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WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN

February 1, 2020

Tony Finau

Scottsdale, Arizona

Q. You said after your round yesterday you were going to the range and iron things out with the driver. You did exactly that, from 110th to 2nd in the field off the tee. What did you figure out?
TONY FINAU: How to hit it a little bit straighter, apparently. Yeah, I hit it nice off the tee today and it took pressure off other parts of my game.

Q. And the other parts of your game were firing as well. We're going to take a look. This is your eagle on 13.
TONY FINAU: Yeah, hit two perfect shots in there to the middle of the green and read this one perfectly. And about halfway there I knew it had a great chance and it rolled right in. So that was nice to get an eagle there.

Q. And this was one of my favorite reactions of the day. Kobe jersey on, talk me through the shot.
TONY FINAU: I had a perfect number for a sand wedge and go ahead and fire right at the pin. Damn near made it. So that would have been pretty sweet with the Kobe jersey on. But I like that shot. That was pretty nice.

Q. I was watching you with your family, I know how close you guys are, you have a ton of kids. Kobe has been an important role model in your life, you've been highlighting him all week this week. What kind of perspective does that give you on a week like this?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, just how important family is. I've been through tragedy before in my life. You definitely don't want to wish that on any family. But it confirmed to me how important family are, my family, my kids. And again, it's a sad time for the Kobe fans and his family, we're thinking about him, I got 18 holes, I'm in great position and I look forward to tomorrow.

Q. What a wonderful round of golf. Started with a birdie at the 1st and then you just rolled through this 18 holes of golf, 9-under, 62, you're 16-under, heading to Sunday, your thoughts on how well it went out for you today.
TONY FINAU: Yeah, it was nice. I made some putts early and I felt pretty good all day. It was an important putt I think I made on 8 and 9 to kind of get me going, after a solid start, and just kind of ran from there. I gave myself a lot of looks and I was able to make some putts and capitalize on those looks.

Q. Tell me about how well struck those two irons were to the par-5s on the back nine. That one at 13 was pure, you made about a 20-footer. And then the one at 15 was just all over the flag.
TONY FINAU: Yeah, the one on 15 was beautiful. I hit both shots perfect, exactly where I'm looking and I was able to capitalize on one of them. Unfortunately, the short one I missed. But I feel like, the game feels good and I look forward to tomorrow and getting after it.

Q. Is there anything right now you're going to work on tonight or are you just feeling really good about where you are right now?
TONY FINAU: I'm in great position. I don't know what the -- there's a lot of golf to be played out there, guys still have holes to play, so I don't know exactly what position I'll be in, but I know I'm going to have a chance to win tomorrow and that's exciting for me.

Q. Who you got tomorrow in the Super Bowl?
TONY FINAU: I got the Chiefs. Big Andy Reid fan and I think he's a great coach and deserves a Super Bowl. So I'm going to go with the Chiefs.

Q. Well you tie your low on the PGA TOUR with this third round 62. What was working for you out there?
TONY FINAU: I hit more fairways today so I was able to give myself some short irons into the par-4s and I scored really nicely with them and everything was kind of vibing, every time you shoot in the low 60s it seems to be that way. So it was a nice round and a Saturday.

Q. When you hit 12 out of 14 fairways, 15 out of 18 greens, what's it like being in that type of rhythm, what are the swing thoughts on that type of rhythm?
TONY FINAU: Not too much going on upstairs, I think you're looking and you're hitting. The biggest thing is capitalizing. The greens are so good here, the golf course is in such great shape you got to capitalize when you hit them close and I was able to do that these last couple days and hopefully continue that tomorrow.

Q. At what point could you tell, I have it today, I'm going to be able to make a big move?
TONY FINAU: When I eagled 13 I knew there was a lot of scoring holes in front of me after that, but when I eagled 13 that was pretty cool and I knew at that point let's try and take command of this golf tournament and I was able to do that. Still a lot of golf to be played out there, guys still have a few holes to go, but it's exciting when you have a chance to win on Sunday, it's what you play for and I know I'm going to have that opportunity tomorrow.

