season ahead of us and a very important one at that. I’ll take my experiences that I had this past year of getting on the

Ryder Cup team and try to use it to my advantage throughout this season, but it will be very special if I’m able to play my way on to that team and play for Tiger.

Q. Where did you play Tiger in your dreams?

TONY FINAU: The U.S. Open was the first one, when he won at arguably the greatest golf performance of all time at Pebble Beach, in 2000 when he won. I started to picture myself playing against him at Augusta. I think we’ve all done it at all the big tournaments, all the majors coming down the stretch, maybe at a PLAYERS Championship, those are probably a few.

Q. Did you win any of them?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, of course I won. I mean, you want to give yourself confidence as a kid, so you hit the six-footer and it’s for you to win, not for him. Sometimes I would actually use two balls and I would say this one’s Tiger and that’s mine, and I would purposely miss one and then I would make mine. I think we have all done that.

Q. What do you consider the most memorable shot you hit this year?

TONY FINAU: The most memorable for sure, just leading off our guys at the Ryder Cup.

Q. The first shot, you mean?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, the first tee shot of this Ryder Cup this year, definitely the most memorable.

Q. What made it memorable, your nerves or what?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, I couldn’t sleep the night before, so a little bit of the nerves. I think more excitement than the nerves honestly, just the opportunity to lead off our guys. It being my first Ryder Cup, my teammates, my captains cheering me on. Tiger put some pressure on me. He said, “Hey, man, all this practice that you put in, all the hard work, you get on that first tee tomorrow, that’s when it counts.” So that was — he added a little bit of pressure there, but that was the most memorable tee shot. Just to be a part of that was really cool.

I hit a shot on 17 at Augusta National on Sunday for my sixth birdie in a. Row, I missed it in the right trees, it hit the tree off the tee and kicked back about 40 yards. I had a 190-yard shot and I had to hit like a 60- to 70-yard slice and I hit it to about three feet. That was a really, really good shot. I missed about a 12-footer on 18 at Augusta on Sunday to make seven birdies in a row. To be able to finish that way at Augusta was really cool, and that shot is the one that stuck out of all the birdie that I made.

Q. Lastly, a number of people have referred to you as being one of the nicest guys on Tour, which is a great compliment. I would be curious, what’s the one thing that gets under your skin off the golf course?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, driving I think gets under most people’s skin, just not courteous drivers. If you’re driving slow in the left lane, not using your signals, just the little things. I think everybody has road rage to a certain extent. I’ve never done anything crazy on the road, but yeah, I guess that’s something that will tick me off, sure.

Q. A lot of people struggle with the big moments and the big events, and you’ve shown a nice comfort level there at the big stage. What is it about your makeup do you think that allows for that?

TONY FINAU: I think my attitude is a big part of it. I’m always — I always know I have more to learn no matter what, and yeah, I just think my attitude has served me well in those type of moments. I never get too down on myself. I always feel like there’s something to be learned and you can always get better, and that’s an attitude that I’ve always had as a kid and it’s just served me well.

You know, I play and I’ve played in some of the big events like the Ryder Cup and things, and I seem to have a nice calmness to me, and that helps because it’s so easy to get anxious in those type of moments, so easy to get ahead of yourself. But I think if you train yourself to just stay in the moment, do your best to stay in the moment and I’ve done my best job to do that, just train myself to just stay in the moment and be relaxed, it helps me in those type of situations. So I think having that type of attitude helps me. A lot of guys are different, but it does help me in those type of moments so then I don’t put so much pressure on myself to perform on a big stage.