I know a lot of kids following in my footsteps, not only from my heritage, but there's younger generations trying to follow in my footsteps, so it's really cool just to be the start of something pretty special for our culture.
— Tony Finau
I've had opportunities to step foot on the grounds and play Augusta and watch the Masters. But I always, since I was a kid, I always told myself I am never going to set foot there unless I am playing and a participant.
At the heart of every slice is an open clubface. And it usually goes with a steep swing that cuts across the ball from out to in.
It's something that I dreamed of since I was a kid - to be able to represent my country and play in the Ryder Cup is what dreams are made of.
It will be a great accomplishment if I become the best player in the world. But if my children can grow up with great core values and become great people and do good things and are happy, then, man, that would bring me great joy.
Everything I do is deeply rooted in my faith and especially in Jesus Christ.
If the rules aren't going to protect the integrity of the game, then they're wrong.
Having a family, taking care of your kids and people outside yourself, maybe it's motivated me more to give that extra something.
The Ping 51-degree makes for a nice transition from the irons. On my 60, it says 8 degrees of bounce, but I grind it to about 5 or 6 degrees. I tried a head with less bounce, but it just didn't look right.
Golf is an extremely expensive sport, and growing up, I didn't come from a lot, but my parents sacrificed a lot for me to compete, and my goals were their goals.
I didn't have really much of a social life in high school, and I'm not really a partyer, so college wasn't super appealing to me at the time.
It's a cool thing to see Polynesians - there's not too many of us, period - but especially doing well in American sports. It's pretty cool.
I wear green on Sunday because it's my mom's favorite color, but green goes pretty well on Sunday at the Masters, too.
This whole golf thing was so left field for us, as Polynesians, but he had a lot of knowledge about sports in general. My dad was a genius, really. He was an absolute genius.
I've taken two weeks off before I've played a major, and I've played two straight weeks before a major as well. I definitely feel it's important, whether I've taken time off or played right before, that I take necessary rest time in the weeks before the tournament.
We didn't have cable TV. We just couldn't afford it. But you don't need cable to watch the Masters. In 1997, at the exact moment I started out, I watched Tiger Woods win the Masters.
A lot of times, college can get you sidetracked. I was ready to turn my full attention to golf.
I think it's a cool thing to have kids look up to me and to know that it doesn't matter, your background or your ethnic background. If you have goals and dreams, you can achieve them. I am extremely proud to be Tongan and Samoan, and to be the first on Tour and the first in the Masters is a cool thing.
Because my lower body is quiet, I need a full shoulder turn to generate power and speed. Keep your tempo smooth, and with the quiet lower body, you don't have to worry about losing your balance.
If you make the effort to address the moves that cause a slice, you can straighten out all your shots. It won't happen overnight, but if you're systematic about it, the process will work.
I do my best on the golf course. I am learning about the business side of it. But I have a lot of great partners that help me with all those things.
I enjoy the challenge of being a father... I try to do my best to be there for my children.
It's a privilege to be in a position to give back, and one that I take pretty seriously because I know what it's like... to be less fortunate, to be less privileged.
I think there's too many rules in golf. And I mean that's easy to say for a player, but putting together a rule book is a tough thing in this game because there are so many different parts of the game.
I generally mark my ball with a quarter, but sometimes I'll use a Canadian one-dollar coin. I have a bunch from when I played on the Canadian Tour. I'm not superstitious.
My irons are three-eighths of an inch longer than standard.
I'm really proud, just seeing a lot of the kids that have been inspired by me. There's a lot of great athletes all over the world, and some of them don't have the access or opportunity to play the game of golf.
I had a chance to win $2 million, a week after high school graduation, and if I turned pro, the sponsor was going to financially support me.
In 2013, I changed to left-hand low, or cross-handed. And it's helped a lot. At the time, the reason I switched was just a lot of inconsistency with putting. I was either making a lot of putts, or I was missing a lot of putts.
I knew when I got on tour that if I had the opportunity to give back to my community, which is Rose Park, I would.
My most important goal is to set myself up on every Sunday to have a chance to win, and I know if I do those things, then everything else will take care of itself.
It's the Tiger Woods effect. What he was able to accomplish at such a young age - he drew me to the game, and I can only speak for myself, but a lot of the players that are my age saw Tiger in his prime when we were all teenagers. We all wanted to be like him.
When your hands are cold, and you're hitting with old, low-quality irons - my first one was a Merlin model with a green shaft - you learn what to do to hit the ball solid.
The things that transpired in my life, they didn't happen in the order that they're supposed to, or are ideal. Everything just kind of fell in my lap at a young age. Things were thrown at me very fast.
I am extremely proud to be of Tongan and Samoan descent. We are really proud of our culture and, really, just being a minority.
For so many years, I was watching my tee shots slide hard to the right. I used to think I was hitting a draw at times, and the ball was still curving to the right! I still prefer to play a little fade, but I've had to recalibrate my visuals.
When I got on tour in 2014, I was hitting a slice off the tee. No joke. Yeah, I had plenty of power, and I knew how to play the curve, but I was a tour player who was watching his tee shots peel 30, 40 yards to the right.
I just had different circumstances than most players, and I think that has been an advantage - maybe I carry a little chip on my shoulder with just how tough it was for my parents to overcome some of those financial situations.
I find that my upbringing in the Church and my relationship with God are huge benefits to me in helping me become the kind of person that I want to become.
Rose Park is a community I'm very proud to be from.
When I was on the Ryder Cup team and I surrounded myself with the other 11 guys and our captains, being in that locker room, it gave me an extra sense of confidence.
I use the low-spinning Pro V1 left dot. I mark it with the logo for the Tony Finau Foundation.
Mini-tour life isn't a glamorous, professional golf life. If you're not on the PGA Tour, it is very tough financially.
It was tough, and sometimes you had to find some sponsors for a percentage of your winnings. There are a lot of variables to playing mini-tour golf because of the finances. If you don't play well, you're often losing a lot of your own money.
I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have turned pro at 17.
One of the things I learned growing up, a rule that I go by, is just never give up. That's one thing that I had to keep telling myself.
The crazy thing is, the last club I ever learned to hit was my driver. My brother and I ended up being known for our distance, but we had no idea how far we could hit the ball because we hit it the same, and all of a sudden, we're going to tournaments, and we're driving the par-4s. At 10 years old, I was hitting it, like, 240.
I have a half-court in my house. If you saw my house, you'd think I was an NBA player. I have no golf setup at all inside, just a half-court for me and a volleyball setup for my wife, who plays.
Needless to say, the Masters is the tournament I'd like to play in and win the most. I've never seen it in person and wouldn't go even if you gave me tickets, because I made a promise to myself as a kid that I wouldn't go until I played my way there.
We grew up in the Rose Park section of Salt Lake City. It's a good neighborhood but a tough one, on the poor side but proud. Sports are big. You learn to fight.
