DUBLIN, Ohio – This could be scary.
Tony Finau, one of the longest players on the PGA Tour, is going to, on occasion, chase Bryson DeChambeau and his ridiculous distance numbers. Mind you, Finau is a lanky, 6-foot-5 bomber with a long swing. Now, he’s going to be a lanky, 6-5 bomber with a faster swing.
“Kind of in the middle last week my coach Boyd Summerhays and I decided to crank some up a little bit after being inspired by Bryson, seeing how straight he was hitting it and how hard, and so I decided to crank it up and work on hitting a really hard fade,” Finau said. “I’ve let a few go so far this week, and it’s been pretty fun for me to kind of reach back more than I have in the past and kind of open up and hit some.”
It’s working so far. The world No. 19 is in prime position to win his second PGA Tour title after two rounds of the Memorial at Muirfield Village Golf Club. After opening with a 6-under-par 66, Finau tacked on a 69 Friday and shares the 36-hole lead with Ryan Palmer (67-68).
Memorial: Leaderboard | Tee times | How to watch | Gallery
Finau came into the week in good form. OK, outstanding form. Last week near his home in Utah, Finau was 14-under through 16 holes at Victory Ranch Golf Club – eight birdies and an eagle – and finished with a 59. And that’s not even his best round; Finau said he shot 58 with a bogey.
The form has traveled and now Finau is intent on sending his tee shots on longer trips after seeing what DeChambeau has been doing post-COVID break. DeChambeau has added 45-50 pounds of mass and gained ball speed that’s allowing his to tape-measure shots with all the clubs – except in putter.
This week, DeChambeau hit a 3-wood 407 yards on 17 and his driver 423 on the first. Since the PGA Tour returned last month, DeChambeau has stunned his peers and fans with his length – he can hit 8-iron 190 and a 4-iron hybrid 275. When he won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, that convinced Finau to put the pedal to the metal more often.
“Detroit was kind of the icing on the cake. For someone like me that has that type of speed, looking at him and doing that, that was pretty cool and inspiring,” Finau said. “So, for me, I was like, well, let me try this thing out, reach back and see if I can hit it as straight. I don’t think I’m hitting it quite as straight as him, but it’s worked out so far.”
But Finau isn’t going to go all Bryson – he’s not about to start gobbling up 5,000 calories a day. But he will swing harder.
“I kind of make up my mind as to when I’m going to do it on a hole or not. I think I’m still figuring it out,” Finau said. “But the good thing is I’ve got that extra in the tank when I need it on certain holes. To fly a bunker on a handful of these holes I’ve got to kind of reach back and give it that extra. So it’s nice to have that in the tank, but it definitely is a balance, overdoing it and losing that accuracy.
“I don’t really ever go out at 100 percent when I’m playing tournament golf, but I would say this is the first time I’ve had some close to about 90 percent out here these first couple days. I rarely even swing probably over 80, 85 percent because I don’t feel like I have enough control over the golf ball. But after putting some extra time into that part of my game last week with my coach, I decided to let a few fly these first couple days, and it’s been pretty fun for the most part.”
[lawrence-related id=778054918,778054830,778054810]