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DETROIT – It’s a week of firsts for Tony Finau, who is defending his title at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
“This is the first time that I’m coming back to a golf course and defending a tournament on the same course,” said Finau, who picked up his sixth PGA Tour title in late April at the Mexico Open.
Finau also has his likeness as a tournament giveaway for the first time: the first 1,000 fans in attendance on Tuesday and Wednesday receive a Finau bobblehead doll – and it actually looks like him.
“I thought they did a pretty dang good job,” he said. “I might have to grow that beard, grow that goatee again so I can match my bobblehead this week.
“I’m honored, I’m humbled,” Finau added. “I used to collect bobbleheads when I was young, so to now have one is, honestly, it’s just cool.”
And that’s not the only special touch the tournament is undertaking to make Finau feel at home as the defending champion. There’s also the Finau Fitu sandwich on sale at concession stands — Boar’s Head ham, Swiss cheese, pickled jalapeño, sweet onion, Maltaise Aioli, and basil tomatoes on sweet bread.
“Anybody that’s here this week, I would advise you to order it. It comes with coconut water, which is my favorite drink really on the planet,” he said. “I’ve never been a name on a menu, I’ve never been asked to have a menu item, so for them to do something that special is really cool, definitely something I’ll always remember.”
As PGA Tour media official John Bush put it, “It’s your world this week, Tony, we’re just living in it.”
“You guys are sure making it feel that way,” he said.
Big Tone 🤝 Lil Tone pic.twitter.com/q7Ss3cHZB4
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 27, 2023
Finau made only one bogey for the week, missed just six greens and posted four rounds of 67 or better en route to shooting a tournament-record 26-under par at Detroit Golf Club and remembers his wife greeting him at the 18th green with a hug and a kiss.
“It’s always a special, special moment on 18th green after you win a golf tournament to kind of have that excitement, but you also have that relief that you’ve accomplished the task that you had for the week, which is win the tournament,” he said.
Later that night he flew to Phoenix and landed in the wee hours of the morning. When he got off the plane, his family was waiting to celebrate. The moment was captured in the Netflix documentary “Full Swing,” and Finau said it’s his favorite part of his episode.
“It’s taken a village and to have a lot of my family waiting for me meant a lot, for sure,” he said.
Finau also expects to have to go even lower this year if he’s going to hoist the trophy again. Storms on Sunday have softened Detroit Golf Club, a Donald Ross design that is over 100 years old, and turned the greens into a veritable dart board, which could make it vulnerable to record scoring.
“I think this may be a week where you have to go 30 under because of the conditions being so soft, so when you shoot 30 under, you’ve got to make putts,” Finau said. “As far as my mentality, shooters shoot, that’s all there is to it.”
Finau is playing his third straight week – T-32, T-45 the last two – and noted his putter has let him down of late. But he likes putting on the Bentgrass greens here and expressed confidence that his game is rounding into form despite no top-10 finishes since January other than his win in Mexico.
“Early in my career I would say I was a very consistent player, but I didn’t have a lot of wins. Over the last couple years I haven’t been nearly as consistent, but when I have found myself in contention, I’ve won,” he explained. “It’s been the tale of almost two careers over my career, so that just tells me this week I need to put myself in contention and hopefully I have a chance – hopefully I can win.”
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