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ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANSApril 26, 2018Daniel SummerhaysTony FinauAvondale, Louisiana Q. Daniel, Tony, great start. Daniel for you, great finish. Birdies at 17 and 18. Especially 18. Pretty spectacular stuff. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Yeah, it was really fun. Actually we were on the clock and I got a bad time on 17 tee, you know, so I'm trying to like deal with some of that. But I was really happy how I kind of collected myself and was able to roll beautiful putt on 17. And then got fortunate on 18 to have it kind of stay just outside the bunker. I'm a professional golfer, but I'm really good at putting through the fringe. It's one of my strengths. It was just really fun to see that go in and escape with a birdie there. Q. Tony, how would you describe the day? I know you guys are the best of friends. That had to be fun. TONY FINAU: Yeah, it is incredible. A lots of fun whenever you can play that well and with one of your great friends is always a good thing. He got us off to a great start. The hardest part of the day was when it rained early. 1, 2, 3 it rained, our first three holes. He was able to right the ship. Birdied 1 and 2 and had a tap-in on 3, 230 yard par-3. So he got us start off on the right foot and we were able to just play really solid golf. We were both in most of the holes. Double birdied a few holes. We just played some really good golf, and then for him to kind of bail me out on 18, that was huge. It was in my hands I felt like to make a birdies there. I was in good position off the tee and didn't make a good swing. That's why you got a partner here. Today he was able to bail me out on the last hole. Q. Speaking of the right foot, how is your ankle? TONY FINAU: The left foot, yeah. It's better. I did some work last couple weeks with some guys back in Utah and it's getting a lot better. Feeling stronger each day. Looking on the up, so I'm happy about that. Q. Daniel, Mark is in the studio, and he describes you as the point guard and Tony as the power forward or center. Is that accurate? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: That's accurate. We took a picture yesterday with Zurich right behind there, and they were kind of mean, my brother Boyd and Tony. They put my on the low side, you know, so I think my eye level was even lower than normal. Yeah, in high school they used to call me Khalid El-Amin. He used to play for Yukon, the guard, the short stocky guy. I can pass and shoot the three. Q. Great playing today. You guys were a great team today. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Thank you so much. Q. Birdieing 17 and 18, how can that momentum of today's finish help carry you into tomorrow? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: I think it's really important to get off to a good start in best ball. Last year we started alternate shot and you always felt like you were behind the eight ball, because it is a more difficult format. So to come out and really play good golf as a team, 10-under par, I think that sets us up really nice for tomorrow to maybe not be holding the reins quite as much. In alternate shot it's a different feel, so looking forward to tomorrow, but happy about our start. Q. Obviously a much different format than you're used to playing. Tony, you guys have known each other since you were about 16 years old. How does that friendship come into play and how much of an advantage is it when you're out here in a team format? TONY FINAU: Yeah, I think it just relaxes us. We know each other really well. We've played quite a few practice rounds together. We have dinners together. So we just have that relationship to where the pressure, there's not a lot of pressure. We play with each other all the time. That's a huge part of playing team golf, is knowing your partner and knowing he's not disappointed when you don't make a good swing. So that's part of it this week, is just feeling good while you play. I think we both just feel good playing around each other. Q. Tony, the last time we saw you, one of the last times, you were hitting an ace on Wednesday at the Masters. Unfortunately injured your ankle in the process. Saw you at the airport on Monday and you said, It's good enough. In what ways is that ankle impacting how you're playing out there, if at all? TONY FINAU: Yeah, I think a great remedy for something hurting is some good golf; 62 is going to make the ankle feel a lot better. It's in good position. I did some good work the last couple weeks with some trainers back home in Utah and it's feeling pretty good. I look forward to just continuing to strengthen it. It's not 100%, but it's feeling a lot better. Just look forward to the week. Q. Just thoughts on the round? How did you guys feel out there? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: Felt great. I was able to come out and make a birdie out of the fairway bunker on No. 1. The rain really did start coming down. We had casual water on No. 2 on the green. We had to wait for 10, 12 minutes for some squeegees to get out there. Was able to birdie there again. So nice in tough conditions to get out and make a couple birdies early on. Then Tone, I mean, he just played -- he birdied all the hard holes, you know. He really hit some amazing shots out there. Something interesting I think with this, you know, they talk about all this good communication as a team. It's really interesting. We didn't help each other once on a read, a club selection. But what Tony said, we're really comfortable with each other. So we do our process, we do our thing, knowing in the back of your mind your partner is completely happy and satisfied with what you've decided to do. I think having that kind of feel out there was a big deal. Q. How is your ankle? TONY FINAU: Yeah, ankle is feeling fine. Feeling a lot better after that 62. But, yeah, I think it's important when you're playing team golf. Momentum I think is a huge part. Getting off to a good start was a huge part today. I think Danny birdieing those holes in the toughest conditions we'll play all week I think with the rain and the wind, birdieing those first couple holes just got our tournament started off right. The momentum was there, and we played some great golf. We really did. Just some solid golf. Both of us were in every hole, whether we had birdie looks, good birdie chip looks. It was a lot of the fun to be a part of the team today, and hopefully we can carry that momentum throughout the week. Q. Playing nine holes coming in, how do you keep from being rusty? TONY FINAU: Yeah, I didn't play a lot of golf. The main focus was just my ankle while I was back home. Sometimes simplicity is huge in this game. There is not a lot of thoughts to my swing in the first place, so there can't be that many thoughts when you don't practice. It served me well today. I knew I was hitting it well. After Augusta I just needed to give my foot some rest. I was able to do that, and that's the most important thing, just being healthy. Although I didn't play, my mind was in a good place and I got a great partner. We look forward to the next three days. Q. Was rest the only thing you needed to do? Just staying off it, or was there more treatment? TONY FINAU: Yeah, a lot of treatment. A lot of physical therapy. I did a lot of rest the first week, and then this last week really got after it as far as physical therapy, rehab, things like that. Really trying to strengthen it and get it to a point I can come out here and compete. As I said, the trainers back home in Utah did a great job with that. I felt like I was ready to go and today just kind of confirmed that to me. Q. What percentage would you say it feels? TONY FINAU: Kind of hard to put a percentage on it. I would say about 70%. Yeah, starting to get into it a lot better. I know my coach was pretty happy with some of the swings I made yesterday as far as the progress we've made from the Masters until today. I can get on to it a little bit better and starting to trust it more. I made some nice swings today, and made the right decision to come and team up with this guy and have some fun this week. Q. How has Boyd managing this relationship? DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: We all need help, you know? No, it's a tricky balance. He does a great job. He's not only my coach, but my brother's. He has to juggle that as well. I think it's easy on him this week. He only has one pro-am to go watch and take care of us one warmup at a time. We're making it easy on coach this week. Q. Did you find something last night? Saw you on the range. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: I'm always finding something. We always find something. TONY FINAU: One thing about Danny, I don't know anybody that works harder than him, someone that grinds as hard as him. He's always working on something. DANIEL SUMMERHAYS: I just was drilling a few things. Honestly, I've been working on the same stuff for a while now. I was only out there 20 minutes after the pro-am just doing some things. I've continually started to hit it better, and then I've been able to spend a little bit more time on my putting, which is always strong, but hasn't been as strong lately because I put so much time into some ball striking stuff. That was probably my most exciting thing today, was make being putts how I normally make putts. That was fun. TONY FINAU: Yeah, it was. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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