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THE BARCLAYS

August 28, 2015

Tony Finau

Edison, New Jersey

ALEX URBAN: We are here with Tony Finau, 6-under for the tournament.

TONY, take us through your play today and through two rounds.

TONY FINAU: Yeah, I feel like I played pretty nicely. When I missed some of the greens, I was for the most part able to get it up-and-down. So that's a huge out here. I feel like you're going to miss some greens; whether you're hitting it good or not you're going to miss some greens. But I was happy with the way I was chipping and putting, just to save my round.

Made kind of a mental error on my first hole. Missed, I don't know, maybe it was two feet, kind of went to tap it in and missed. I didn't want to start that way. But I was able to stay patient and still turn in a couple under. I was happy with the way I played.

Q. When you've been one of 12 players to play for $2 million, is there any comparison to be made going for this $10 million bonus?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, first of all, that was a pretty long time ago. I was really fresh out of high school. I don't know that I'll be drawing from that experience but it was pretty cool to play for that much money at that young of age.

Yeah, to have a chance to play for $10 million is really unbelievable. I don't want to look that far ahead, still just focus on what I'm doing here this week and try to attack this golf course on the weekend.

Q. You didn't come up the conventional way. Do you have to pinch yourself sometimes that you're out here on the PGA TOUR?
TONY FINAU: I mean, I feel like I've earned my stripes. I feel like I belong out here and I'm starting to prove that to myself week-in, week-out as I play here and start to get confidence. I definitely didn't grow up I feel like average golfer out here; the atmosphere that I was surrounded with and kind of living out of poverty.

It's a little -- it's just humbling. I look back from where I've been, and it's really cool to be in this position that I'm in.

Q. That Texas wedge on 12, is that from your old uni days?
TONY FINAU: 12, let's see -- yes, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, we call it the footy where I'm at. You kind of just hit it with your foot and roll it up the green. That was a pretty good one.

Q. Can you take us through your up bringing and how golf was sort of a little bit of salvation for you and kind of what you were dealing with growing up?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, so basically, the neighborhood that we grew up in, a lot of gangs, things like that. A lot of my friends were involved in that. So it was really cool to be interested in the game of golf at a really young age to kind of take me away from that, and I was able to excel early.

Had an opportunity to make $2 million when I was 17 years old, so my family and I jumped all over that. That's some hard years, some struggles through mini-tours for a few years.

But in 2013, I was finally able to get through Qualifying School, which is a great -- it was just a great time for me to finally get through Qualifying School, get to the final stage and have status on the Web.com Tour, because I knew it was going to give me some opportunities. Pretty much here I am, 18 months later, playing on the PGA TOUR. So it's just the basics of what I've been through.

Q. How old were you when you first started getting into the game, and what was the reaction from your friends and people in your neighborhood who probably weren't playing a whole lot of golf, I'm going to assume?
TONY FINAU: Not at all. It was pretty tough for my brother and I actually to play golf because nobody else was playing golf. We're the only two junior golfers on the golf course.

But I started playing when I was eight years old. Started playing competitively when I was nine and kind of winning some local events at that age.

So that was a huge confidence booster just to be able to win tournaments and compete. I loved to compete. I ended up playing -- still played some basketball through high school and things like that. In the wintertime, you can't play golf in Utah. So basketball being a winter sport in high school, was able to do some of that and I enjoyed that. I always loved playing golf and knew it was something that I wanted to do.

Q. Just to follow up on that, were you good right away? When you started playing, what was the course like?
TONY FINAU: Sorry, the end of the question?

Q. Were you good right away and what was the golf course like that you learned to play on.
TONY FINAU: So I grew up playing on a par 3 golf course. It's kind of coincidental that my brother and I hit the ball really far because it's the last club we learned how to hit. My dad taught us how to play. I look back now and I didn't even know he doesn't even know how to play.

So it's kind of crazy that he taught us how to play, because he still is not very good (laughing). It's pretty humbling, you know, to look back and see that he was able to do that for us.

But we grew up on a par 3 golf course. Learned how to chip-and-putt, and when my dad felt like we were good enough to go to a big golf course, we did that. I think I was maybe ten years old or 11 years old when I first saw some par 4s and stuff like that.

Q. What did keep you out of the stuff that the other guys you knew in the neighborhood -- what kept you out of the gangs?
TONY FINAU: Well, I have a great upbringing. For sure, I'm a pretty spiritual person, growing up the Mormon faith, that's helped, the things that I believe.

But golf was definitely a venue or an aisle away from that. I was able to use it as a vehicle to just keep me away from that. I was pretty blessed to be a very competitive person. When I started to like playing golf, I started to like to win and things like that. It just totally drew me away from what my friends were doing.

