U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 21, 2002

Ryan Moore

CRAIG SMITH: 3 and 2 today. Today, I remember you from before. Maybe you want to just stick around and move to Michigan. You've had a lot of success here.

RYAN MOORE: Yeah, I love this area. I don't know why. I'm just comfortable here. I was here a month ago and played pretty well, I guess. And just, you know, it's just nice to come back and get another chance to play here. I got a lot of fans that are coming out from this area now, and it's great.

CRAIG SMITH: I don't know if everybody know your summer but go through some of them, and how good a summer it's been to you. You qualified for the Open, you won the APL and now you're on a run here.

RYAN MOORE: Yeah, I had the tie for 8th at NCAA's it started out. That was early June, I think, first week. And then I got to qualify for the open there, and that was pretty fun. A little different than normal amateur tournaments. And then the APL was -- like I said, I came here and I played all right. Ended up walking away with that title. That was pretty nice. And have a nice big trophy in my room, that's always fun to have.

And then I played in another tournament, I don't want to talk about. And then we go to this one. And so far it's going how I would like it to.

CRAIG SMITH: Questions.

Q. Does winning the Public Links help you coming into a tournament like this? Does that, it isn't the same but there's got to be something similar?

RYAN MOORE: Yeah, it's very similar. Almost identical format, actually. Yeah, I think it helps a lot just the fact that it's match play. Both of them. And you don't get to play a whole lot of match play. So if I hadn't played in that one then I would be maybe a little rusty coming in here. And not having played match play in awhile, because none of the college tournaments are that way or very few of the amateur tournaments are. So I think that was a great warm-up, or whatever. More than a warm-up. But it was a great -- it will help me a lot this week. Definitely. I experienced what it takes to go all the way and hopefully that will carry me through a little bit.

Q. Ryan, how is a match play strategy different on a tough course like this as opposed to a course where you can score like The Orchards?

RYAN MOORE: Well, that's exactly what you just said. It's a course that like there it was, just make as many birdies as you possibly can. And just hope you're not making any bogeys. Here, you just make as many pars as you possibly can. Pars are going to win a lot of holes on this golf course, and that's kind of what I did today. I started out there, I think, the guy made two birdies on me in a row on the first couple holes and I gave one back. I gave him a hole, I bogeyed. But then I just -- I was really patient with myself. On a course like this you just make pars. And you're going to win some holes, for sure. And that's kind of how it ended up. I just played pretty consistent. Hit a lot of fairway and a lot evergreens coming in after that. And I just was 2-putting a lot, which is not always easy on these greens. Golly. I had some tough tees out there today. About nine different breaks and all that good stuff.

Q. You were behind on the front nine?

RYAN MOORE: Yeah. I was three down through five holes. I believe it was. Yeah, three down through five. So I just missed a real short birdie on the second hole. That didn't make me too awful happy. But like I said, I just went ahead and didn't get too frustrated with myself really and just stayed patient.

Q. What happened to him there? It looked like a couple of doubles.

RYAN MOORE: Yeah. He started.

Q. You were making pars and that.

RYAN MOORE: Exactly. I just I kind of started on No. 11 there I hit a really solid drive off the tee. I think I had about 80 yards in there. I don't know what it was playing today, 420 or something. And then I could tell he kind of went ahead and reached for a little extra there and got in some trouble and it was tough for him to make par from where he was. And then the same thing from there on. I just kept hitting it in the fairway and he kept kind of sunk himself and was trying to hit shots that maybe he -- it's tough to pull off some of the shots that he was trying to do there. And I just kind of put the pressure on him. He had to hit it solid.

Q. This is a course that has had a lot of Majors in the past. The Ryder Cup's going to be here in a couple years. Does that make it even more enjoyable to play here, at a course with that much history?

RYAN MOORE: Yeah, it really is. I was telling my caddy, I love playing courses that I get to watch on TV before I get to come play on them. It's just fun. Fun to see what they did on it and just I always enjoy that. It's just great. I've only played a few. I got to play Baltrusol a couple years ago and it's fun. And Pumpkin Ridge, where Tiger had won. I played the Junior there. It's fun playing those kind of courses that you get to see and you hear so much about.

