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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

August 11, 2016

Ryan Moore

Silvis, Illinois

DOUG MILNE: We'd like to welcome Ryan Moore. Thanks for joining us. Off to a great start, 6-under 65 in round 1 of the John Deere Classic, making your eighth start in the event here, and you've certainly enjoyed some success, having collected top-10 finishes I believe in two of your last four starts here, so obviously some success. With that said, just a few comments on the starting and the stopping and ultimately the 65 today.

RYAN MOORE: Yeah, it was a good start to the day. Started out really solid, made some nice putts on my first nine, and then made the turn, birdied 1, and then kind of kept it rolling and missed a couple really good opportunities in there. And then the stop happened, which definitely threw me off a little bit. My restart wasn't all that great, came out and chunked a 9-iron right from the middle of the fairway on No. 5 to start off. I fortunately got up-and-down, and hit a couple good shots after that and was able to birdie 8 coming in, then had a great par, 30-footer or so on 9.

Q. Your 20th straight round here; does this course fit your eye? Is it a confidence course for you?
RYAN MOORE: It is, yeah. It's one I've really grown to like over the years. I played it early in my career, and I took a few years kind of off in the middle, and when I came back and started playing it again, I don't know, I just -- I appreciated it more for some reason or another. Maybe I've learned over the years the type of golf courses that are good for me and that set up well for me, and this is definitely one of them.

The golf course has enough angles, and the holes that you can force it down there a little bit farther, they're pretty difficult tee shots, so guys that hit it significantly farther than me don't have a huge advantage on a golf course like this.

Yeah, I think that's part of the success. I enjoy the course. I like bent greens a lot. These are honestly some of the best we putt on every single year, and they're probably the best I've ever seen them this year. They're fantastic.

Q. One of the golfers said that the thing about the rain is courses handle it differently, and it plays a lot slower, had a couple mud balls. Did you notice a difference in the course, and if it rains more tomorrow, how does that change your approach?
RYAN MOORE: Yeah, it definitely changes the course. That was a lot of rain in a short period of time. We got back out there and the fairways were definitely a little bit softer, a little bit wet. I didn't experience any mud balls, but I think I hit it in the rough every hole after the rain delay, so maybe that was a good thing.

But yeah, I mean, every course does handle it a little bit differently. I was kind of impressed it wasn't as wet as I thought it might be with the significant amount of rain we just had. 9 fairway was a lot firmer than I thought it would be, although I was never in it, I was just walking in it, and yeah, this one I think handles rain pretty well.

Q. What's the 30-footer on the last hole do psychologically going into tomorrow?
RYAN MOORE: Well, it made my round one shot lower. In the end, that's -- I had had a good day, and I was playing well, and you hate to drop a shot on the last hole. I didn't play the hole well by any means. I didn't hit any good golf shots. But you know, a good putt can save just about anything, and that's what happened.

Yeah, it just makes you feel better about your day. To play well all day, stop for the rain delay, come back out, play all right, and just chop it around on the last hole is never going to leave a good taste in your mouth, so that just kind of saved it enough that -- I don't know, maybe sleep a little better. I'm not sure.

Q. Does it springboard you into tomorrow at all?
RYAN MOORE: Yeah, it definitely would if I get to play tomorrow. We'll see. The rain is not looking so good tomorrow, so yeah, I mean, all these tournaments, it's amazing what one shot can do for you in a given week. We're grinding and scrapping and trying to get everything out of every single round. I certainly don't expect to make a 30-footer for par very often, but my putting stroke felt great today, probably the best I've putted in a while as far as just hitting putts on my line, and even the putts I missed I liked the putts I was hitting and the way I missed them.

So you know, stepping up and making that putt kind of didn't surprise me. I felt pretty good about it, and Troy was on almost the exact same line, about eight feet outside of me, so I got to watch the speed and the line. I got a good read of it.

Q. What is it about this place? It seems like recently, every other year, you've logged a top-10 finish here. Do you feed off those vibes when you come back?
RYAN MOORE: Yeah, definitely. This is my 12th season on the PGA TOUR, so I've played every tournament a lot. I've seen every place in every condition it can possibly be in almost at this point, and like I said earlier, I think I've learned the type of courses that give me the best chance to win, and this is the type of golf course that does that to me. So that instantly makes me more confident.

And the fact that I have played pretty well here a few times out of the last few years -- you know, it's one I always look forward to coming back to, and just knowing that if I go out and play how I know I can play, I have a chance this week. There's some golf courses that are not that way for me, and I can play as good as I possibly want and still lose by 15.

Q. You talked about you chunked your first shot after the rain delay. How tough is it to reset after three and a half hours?
RYAN MOORE: You know, it's different every time. Sometimes you go right back out and just stripe it, but sometimes you're playing terrible and get a rain delay and come back out and actually play well, so it kind of -- it's just different. It's hard to go sit for three and a half hours. I had great momentum. I was hitting good golf shots, I was hitting good putts, and to stop that and then just go sit and then come back out and just kind of try and get going again, it's not that easy.

I felt good. The swing still felt good, but just not as good as it had felt. I was happy to finish 1-under with those last five and a half or four and a half holes, whatever I did.

Q. What did you do for the three and a half hours?
RYAN MOORE: I sat down and did nothing. I just sat in the clubhouse. Yeah, it was -- I don't know, I thought it was going to pass through a little bit faster than it did. Yeah, just sat and hung out, talked, all that good stuff.

DOUG MILNE: Ryan, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

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