Q. Was it an advantage for you playing basketball that you didn't get burned out just focusing your attention on one sport?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, I think it was a huge advantage for me to play basketball. I mean, I don't know about advantage, but it was big for me, exactly to your point, get burned out just playing one sport. I'm a big believer in just enjoying yourself as a kid, and I was able to do that with playing high school basketball. I played some volleyball, and then obviously when golf season came around, I was able to play some golf.

My attention has always been golf since I was a kid, but when you don't have the weather, as I was mentioning then, it's fun to play other sports.

Q. For a kid growing up like you did, that lure of a possible $2 million payday, I can understand why it was irresistible. But when you look back, is there anything you would have done differently; if you know the journey you would have taken as a pro from 17 to here, would you have still done everything the same?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, that's a great question and I get that asked a lot. A lot of people, why pro so young and why jump all over that opportunity.

The opportunity presented itself and we just felt like it was the best decision and when I look back on it now, I don't know that I would be where I am if I didn't go through the struggles that I've been through on mini-tours and things like that. I don't know that what I've learned I could have learned in college, just playing at a professional level at such a young age.

I qualified for some PGA TOUR events as a 17-year-old and I knew my game for sure wasn't ready at that point. But I was able to build my game and then just able to learn. And here I am a few years later.

Q. What can you tell us about fire knife dancing?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, fire knife dancing, it's pretty basic. It's just a stick with knives at the end. We wrap towels around the knives that you can light on fire, and you spin it around and whoever can do the best tricks, you know, it's a warrior dance back in the islands of Samoa. My mom taught me how to do it and I actually started doing that before I even picked up any sports.

I was really good. I competed. There was competitions in Hawai'i I competed just spinning the knife around. I have cuts all over my forearms from it and burn marks. It's not safe for me to do now that I play golf, but I enjoy doing it. It's very risky.

Q. I have so many follow-up questions after that. You said you were pretty good. What's your sort of fire knife dancing handicap, and what's the bigger danger, getting burned or getting cut?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, getting cut. It's an actual knife, so that's why we call it the fire knife is there's a hook at the end, and if you catch it -- you're supposed to be so good that you need to catch it in the middle every time you spin it around yourself, throw it on your legs or whatever it may be. So if you catch it on the wrong part, you can cut your hand, or your hand might be caught on fire.

But as far as my handicap for fire knife dancing, so I finished third in the Junior World Competition in fire knife dancing when I was ten. I think nine years old, I finish in the Top-10. Obviously there's not thousands of kids doing it, but I was really good. I could spin the knife around and spin the stick around pretty good.

Q. I read that you used to do that to raise money to make money so you could play --
TONY FINAU: Yeah, so my mom and dad would do fund-raiser luaus for my brother and I to travel and play junior golf tournaments. So it was really cool, my sisters did the hula, I'm sure you guys are familiar with that. And then my brother and I would do the haka and then some men dances, and then I would finish it off with the fire knife dance.

I'm glad you brought that up. That's one of the things we did for fund-raising to try to raise some funds for playing junior golf tournaments.

Q. How do you explain your demeanor on the golf course?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, I'm pretty relaxed. I have always been that way. The player I kind of pattern my game after is Ernie Els. I felt like I could really attach to him when I was a kid. I knew I was going to be big and I just love the way that he plays the game, his demeanor and everything. So I've kind of patterned myself after that a little bit when I'm on the course.

But I'm pretty relaxed no matter what the situation is, and I think that's helped me in my golf career.

Q. And just what did you take out of your good play at the two majors, the U.S. Open and the PGA, those experiences?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, you've got to stay real patient on the weekends. And I think the atmosphere this week is going to be really similar to the major championships now that we are playing in the Playoffs now. So hopefully I can draw off of those experiences and just be as patient as I can. Hopefully the game plan that I have for the weekend will be good enough.

Q. Since the fire skill was brought up, how did that skill translate when you started playing golf? Are there any ways in which your expertise in that helped you in golf?
TONY FINAU: Well, you have to have a lot of eye-hand coordination, I feel like, to be able to spin a stick around and catch it in the same spot. You're not watching the knife every time you throw it, so you've got to be that good.

So your instincts have to be that good. So I feel like a couple of those things, eye-hand coordination and instincts. I do play with a lot of feel when I play golf, and sometimes off of instincts, as well. Maybe those are a couple things that -- I feel like I'm pretty good with my hands in all kinds of things that I do.

But I think for sure that that's helped my golf game, yeah, just to have the hand-eye coordination at a young age.

Thanks, guys.

ALEX URBAN: Thanks, Tony.

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