Finau's big drives carrying him to top of leaderboard

Tony Finau entered the 83rd Masters Tournament on Thursday with the most talked about ankle in golf.

After Saturday’s sizzling 8-under-par 64, he enters Sunday talking about his chance to wear the green jacket.

The long-hitting Finau tied the tournament record for lowest first-nine total at 30, and he's at 11 under after three days.

The 29-year-old will make a bid for his first career major title on Sunday, playing in the final group with leader Francesco Molinari and the man responsible for getting him in golf, Tiger Woods.

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Molinari sits at 13 under, while Woods is tied with Finau at 11 under.

“I felt good,” Finau said. “I’m driving the ball nicely, and on this golf course, if I’m hitting my driver well, I feel good. Going into today I felt calm and comfortable and I think my score showed that.”

Finau gained national notoriety after his well-documented ankle injury, suffered last year celebrating a hole-in-one during the Wednesday Par-3 Contest. He still showed off his big game that week, tying for 10th despite his ankle issues.

“My ankle felt great standing on the tee fully healthy this year,” Finau said. “I know it’s a golf course that I like, and playing healthy this year is nice.”

Finau wasted no time proving it. He birdied the opening three holes, then continued to beat up the par 5s with an eagle on No. 8 after his second shot stopped eight inches from the cup.

After going out in 30, Finau shot a 34 on the second nine with seven pars and birdies on both par 5s. Through three rounds, he's 10-under par on the par 5s.

“I’m just driving the ball well,” said Finau, who leads the tournament in driving at 318.8 yards. “Hitting it with length and hitting it in the fairway. The par 5s are very reachable for me. I’m hitting mid-to-long irons into all of them.

“History always tells us the guys that play the par 5s well are the ones that go on to win the tournament.”

If Finau were to win the Masters today, he would erase a memory from the U.S. Open last year at Shinnecock, where he was in a four-way tie for the lead in the final round. 

But he might create a great memory with his idol. In 1997, the first golf tournament Finau ever watched on television was the Masters, a runaway win by Woods.  

“Just watching Tiger dominate the way he did was very inspiring for me for some reason as a kid,” Finau said. “I took up the game (of golf) in the summer of ’97. … Tiger is a huge, huge inspiration and influence on me and that ’97 Masters meant a lot.”

So would going from being the guy who nearly broke his ankle celebrating a hole-in-one to the guy wearing a green jacket.