"Not out here to make friends" coach sheds light on Tosti's spat with Finau
Alejandro Tosti's college golf coach says the Argentine is "not scared of anyone" on the PGA Tour following his 'icy' exchange with Tony Finau.
Alejandro Tosti's college golf coach believes the Argentine's competitive attitude rubbed Tony Finau up the wrong way in the third round of the Texas Children's Houston Open.
Finau and Tosti were involved in a series of frosty exchanges on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Park, according to on-course announcer John Wood.
They were joined by Thomas Detry, and Wood was following their every move.
The first "icy" exchange between six-time PGA Tour winner Finau and rookie Tosti came on the par-4 4th when both players ended up hitting their approach shots to the exact same spot on the green.
Finau was actually 38 feet 8 inches away, according to Shot Link Data, and Tosti was 38 feet 9 inches away.
Tosti and Finau were looking at each other, with neither wanting to go first as to receive a benefit on the line and speed of the putt.
After several minutes of deliberation, and Detry giving the final verdict, Tosti stepped in to take his putt after getting Finau to move his marker.
But the Argentine did not appear keen to be putting first.
Both Tosti and Finau eventually hit their putts and they walked off with two-putt pars.
Then a similar situation played out on the par-4 6th.
According to Shot Link, Finau was correct to get Tosti to play first once more.
Finau's ball was 30 feet away from the hole - but off the green - while Tosti was at 30 feet 7 inches on the green.
Tosti was again not best pleased, especially after Finau pointed at him to go first.
It was then that on-course announcer Wood confirmed tension was very much in the air.
Wood said on the live broadcast:
One hole later, Wood, who used to caddie for the likes of Matt Kuchar and Hunter Mahan on the PGA Tour back in the day, added:
Two holes later, footage showed Finau and Tosti talking on the 8th tee as they waited for World No.1 Scottie Scheffler to clear the fairway in front of them.
It appeared as though they were thankfully able to clear the air during that conversation.
Finau went on to card a lacklustre round of 72 to fall from the overnight lead to two shots off the pace heading into the final round.
Tosti posted a 68 to move into a five-way tie for the lead with Scheffler, Detry, David Skinns and Stephan Jaeger.
Finau did not speak with the media, and Tosti was not asked by reporters to talk about his exchanges with the American.
Tosti's Florida golf coach JC Deacon was, however, and he believed 6ft 4in Finau was more than likely rubbed up the wrong way by the 5ft 6in Argentine.
Even despite their size difference.
Deacon told Golf Central:
He added Tosti once told him:
What did you make of the frosty exchanges between Finau and Tosti? Do you want to see more of that on the PGA Tour? Share your thoughts and comments over on the GolfMagic social media channels.
