Finau Switches Grip, Leads In Fort Worth After First Round

FORT WORTH, Texas – After a disappointing showing at last week’s PGA Championship, Utah native Tony Finau is finding his stroke at the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Finau scored an opening round 64 to land at first place on the leaderboard with a one-stroke lead at 6-under.

According to Finau, the biggest change he made was in his putting grip. While Finau is one of the top driving players on Tour, he has struggled with making putts. This week, he’s giving the unconventional “claw” grip a chance and it seems to be paying off.

Tony Finau isn't afraid of change.

Finau made the choice to switch to a claw putting grip, and that paid immediate dividends Thursday at Colonial Country Club, where Finau raced out to an early one-shot lead thanks to a 6-under 64. https://t.co/tjuYh1Yhck pic.twitter.com/LeGOT48v3A

— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) May 23, 2019

“It’s nice when you’re making putts,” said Finau to reporters after his round on Thursday. “The game seems to come to you.”

Currently ranked the 16^th-best player in the world rankings, Finau has one PGA Tour win under his belt, the 2016 Puerto Rico Open.

He has finished in the top 10 in each of the four majors, including most recently tying for fifth at the 2019 Masters, which was won by Tiger Woods.

Finau will tee off from the back nine on Friday at 11:44 a.m.