Tony Finau has a big day ahead of him on Friday.
He will begin his second round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open at 8:04 a.m. local time alongside defending champion Stephan Jaeger and Thomas Detry, who won the WM Phoenix Open earlier this year.
After that, Finau will head to Daikin Park to prepare for the Astros versus Mets game, which will begin at 7:10 local time. The 6-time PGA Tour winner will throw out the celebratory first pitch for Houston’s second game of the season. The Astros defeated New York 3-to-1 on Opening Day on Thursday.
“This will be my first first pitch I’ll be throwing out, so I am looking forward to it,” Finau said on Tuesday during his pre-tournament press conference.
“I haven’t held a baseball in years, so maybe I should practice over the next couple of days.”
Whether he practiced or not remains to be seen, but viewers at home and in the stands should expect Finau to at least get the ball to the plate.
“My goal is to not throw it in the dirt,” Finau said.
“That’s pretty much all my friends have told me if you throw it in the dirt, you’ll never hear the end of it, so I’m going high and hard. We’ll give it a shot. I’m really looking forward to that and happy the Astros asked me to do that.”
Finau fired an even-par 70 during Thursday’s first round and sits five shots off the lead, which is held by Keith Mitchell, Alejandro Tosti, Ryan Gerard, and Taylor Pendrith.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
