PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 19, 2022

Tony Finau

Southern Hills Country Club

Flash Quotes

JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon. Welcome back to the 2022 PGA Championship here at Southern Hills. We're joined by Tony Finau, who posted a 1-under 69 today. We're going to get you in and out of here quick, but pretty darned clean scorecard and has to give you a nice peace of mind one round in.

TONY FINAU: Yeah, no doubt. I didn't make a lot of mistakes. I think the biggest mistake I made was right out of the gate on my first hole. But I knew it was the beginning of a long championship. 72 holes, one bad swing isn't going to kill me on the first day.

I fought really hard all day, and I hit it really nicely on my back nine, and I had some looks where I could have made -- could have had a better score, but I was happy with the way I played, and the golf course was able to -- I was able to keep the golf course in front of me because I was hitting the fairways.

Q. What did you learn about this course today that you can't learn in a practice round?

TONY FINAU: The golf ball is going really far today. I don't know why. I don't know if it's a little more adrenaline from tournament golf or I think it's a little bit warmer than it was the last couple days, so I was surprised how far the ball was flying.

It seemed like stuff like that your instincts aren't heightened in practice rounds. They are in tournament golf because you know every shot matters and every shot counts. I was able to learn that today. I don't know exactly what that means, but I did notice right out of the gate first three holes I was hitting tee balls further than I thought they should have went and also my approach shots.

I learned from that right away, and really that's it. I think the golf course -- doesn't look like we're going to get a lot of rain, so it's a golf course that can play extremely difficult if they want it to, if they decide to firm it up. It can play extremely difficult. Anything under par I thought was a good score today.

Q. You're a birdie maker; describe how hard it is to make birdies out there, and what's the role of patience this week?

TONY FINAU: Yeah, I think patience will be a big key. I think patience will be key in any major championship from my experience. This golf course you have to have patience. You're not going to have great looks every hole. You might go through five, six holes and you miss the green, and you have to use your short game to get up-and-down.

Patience I think is a huge key. It'll be a huge key for the person that's holding the trophy at the end of the week.