Tony Finau shot just two birdies and stayed bogey-free to card his highest score of the week, a 68, yet still retains the lead heading into the final day of the Cadence Bank Houston Open.
First birdie of the day for the leader.@TonyFinauGolf extends his lead to 5 shots @HouOpenGolf. pic.twitter.com/i8keWzy4ZI
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 12, 2022
“That was a really good round. I think the score doesn’t say that, but I think I played better than yesterday. You know, yesterday I shot 62, but today that 68 I thought was pretty impressive for the conditions.
“Today I hit [every], which is something I don’t think I’ve ever done on my career on the PGA Tour, hit every fairway. So that was super important.
“This golf course is tricky, got the north wind. Most golf courses are made for a south wind so you knew it was tough, but I thought the setup was good by the PGA Tour to make it playable with tough conditions and I was able to make a couple birdies.”
Finau managed to hit every fairway and sixteen greens on a day when he cold wind in Texas led to an average score of 71.2.
“You try to stay as present as you can and just try, you know, you hear it all the time, it’s pretty cliche, one shot at a time. But I think it’s a lot easier to be present when the conditions are so tough; you really have to focus on every shot, create a picture and hit a shot. I think I did that really well really all week but especially today, and I’m going to need to do that well tomorrow.”
Four shots behind at 11-under lies England’s Ben Taylor who carded a 65 followed by compatriot Justin Rose whose 66 gave him a share of third place at 8-under alongside Americans Wyndham Clark (68) and Tyson Alexander (70).
“Listen, it’s all in Tony’s hands,” said Rose. “You can see everybody stacking up behind him 9-under, 8-under, 7-under, 6-under. If Tony doesn’t have a great day tomorrow, there’s 20 guys that can win the tournament.”
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