Q. What do you define as the Mamba Mentality?
TONY FINAU: The Mamba Mentality? Just simply put hard work and love for your craft. I think that's what Kobe preached and what he continues to preach even with, that's, I think that's his lasting legacy, just a lot of hard work and so much love for your craft that you get lost in your work. So I would say that that's what the Mamba Mentality is all about.

Q. That round looked really good, what did you make of it, how good was that?
TONY FINAU: It was really good, it was really fun, coming down the stretch there I tried to just enjoy myself no matter how I'm playing. And obviously when you're playing well it seems to be more fun, but those shots into 15, 16, 17, those are so fun, just to be in that atmosphere and feel that electricity and the energy from all the crowd. So I was happy that I was able to capitalize on that one on 16. That was quite fun to hit that shot and, man, I'm pretty happy with being a couple under in that Kobe jersey, looks like I'll be wearing it tomorrow.

Q. Was there a point when things shifted for you from trying to figure out this golf course to actually now you're in contention to actually winning the tournament?
TONY FINAU: After I had some time to think about playing the weekend after yesterday's round, I knew I was playing well and I wanted to give myself an opportunity to win on Sunday here. It's a golf course that I do like, I just haven't had great success in the past. And out in the middle of the round today I knew that I was well in contention and if I had a good finish that I would have a great chance to win tomorrow. So I, I pushed myself to do that and I was able to do that and it looks like -- I don't know if I'm going to be leading or whatever the case, but I'm going to have a chance to win tomorrow and that's exciting.

Q. Jon called it as close to a perfect round as he's seen save for maybe two short putts. Would you agree with that?
TONY FINAU: It was a great round, no doubt. I missed the one on 15 where I stuffed it in there and another one on 17. It would be nice to have those back, I would have had the low round of my career. But it was a beautiful round of golf and nice thing to say from Jon, obviously someone that knows a lot of great golf and has seen a lot of great golf.

Q. Do you have a number in mind tomorrow that you think might win this tournament?
TONY FINAU: 20-under's got a great chance. 20-under you can take a lot of the guys out of the equation, guys that are 11- or 12-, they're going to have to shoot pretty ridiculous tomorrow. That seems to be a good number. Yeah, I haven't put that much thought into it, it just popped into my head, it seems like 20-under would be pretty good.

Q. When you're going that low does the course record ever pop into your head at any point?
TONY FINAU: Not really, just kind of vibing, just kind of going, staying in your lane and trying to play and hit as many good shots as you can coming down the stretch. All the holes are scorable out here, but there's also trouble on all of them as well. 17 you got trouble, 18 you have trouble -- damn near got in trouble on 18. So there's room to breathe out here, in just that you can score, but you got to hit it good in order to do that. So I wasn't really thinking course record at any point, just trying to stay in my lane and see how many birdies I could make coming down the stretch.

Q. You mentioned hard work. What did you work on the most coming into this season?
TONY FINAU: Oh, man, I got a lot of rest, after the Presidents Cup I felt pretty good. I don't know if I can pinpoint what I -- yeah, nothing really, I learned a lot, I feel like, my first five seasons on TOUR, and I really, I didn't do too many crazy things. I knew my game was in a good place after Presidents Cup, just needed some rest and I'm off to a nice start this year already.

Q. You've talked about the fact that a good season for you is going to include a win. How do you handle that sort of expectation going into tomorrow when you are going to have a really good chance to get that?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, well, if I want to accomplish the things I feel like I can accomplish I have to put those type of expectations on myself. So I look forward to tomorrow, my game's in a good place and I always tell myself whatever happens, you're going to learn from it and get better and stronger. As long as it doesn't kill you, you know, I'm still standing here punching and I'm going to do that for the rest of my career. So I got 18 holes to try and win this golf tournament and my expectation is exactly that.

Q. When you have the lead do you sleep very well?
TONY FINAU: I sleep great. I'm a great sleeper. I got my Whoop to tell me how great I sleep, so hopefully that number is right around seven, eight hours, that's pretty good for me.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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