|
The 30-year-old said he "never" even suspected
that United States captain Woods was joking when he said he had
some "sad news", which Finau presumed meant that he had not
received one of the four wild card selections.
Woods, it turns out, is quite the jokester.
"I knew I was in the running with a handful of guys but you just
never know what he's thinking," Finau, who narrowly failed to
make the team automatically, said in a telephone interview with
Reuters.
"When he made that indication that it was going to be a tough
phone call with some sad news I was kind of saddened.
"I guess I just don't know him well enough that he's a bit of a
jokester."
Finau said that Woods had left him hanging for about 15 seconds,
a long 15 seconds at that, before finally telling him that he
was on the team.
Woods could sense Finau's disappointment.
"I could feel his heart sink when I said I had some tough news.
So, I let him sweat it out for a few seconds before welcoming
him to the Presidents Cup," Woods wrote in a blog on the
Presidents Cup website.
The long-hitting, affable Finau, who is of Polynesian descent,
will make his Presidents Cup debut against the International
Team at Royal Melbourne from Dec. 12-15, having already equipped
himself well at last year's Ryder Cup.
Finau said he will not hold any hard feelings against Woods for
his prank.
"I was happy that phone call ended a good way and not a sad
way," Finau said.
"It was the total package of a prank. It was definitely a story
I'll tell for the rest of my life of how Tiger pulled my leg on
how I thought I missed the team."
(Reporting by Andrew Both; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
