Taking it all in his stride
Thursday, April 5, 2018 was a day that ended well for Tony Finau, although its beginning was a living nightmare. It was the day of his Masters debut at Augusta National – an emotional milestone that had loomed far out of reach for many years – but Finau literally couldn’t walk down the stairs. His manager had to prop him up, such was the excruciating pain in Finau’s left ankle, yet he was supposed to tee off in the first Major of the year in five hours’ time. Impossible, you’d think.
And all because of a playful celebration of a hole-in-one at the previous day’s Par 3 Contest that went horribly wrong. You have probably seen the footage, as hard to watch as it is.
It seemed an innocuous jig down the grassy slope in front of the 7th tee until Finau’s left foot gave way. He partially dislocated his ankle before calmly reaching down to ease the joint back into place.
“I had so much adrenaline when I hit the hole-in-one that when my ankle went I was not in much pain, to be honest,” recalls Finau in an exclusive interview.
