home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 19, 2006

Ryan Moore

MEDINAH, ILLINOIS

Q. Talk about your round today overall.

RYAN MOORE: It was just a solid round at the beginning. I struck the ball very well, probably best of the three days so far. I was able to convert on some good birdie opportunities. I'm happy shooting 67 on a tough golf course like this and it slips me back into somewhat reasonable position going into tomorrow.

Q. When did you find out that you had qualified for this tournament?

RYAN MOORE: That was Sunday night after Dean Wilson won the playoff. That bumped it down one more spot on Sunday night. I was fortunate to be here and trying to make the most of it.

Q. Did you know that that's what had to happen in that particular situation, that Dean had to win?

RYAN MOORE: Actually I was in a win win there, either one, either him or Lehman. Once I knew that they were both already in the field, I knew that they held that spot for the champion, so that would move it down one more on the list. I'm still definitely very fortunate to be playing right now.

Q. Can you talk about today versus the other two days? Is it a situation where you have to get comfortable out here, or was it just

RYAN MOORE: Well, I'm swinging a little different. I don't know if anybody even saw me hit a golf shot today. But I'm starting my swing a very different way because my hand has been a little sore lately, unfortunately. To it was more of a comfort with that, just getting up and being able to aim at the pin and have confidence and just hit it. You know, to have no bogeys on a golf course like this, I controlled the ball very well, and the few spots I put myself out, I was able to get out of that fortunately. It was just a comfort with the swing, really. It's a major championship and there's obviously a lot of pressure, but you've still just got to go out and play golf.

Q. Is it something today the swing has been different because of your hand, or has it been the whole week?

RYAN MOORE: All week. I started on Tuesday. I was starting with the club being parallel to the ground, so I lifted the club right away to be 90 degrees and then I turn my shoulders and hit it.

It's a little unusual, but it's the only way I can really swing right now without my hand having a fairly sharp pain, which is understandable this short after the surgery to have that pain. But I'm just trying to somehow make it work for this week, and it's been working.

Q. How did you find that that would be the way to deal with it?

RYAN MOORE: Well, it's a practice drill I've done a lot over the years and just hit a lot of balls that way, to work on my shoulder turn and a few things like that. And the position that hurts my hand is anything this way, anything down, so being in that down position was what hurt so much, and then trying to lift from there is what really hurt. So if I just set it here early, it got me out of that position, and I was just able to turn and hit it from there.

Q. Does it hurt at impact?

RYAN MOORE: No, it really didn't feel bad all day today. Even the last couple days, I have to go home and ice it quite a bit and work on it and kind of massage it a little bit just to kind of get it loosened back up. But it felt the best today that it has all week.

Q. They showed you on TV at least once. Do you think you're going to inspire people to try that?

RYAN MOORE: You know, if I keep playing like this, I don't see any reason to go back to swinging normal. You know, it's just for me, I guess I'm just not afraid to try something a little different. I didn't want to be playing in pain. That's just no fun. I was trying to find the most comfortable way of swinging the golf club for this week. That's something I've done a bit of in practice. Playing nine holes or 18 holes, every now and again, it actually helps me to eliminate all the problems I have in my swing just by doing that.

So who knows, maybe it is a better way to swing. It seems to be working.

Q. Had you ever competed doing it that way?

RYAN MOORE: No.

Q. Not until this week?

RYAN MOORE: No. The first tee shot on Thursday was a little nerve wracking, picking it up, and you can hear people going, What is he doing?

Q. Did you hear a lot of comments throughout the week?

RYAN MOORE: There was a few. You can only tell if you're standing right next to me. If you're standing around the tee box or from 150 yards or being far away, it looks like a normal golf swing really. I don't think you can tell quite as much. But definitely you look over and people are kind of fiddling and doing this, it's kind of funny. But it's working and it's not hurting.

Q. Can you give us a little bit of history on the hand? When did you first feel it and how bad did it get before you got any help?

RYAN MOORE: I first started feeling pain somewhere shortly after the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, and it might have been there that it happened. I'm not really sure, but it got progressively worse over time. I tried for a long time to figure it out, and just couldn't really figure anything out. I didn't want to go to a doctor and have him tell me I couldn't play so I was a little standoffish because I was trying to get my card at that point in time even though my hand was kind of sore.

I finally found a guy in March in Orlando that figured it out for me, that it was a broken bone in there and probably had been broken for a very long time but fortunately hadn't broken apart, it was still just cracked two thirds of the way through there, so I was actually somewhat able to swing without too much pain. But the best way to fix it was to get in there and take the little bit out because it just wouldn't heal.

So that was March 26th was that, so that was the week before The Masters, I believe. So I had to withdraw from The Masters because of that, which was very difficult. You know, I took, I think, seven or eight weeks off and have just been playing progressively more and more and it's been feeling a little bit better.

And I hit one shot last week that made it twinge. There's a lot of scar tissue in there and I can kind of irritate that and that will cause some pain. I think that's all it really is is some irritation in there, but it's enough to make me have to change it up.

Q. How long did the doctor say before it'll get to a point where you won't have the pain?

RYAN MOORE: You know, from everybody I've talked to, they say it takes about a full year to be 100 percent from a hand surgery. There's just a lot of things in there that can get irritated. So just to get everything back to completely normal takes about a year. I mean, he also said it could be two months and you'll just feel great and you won't notice it ever again. It depends. I think because it was hurt for so long, I think it's definitely going to take a little longer for it to get back to comfortable.

Q. Do you have to ice and massage it every day even if you're not playing?

RYAN MOORE: I'm supposed to, but I really don't like icing it. I have a bit of a hard time with that. I'm definitely doing it right now because it makes a big difference.

Q. Do you think it took a little bit of courage and guts to go out and look a little bit funny doing this, or is it such a big deal that it doesn't matter?

RYAN MOORE: You know, for me, like I said, I've never been too afraid to be a little different. I hit balls on the range, played a couple practice rounds and I was hitting it way better that way than I was the other way. There was a little too much indecision with just trying to get the club set and my hand was hurting, so I just decided to set it first and then just turn. It's the same golf swing, just that different order. I set, then turn instead of setting at the top.

Q. Do you think if you got into the hunt tomorrow obviously you're closer than you were, but if you get in the hunt tomorrow do you think that takes away some of the possibilities of your swing breaking down because of the pressure?

RYAN MOORE: I mean, I think it'll definitely help. Swinging with pain, especially in a vital part like your left hand, is not good, and that will create a lot of inconsistency in your swing, and that's what I tried to eliminate doing this was just the most solid, repeatable back swing I could possibly get, and that was swinging this way.

I'm going to keep it up and hopefully it keeps working.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297