Q. Is this your second USGA amateur?

RYAN MOORE: Yeah. This is my second one.

Q. Did you reach, I didn't read the notes, did you reach match play in the first one?

RYAN MOORE: No. I missed the cut. Big time.

(Laughter.). That wasn't my best tournament.

Q. So you didn't stay around looking at the scoreboard?

RYAN MOORE: No, no. I went and went to sleep. Cried myself to sleep. No, I didn't play too well there.

CRAIG SMITH: What's the difference between the Ryan Moore that played at Baltusrol and this one?

RYAN MOORE: I think the patience. It really is, that golf course is very similar to this one. The lower course there at Baltusrol is very similar to the South Course here. You just got to hit fairways and you got to hit greens and you got to be patient even if you don't hit them to just go ahead and stay calm and go ahead and hit a solid next shot and sometimes you're going to have 80 yards you got to make it up-and-down for par. That happens. I think that was really the biggest difference.

Q. Who is caddieing for you this week?

RYAN MOORE: My buddy Mark Soldan. Same guy. He's on the bag. He picked it up on my quarterfinal match at the APL and he's taken on the bag for now.

CRAIG SMITH: Spell that for us so we have it down.

RYAN MOORE: What's that, Mark? Soldan. S O L D E N? A N. Right.

Q. Don't you write the checks to him?

RYAN MOORE: Yeah. Those really, really big checks, I give him at the end of the week. Those will be coming in a few years.

Q. Is he just a lackie or does he give you any advice?

RYAN MOORE: No, he helps me out a lot. He helps me out on the greens.

Q. How does he do that if he doesn't know your game all that well?

RYAN MOORE: Well, he got to watch me enough there that he kind of learned my yardages and my yardages are the same here so he kind of helps me with club selection a bit. I like a caddy that's someone who you can just kind of bounce it off of. You say what you're thinking first and kind of see what he's thinking and just kind of something to throw the idea off of. And that's how we do it. I tell him what I'm thinking, on the green what I'm seeing and see kind of what he thinks. Maybe he sees it a little less than I see it and we will go ahead and we will see what the difference is. So it works good.

Q. Do you feel like you're, after the APL win that you're someone that people are watching here this week. Do you feel a little bit different now about how people perceive you?

RYAN MOORE: Um, sure.

(Laughter.) I guess. I got the title now, so if people notice the title, then great. I'm not putting any extra pressure on myself just because of that. I'm going to go out there and I'm going to play just as if I hadn't won the APL or hadn't made it into the Open. It's really no different. I'm going to go out there and work as hard as I can the whole time and that's what I try and do in every tournament.

CRAIG SMITH: If you're still sitting here on the weekend talking to us would Michigan be your favorite state then?

RYAN MOORE: Yeah, I think I'll be moving here definitely. Yeah.

(Laughter.) It's a great place. The people are nice and like I said, I played pretty well here, so I hope I keep it up.

Q. I don't mean to compare to Tiger Woods, but Tiger Woods always says that he wants to be remembered in history. You have a chance here of winning today of this tournament this week, of making history, is that something you think about?

RYAN MOORE: Of course. Oh, I always think about that. Try not to when I'm out there make playing. But it's something that would be nice. I don't think I have my name in any record books yet, so that would be great. But I'm not putting any extra pressure on myself or playing any differently just because of that. I'm just going to go out there I'm going to stick with my game plan and like I said, just play my heart out the whole time.

Q. Isn't it Billy Mayfair that won both of them and he didn't do it in the same year?

RYAN MOORE: No, he did them consecutive years. Year after that.

Q. But you're going to top that?

RYAN MOORE: I could. Sure. There is the possibility. I'm going to do my best to do it, but we will see.

CRAIG SMITH: Okay.

RYAN MOORE: Anybody?

End of FastScripts....