He’s expected to begin play at 12:43 p.m. Thursday.
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“I understood what happened”.
The American was running across the course on Thursday (AEST) when he severely rolled his ankle and dropped to the ground. “I was quite embarrassed. If it didn’t work, then I would have lain there and been even more embarrassed, being pulled out on a stretcher celebrating a hole-in-one”.
No worries, though. He popped his ankle right back into place.
In a split second, Finau understood his lifelong dream of playing in the Masters was at risk.
“No way. No way on earth”, he said on being in this position after Round 1.
Tom Watson won the contest, shooting 6-under PAR – one shot better than Tommy Fleetwood and Thomas Pieters.
He was able to finish the competition, but was immediately taken to hospital afterwards for scans and x-rays on his ankle.
“To see him do what he did, I could relate to him”, Finau told ESPN.
“I look at myself as a pretty mentally tough person, and I think I showed that today in my round”, he said. Mind over matter for me. So didn’t sleep very much, thinking about how I was going to react when I woke up. “Kind of a scary moment for me because I kind of twisted my ankle”, Finau said about the events on Wednesday. I don’t know, it’s just one of those things. “It’s something to learn from, and hopefully I can continue the good play on the weekend”.
The 42-year-old Englishman was the last player to qualify for the first major of the year, winning last weekend’s Houston Open in a playoff after sinking a 20-foot birdie on the 72nd hole.
Photo Sergio Garcia hit five straight balls into the water on the par-5 15th hole and tied a tournament record with a 13 on the hole.
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How the 28-year-old made it to the 1 tee is awesome in itself.
