Tony Finau clawed his way to the top of the leaderboard in the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Finau, who switched to the claw putting grip a few days earlier, carded a 6-under-par 64 to take a one-stroke lead over Jordan Spieth and Roger Sloan of Canada after the first round at Colonial Country Club www.colonialgolfclub.com in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I needed to switch something,” said Finau, who was frustrated by his putting when he closed with a 79 to tie for 64th in the 101st PGA Championship on Sunday. “It’s something that I’ve kind of been thinking. It’s an itch I wanted to scratch … To me, it was just perfect time. … If I feel like something is better, I’m not afraid to change, no matter the results.
“I just wanted to switch it up. I haven’t been putting great. … Standing over the ball, the most important thing is, do you feel like you’re going to make the putt or not? Outside of everything else, do you believe you can make the putt?
“ … I wanted to try something different and it felt great out there today.”
Finau got things rolling with a 20-foot birdie putt on the third hole, made a 19-footer on the seventh, a 14-footer at the 12th and a 27-footer on the next hole, all for birdies, and sank a 20-footer off the fringe for a par on the 16th.
In all, he made slightly under 138 feet of putts.
Spieth, coming of a slump-ending tie for third in the PGA, collected eight birdies in his 65 to overcome a double-bogey 6 on the 18th hole, and Sloan matched that score with six birdies and a single bogey.
“I know my game has been progressing,” said Spieth, who won at Colonial in 2016. “I’ve been saying that for the last month, or six weeks or so. Results just end up coming when I actually start playing better golf. Simply put, that’s just what I’ve been doing.
“ … I think the course fits me well. It seems to have fit me well whether I’ve had form coming in or not. I know which spots to play to. I don’t try and do too much.”
Spieth, who is from nearby Dallas, sank a 46-foot putt on the fourth hole, holed out for a birdie from 73 feet for a birdie at No. 13 and needed only 22 putts.
Jimmy Walker, another Texan, totaled 66 to tie for fourth with Jason Dufner, Chesson Hadley, J.J. Henry, Scott Brown, Jonas Blixt of Sweden, Trey Mullinax, Peter Uihlein and Nick Watney of Davis and Fresno State.
Seventh-ranked Francesco Molinari of Italy is tied for 51st after a 71 and eighth-ranked Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis shot 72 and is tied for 66th, while third-ranked Justin Rose of England, the defending champion, struggled to a 74 and is in a tie for 95th that includes 10th-ranked Rickie Fowler of Murrieta.
For complete results, visit https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html
