Tony Finau and Dustin Johnson ready to rein in their game at Ryder Cup
United States duo say Le Golf National is not set up for using a driver
Thursday 27 September 2018 16:02, UK
Tony Finau is one of the bigger hitters on the PGA Tour but he does not expect to use his driver too much in the Ryder Cup.
The 29-year-old, who was the final captain's pick for United States skipper Jim Furyk, is fourth in the driving distance standings this year on the PGA Tour with an average of 315.3 yards - Rory McIlroy leads the way with 319.8.
However, with finding the fairway off the tee crucial on most holes at Le Golf National, Finau expects to use his irons a lot more.
He said: "I think I'll hit four to six drivers per round this week, obviously depending on how many holes we play, of course. But if I were to play 18, I would hit four to six, and on the PGA Tour I'm probably hitting more like 10 to 12. In that aspect it does take driver out of my hands.
Live Ryder Cup Golf
"It's a golf course that you have to hit the fairway, no matter what club you hit, three-iron, four-iron, and it's a great test. It's going to be great."
Finau is proud to be making his Ryder Cup debut this week and does not mind who he is paired with as he feels he is very much a team player.
"I'm extremely proud of where I am," he added. "Just having a spot on this team, it's been a dream of mine since I started playing the game at eight years old.
"I feel like I'm a team player and I grew up playing team sports and I grew up playing a lot of basketball and volleyball, so I know what it's like to be in a team room and locker room and have team-mates around each other. I feel like I'm pretty good at that."
Finau's thoughts on not being able to hit driver as often as he is used to were echoed by Dustin Johnson, who is sixth in the driving distance stats with an average of 314 yards.
"This golf course, it [reining back] is what it calls for," said the world No 1. "Doesn't really give you an option to do it [use the driver]. The holes, there's some long holes, but a lot of the par-fours, they are not too long, but they play longer because they kind of limit how far you can hit your tee balls.
"But around here, it's all about getting it in the fairway. You don't have to hit driver a lot of holes. Most of them really don't let you hit a driver. The fairways are really narrow where the driver would go.
"But you know, you can still hit. If you hit quality iron shots off the tee or three-woods, you still can get some short irons in your hands, but you have to play from the fairway."
Get the dedicated Sky Sports Golf channel to watch every minute of the Ryder Cup. Find out more.
