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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2018

Tony Finau

Augusta, Georgia

Q. Seemed like you're moving around pretty good out there and swinging well. How's the ankle?
TONY FINAU: It feels a lot better than it did yesterday, so we're trending in the right direction. I was able to transfer my weight a little bit better today than yesterday. So it's looking on the up.

Q. How much tape do you actually have to put around it and what did you do overnight to keep the swelling and everything down?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, just some treatment from my Doctor Love and just, there's quite a bit of tape on it and, yeah, just ice, rest, elevate, just all the stuff everybody knows with a sprained ankle. So that's pretty much what it is, a high sprained ankle and obviously putting it under pressure quite fast, but we're in the Masters, why not?

Q. What adjustments if any have you had to make to your swing or your setup?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, the ball, I put the ball back and I got to stay back on my right side at the start, just because I can't put as much pressure as I would like on my left. So just, the ball just has to be further back because my weight starts back. That's about it. I don't really think about anything else from there. I try to make just a normal swing that I've been working on and I've been hitting it nicely this year and I hit some really good shots out there, it's tough, you don't have to miss by very much on this golf course, if you don't know exactly what the wind's doing. I feel like I didn't really get rewarded for a lot of good shots I hit on the back and that's just the way this golf course plays. I tried to stay as patient as I could and I was really happy with my finish just to birdie the last hole.

Q. (No Microphone.)
TONY FINAU: I didn't make as many putts. It was tricky. The pins were tough. They really were. Subtle breaks and just with the speed and the wind, I didn't feel like I didn't ‑‑ it's not like I didn't feel like I putted as well, I feel like I putted equally as well, they didn't fall today. So still pretty confident with the putter in my hand and hopefully more fall for me on the weekend.

Q. You're probably not crazy about the round today but overall did it exceed your expectations?
TONY FINAU: No doubt. I feel pretty good. Especially what I've been through just the last 48 hours, with my body and with my ankle, just emotionally and it's been a roller coaster for me, so to be in this position, you never know what's going to be leading after a day like today, but I'm going to be in the hunt and going into the weekend and I'm excited about that at a Major Championship.

Q. Had you had a badly sprained ankle before at any other time?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, I sprained it, but not this foot. I strained my right ankle pretty bad like over a dozen times playing basketball. So I would say it's probably easier in golf for a right‑hander to sprain his right ankle, because Stack and Tilt is something that is popular, you can kind of just stay on your left side and move the ball up, at least your weight transfer is there. So this is the first time dealing with the left ankle and having to hang back is not a great move for golf, but I had to adjust, that's what you have to do in this game anyway, so I'm really pleased with the way I've been able to strike it given the circumstance.

Q. How did the course play from round one to round two?
TONY FINAU: Quite a bit different. It was softer yesterday, not as much wind, and the wind was blowing in the same direction yesterday. So it was easier to get a gist on exactly what it's doing. Today I couldn't tell if it was south, southwest, it was teetering all over the place. So again, I hit some quality shots I feel like on the back, I just wasn't, I just wasn't getting rewarded. So to just finish with that birdie on 18, I hit three perfect shots, hit the fairway, hit a gap wedge to about four feet and rolled the putt in. So to finish that way I was just excited about that, because I felt like pitching a shut out today wouldn't have been a good follow from yesterday, so I was at least able to get one back.

Q. The tweaks you made to your setup and swing was that intuitively or was that something Boyd helped you with?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, Boyd definitely helps and just to confirm, hey, what do you feel, are you able to transfer the weight, all those things. So that's why we got out on the range quite a bit early yesterday, a couple hours early, and just messed around with it. When I knew I wanted to play, I knew I wasn't going to be able to make the regular swing that I could, so we had to adapt and he definitely helped with that.

Q. So standing over that putt on 18, knowing nothing had fallen all day, what was that like?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, in this game have you to have short‑term memory. Like I said, I hit a lot of good putts that just didn't go in. So I couldn't think too much about the ones that didn't go in, I felt really confident over it and I saw it go in and it went in. So short‑term memory's a big deal in this game and I'm happy that I had that going into that putt, because I definitely could have been thinking miss, but I was pretty confident over it and as soon as I hit it, I knew it was in.

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