Q. Obviously a slow start but you stayed patient and were able to come back and finish strong.
TONY FINAU: Yeah, I was really happy with the finish, the way I finished. Not the ideal start, but I knew I couldn't look back after 12, just keep on plugging along and try to hit good shot after good shot, and was able to execute a lot better after that.
Q. The confidence, does that come from the form you've had coming in?
TONY FINAU: I mean, I feel like anytime I get off to a tough start, you kind of just think you can only get better from here. I mean, whether I was leading the tournament or not, I'm hopeful that it will turn around. Fortunate for me I was able to make some birdies to kind of close my front nine and then make some on my back nine. I was very pleased to finish that way, and look at the end of the day, still at the top of the leaderboard. Pretty satisfied.
Q. I want to ask you about last week playing with your kids and shooting 59 on the home course. I know it's not TOUR setup or whatever, but how does that moment and fun with your kids and doing it in that regard boost your confidence coming into a place like this?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, it kind of just told me how good I am at scoring the golf ball. I don't know how many times I've been 14-under through 16 holes on a good golf course. But it told me I was in good form and just told me, again, just how good I am at scoring the golf ball when I want to. So I think I definitely carried some of that right into this week, and that confidence I think is pretty cool.
It's only the second time I've ever shot in the 50s, so that was quite fun to have my boy there and some of his crew with me.
Q. Any other good stories? Were you thinking even lower at that point?
TONY FINAU: I was. When I was 14-under through 16, the lowest round I ever shot was 58. I wanted to make one more and try and shoot 57. That would have been pretty dang special. But I bogeyed the 17th and fortunately was able to par the last and shoot 59.
Q. We saw your comments yesterday: Swinging harder, hitting farther. Can you offer some more details on when exactly you started that experiment?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, kind of in the middle last week my coach Boyd Summerhays and I decided to crank some up a little bit after being inspired by Bryson, seeing how straight he was hitting it and how hard, and so I decided to crank it up and work on hitting a really hard fade. I've let a few go so far this week, and it's been pretty fun for me to kind of reach back more so than I have in the past and kind of open up and hit some.
Q. What's the balance in trying to gain that new advantage and messing up the swing and balance you already had?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, I kind of make up my mind as to when I'm going to do it on a hole or not. I think I'm still figuring it out. I don't know the exact balance. But the good thing is I've got that extra in the tank when I need it on certain holes. To fly a bunker on a handful of these holes I've got to kind of reach back and give it that extra. So it's nice to have that in the tank, but it definitely is a balance, overdoing it and losing that accuracy.
Q. I'd like to know what you hit on 15 from the tee and in the fairway, as well.
TONY FINAU: Yeah, 15 I hit a driver, I hit a 4-iron into the green on 15. That was nice to get my first birdie of the day and kind of get me going there. But that was a big drive for me just to put that in the fairway, try and hit the second shot on the green.
Q. How often do you think you go at it 100 percent?
TONY FINAU: You know, 100 percent, I don't really ever go out at 100 percent when I'm playing tournament golf, but I would say this is the first time I've had some close to about 90 percent out here these first couple days. I rarely even swing probably over 80, 85 percent because I don't feel like I have enough control over the golf ball. But after putting some extra time into that part of my game last week with my coach, I decided to let a few fly these first couple days, and it's been pretty fun for the most part and going pretty straight.
Q. When you say you're working with Boyd, are you just swinging harder?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, pretty much just swinging harder. I've got so much in the tank that I leave out. The result for me to try it hit it further, the result of that is my swing just goes back a little bit further. It's not something that I think about; it's just something that happens when I try and hit it harder. I don't really think about it, just stand over it and say I'm going to hit this one a little harder.
Q. You came to this because of watching Bryson a couple weeks ago in Detroit?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, more like the first four weeks. Detroit I think was kind of the icing on the cake. For someone like me that has that type of speed, looking at him and doing that, that was pretty cool and inspiring. So for me I was like, well, let me try this thing out, reach back and see if I can hit it as straight. I don't think I'm hitting it quite as straight as him, but it's worked out so far.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports