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CIMB CLASSICNovember 2, 2014Ryan MooreKUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA CHRIS REIMER: We want to welcome and congratulations our 2014 CIMB Classic champion Ryan Moore. Ryan, displayed brilliant golf all week long but especially down the stretch today. Wonderful shots on 14, 15, 17, grinded out the par when you didn't necessarily need it on 18, but talk about especially the finishing stretch and what it means to come here and defend your title. RYAN MOORE: Well, it was incredible to finish the way I did. You know, coming down to the last few holes, I like to tell myself all the time that I'm a closer. That's what I play golf for. These are the moments and what I'm out here for, so let's do what we can. Let's just hit good shots, and lets see if we can close this thing, and I was able to do that. On 14 there, Kevin hit a great drive that looked like kind of almost like a two‑putt for birdie and I had laid up, but that was my strategy all along. That's where I was comfortable with that pin, and to hit a great wedge shot in there was a perfect‑‑ I laid it upright exactly where I needed to, perfect, full sand wedge. Just couldn't have had a nicer shot, almost ended up making that one. Then hit a great shot into that par‑3, the next hole, 15, kind of made a mess of 16, but then bounced right back and hit just a great little three‑footer pitching wedge into 17 really to kind of cap it off at that point so I could just cruise in. CHRIS REIMER: You mentioned outside this is a tournament that even if you hadn't won twice in a row, you would still suggest to all the other PGA TOUR players to come visit here. Why is that? RYAN MOORE: You know, I love it down here. I enjoy the trip every single year, not just I keep winning here, but that would be nice if that kept happening. I would like that. I would like it even more. But no, I've enjoyed it from the get‑go when we played it at The Mines, and I love this golf course. I think this is a really good test of golf. It tests every aspect of your game. It's just one I look forward to coming to really every year. It's just great hospitality, and honestly everything about it. It's just a great, great week. Q. Just want to find out, does this golf course make you play your best golf? RYAN MOORE: I think last year I took a very I'd like to say simple approach to the course. I kind of saw it as a course that it's just all about being in play. It's all about being in position. The rough was a little deeper last year, so being in the fairways was just a super premium. You really needed to be in the fairway. It wasn't as long this year, but still, it's a golf course that you can attack from the fairways, and as soon as you start missing and you're in the rough, you're scrambling for pars, and it will catch up to you. It's a course that honestly feels like it's more scorable than it is. You kind of step on to it and feel like you should go shoot 4‑ or 5‑under and you find yourself at even par after 14 or 15 holes playing pretty good golf a lot of the time. I think it's just my approach to it. I'm very conservative off the tees. I hit a lot of 3‑woods, even on par‑5s I hit a lot of 3‑woods. It's all about being in position and just giving myself that good yardage for my third shot, and that's what I'm focused on, not trying to rip a driver down there and then trying to get a 3‑wood up around the green. This course for me doesn't work that way. Q. How much nerves were you feeling before taking the last shot, and what were you thinking at that point? RYAN MOORE: On my putt on the last hole? I was pretty nervous through I would say 15, 16. There was a good amount of nerves, especially after making bogey there on 16. 17, I had hit not a great drive, but I kind of snuck it in the fairway there on the right side, and honestly, it was very unfortunate, we don't know where Kevin's ball went there. He hit it right and we looked and looked, and I think in some ways it kind of distracted me from being nervous. We kind of had to wander around and look for the ball and all that stuff. And honestly by the time I got up to hit my second shot on 17 I kind of didn't have the nerves anymore and just kind of stepped up there, was a really comfortable yardage and a shot I had been hitting all week, and you obviously don't expect to hit those to about six inches like that, but it was a shot that I was very comfortable with and I felt like I could hit a good shot right there. Coming down 18 with a three‑shot lead, there's less nerves, but there's still plenty of nerves there. There's plenty of trouble all the way down that hole that you can get in if you hit an errant shot. Definitely hadn't hit the greatest tee shot in there, hit it a little right, but that's why I hit 3‑wood, because I can get away with missing it a little bit and still have a reasonable second shot. Q. The last three wins have come in this swing, and it's all been in October. Is there a reason why you play good in this part of the season? Is it because it's a new season? RYAN MOORE: You know, it's a good question, and I've been thinking about that for a while trying to figure out why. I think part of it is we've had a good long year, and then you kind of have a little break before you go play these, but I have three or four weeks off, so you kind of get a little bit of a break and are much more rested when you play these events. But yeah, I have no idea. Maybe it's because the end is near. I see that I'm going to have like six or seven weeks off pretty soon, and it's like, all right, it's kind of the home stretch, and just play some good golf and finish off the year. I have no idea. I've got to figure that out and try and approach every tournament that way apparently. Q. It's pretty rare to win the same title two years in a row. It's even rarer to beat the same guy twice. Are you going to buy Gary a drink at some point? RYAN MOORE: You know, he had a fantastic weekend. I saw him charging up there today, and that honestly motivated me to just keep making birdies. Obviously he was playing some good golf, played great golf knew and knew he must have been feeling pretty good. It kind of kept me focusing on making birdies. Kevin was right there with me, as well, but in my mind I was trying to get to 18 the whole time. That was kind of the goal. I got close. But that was the goal. I felt like I knew if I got to 18, I would have it. Q. Over the course of the four days and particularly today, is there one aspect of your game that you think was the key to winning? RYAN MOORE: Well, there's always putting. When it comes down to it, you have to make putts. You can hit all the great shots you want. I can hit a great shot like I did into 15, that par‑3, and still got to get up and make a 10‑foot downhill left to righter, and I made the putts for the most part kind of when I needed to to keep momentum and keep staying positive during my rounds. Didn't hit a great putt on 16 honestly. It might have been my worst putt of the whole tournament, but was able to bounce back and birdie 17. Q. Given the weather the past few days, were you bracing yourself for better today or even going into Monday? RYAN MOORE: Well, I had looked at it this morning and it looked like there was much less percentage of chance to get rain than it had been on the previous days, so at least I was optimistic that we had a chance to finish. But that's just part of it. You know, and when those things happen, I always try and think of like everyone has to deal with it, it's not just you. Everyone out there is dealing with going and sitting around and waiting to go back out and all that stuff, so try and be positive about it and not let it affect me. Q. What is your advice to young Malaysians who aspire to get to where you are having seen you this afternoon play as well as you did? Would you have time on a future visit, and I know the schedule is busy, to spend some time with young Malaysians before the tournament starts, or is the program too tight and the distance too far away? RYAN MOORE: It is a little tight, but that's something we'd have to look at next year and see if we can do something on a Tuesday afternoon or a Wednesday or something. The hard part is the time change when you come over here. You go play early in the morning on Tuesday and Wednesday and you're so tired at 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon, and it's so important to rest and get ready for the tournament. But as far as advice, this game is a great game and it's a lot of fun. Always keeping it fun. I think so many kids start treating it like a job when they're 12, 13 years old. It's a game and it's fun and you should be enjoying it and going out and having fun and playing and having chipping contests and putting contests with your friends. That's the kind of stuff that makes this game so great. Q. Still very early into the FedExCup race, but really how does this sort of set you up for the upcoming season? RYAN MOORE: I mean, this is huge to start off with a victory and to get those 500 points early. It really does set the schedule for me. It makes me really get to just choose and play what I want to play and not necessarily adding stuff in or maybe wearing myself out. Just having a victory like this early in the year just allows me to be really choosey about why I play. I think that's huge for me, and it's been so big to be able to choose the last year, just be able to be really well rested and prepared every single tournament I've played, and I've played much more consistent because of that. Q. How important do you see the Olympic Games in two years' time? Do you see that as a target for yourself, or do you think it's going to do the game of golf a lot of good, the fact that it's the Olympic Games? RYAN MOORE: I think it could. I think it could be a very big positive. It's honestly not even on my radar now given as far away as it is and being that I'm American and it's going to be very, very hard to get one of those few spots that are going to be available. But you know, good golf takes care of it, and that's kind of how I approach everything. If I play good and I'm playing well enough to get myself on it, then fantastic. I think that's great. But I don't let those types of things motivate me. I'm motivated by trying to win golf tournaments. That's what I'm motivated by. I show up and try and win, and if I don't I go on to the next one and I try and win. It's pretty simple. CHRIS REIMER: This gets you into a lot of different events, so I assume we'll see you in Maui for Kapalua? RYAN MOORE: Yep, I will be in Maui because of this. That's exciting. I hadn't thought about that until right now. I love that tournament, and this gets me in there. CHRIS REIMER: Congratulations, Ryan, defending champion, and give it another go in 2016 I imagine? RYAN MOORE: Absolutely. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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