We would like to welcome the winner of the 2022 3M Open, Tony Finau. Congratulations on your third career PGA TOUR title. With the win, move up to 17th in the FedExCup.
Tony: It’s awesome to get my third win here in Minnesota at the 3M Open, a golf tournament that I’ve loved. I’ve always come back ever since they’ve had it here. Man, talking about the last few hours, I think I’m still trying to catch up, still trying to figure out. I think the win is finally settling in. I was just chasing all day, that’s all I remember. Really all week. Scott played amazing golf and the thing about out here, I just know what the experience that I have, you just have to keep playing.
Related: Tony Finau’s bounce back lists the greatest in 3M Open history
Anything can happen and that’s what I did. When I really needed to hole putts, I did starting on 11, again on 14, 15, 16. I mean, I made some really crucial putts when I really needed them. Then a little bit of some heroics on the stretch on 17 and 18. A crazy bounce on 17. I called bank in the air, so I think that cancels everything out, but I did get a great bounce there and I took advantage of that. But it was quite a different feeling when I got on the 17th tee because I was just — I thought I had — I was almost chasing 20 under all day I felt like. Seemed like Scott wasn’t letting up all tournament, so to all of a sudden have the lead, I will say I got quite nervous on 17 just because it was a whole different feel on how the week was going. I never was near the lead. I was near the top of the leaderboard, but I was never within four or five shots. All of a sudden I was the one leading the golf tournament. Sometimes you’ve got to learn how to play with a lead, so it was a tournament that I just — I didn’t know I was going to be in that situation. A couple squirrelly shots on 17 and 18, but I willed my way in and really happy to get that W.
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A lot of highlights throughout the week, but one that was really special was here at the end with Scott coming up to you with the congratulations hug. I know you’ve been on both sides of things before you came out on the good side. How cool was that for Scott to have come up and shown you the deserved respect that he gave you with that?
Tony: Yeah, Scott Piercy’s awesome. I’ve known him for a very long time. We go
back to 2007 playing in the Ultimate Game together. I was 17 years old and he had won that tournament, but I’ve known him for about that long, 15 years, over 15 years now. So we’ve had a good relationship for a long time and it means everything to me. That’s the great thing about our sport I feel like is again, I’ve been on that side of it where
you take your hat off and you just congratulate the guy that gets the job done because it
takes a lot. It’s tough to win out here. I mean, I think I’m about as good an example as any of how tough it is to seal the deal. Anytime you win one it’s awesome to get the respect of the guys that you’re playing against and I was really happy to see Scott. He was genuinely happy for me, which I think makes our game so great.
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When did you start to think that the tournament might be there for somebody other than Scott? Was it not until the 17th tee?
Tony: I didn’t see a leaderboard until 16 green. When I made that putt on 15, I thought that could be maybe to tie for the lead, maybe still one back. I didn’t know what happened at 14. I still don’t know what happened at 14, but obviously something happened because when I got to 16 green and I looked over to the left of 16 green, I had a three-shot lead. My heart almost skipped a beat, I couldn’t believe it. I said, Wait a sec here. I thought that was a really nice up-and-down I had on 16 to give myself the cushion coming into 17 and 18. Anything can happen. Again, my ball-striking is something I relied on all week and unfortunately my short game’s the one that saved me on a day like today when I didn’t hit it quite as good. Down the stretch I got up and down on 17 and the two-putt I made on 18 to win the tournament was big as well.
Tony, you’ve talked about your family all week, I see them in the back. How special is it to share it with them? I know they’re all here this week.
Tony: Yeah, it’s incredibly special to have my wife and my kids here, as my wife dabs at me. They traveled with me all season this year pretty much every tournament. I can — on my hand I can count how many times they weren’t with me throughout it season, so they’ve traveled with me. So to get a win with them here just means everything. It’s an amazing feeling to walk off a green knowing you won the tournament and walk right into your family, your kids’ arms. It’s quite a special feeling. It’s something I’ve thought about and dreamed about for a long time. For that to come to fruition for me and my family today is pretty amazing. I’m humbled by it and hopefully my kids will remember this for a long time.
So this is different for that reason then?
Tony: Yeah, this one I’ll remember really forever. I didn’t have them there with me either one of my two wins, so this one’s extremely special. To witness this with my kids, have them witness me winning on the 18th green, again, it’s kind of what dreams are made
of. For that to come to fruition for me and our family today is very special.
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Tony, after you made the putt on 17, you kind of grabbed your chest a little bit. Was that just kind of the sigh of relief after making that?
Tony: Yeah, no question. I double crossed my shot on 17, which is why I went so far, it started to ride the wind. I tried to hit a hold shot to hit it up towards the middle of the green. Again, I’ve been swinging beautifully all week, there’s no reason I couldn’t trust that
shot and I made a bad swing at the wrong time. I just got lucky. Sometimes you get bounces that go your way and I’ve had many times in that situation or near the top of the leaderboard where I needed a bounce and I got the bad bounce. Nice to see that I got a good bounce today and was able to just capitalize on it. I still had a pretty squirrely lie just to get up and down and I was happy just to get that one down in three.
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You’ve had some close calls this year, a couple T2s, a T4 at Charles Schwab. Does this mean a little more with some near misses, close calls, now that you finally got one here?
Tony: Yeah, all the wins mean a lot, but for sure after I won the Northern Trust, I knew I had a lot of confidence that I wasn’t going to have to wait another five years to get one. You earn them out here, that’s just how it is. My game is as good as it’s ever been in really all aspects. I expected myself to contend and win again this year, so to be able to do it this late in the season when you’re running out of tournaments and you put that type of expectation on yourself, it’s so satisfying. That’s what makes the game so great, so satisfying, when you get the job done because you know that it doesn’t happen very often, but this one’s very special.
