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WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIPMay 5, 2012Ryan MooreCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Ryan Moore, one of our five leaders currently, there's still a few players on the golf course, but looks like there's going to be a pretty big logjam there at the top heading into the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship. Good day for you today, not a lot of problems, four birdies, no bogeys, maybe just a couple comments about your round. RYAN MOORE: Yeah, it was kind of what I've been doing all week, just good, solid, steady golf, just put it in the fairway, putting it on the green, and able to make some pretty tough two‑putts. When I had a reasonable opportunity for birdie, I converted, so... Q. As crowded as it looks like it's going to be at the top, I know you've got to focus on yourself, but do you think about being more aggressive? RYAN MOORE: No, I don't approach it any differently. I like how I'm playing right now, and I'm just going to keep trying to do exactly what I'm doing. I mean, I'm just playing good, solid golf, and in the end if that gets me right in the mix, then great. There's no reason to adjust or change. I mean, I'm playing well, and just going to keep trying to do what I'm doing. Q. Do you watch the scoreboard tomorrow? RYAN MOORE: I mean, it's hard not to see them sometimes, so I don't go out of my way to be checking, but you know, coming down the stretch, maybe the last four or five holes, I might be paying attention a little bit, seeing what's going on. But yeah, I'm not a big scoreboard watcher. Q. Are you surprised at all that the lead didn't fluctuate as much as it seemed like conditions were good early? RYAN MOORE: Yeah, they were definitely scorable on the conditions on the front side, but it was pretty blustery making the turn and that whole back side. I hit some pretty good shots that the wind didn't agree with. You know, and I think that's what in the end kind of kept the scores down. It made 15 pretty tough, almost unreachable today. I'm sure some people were getting it there, but to me that wasn't a reachable par‑5 like it normally is, or at least can chase it up around that green, and it was playing right back into the wind. 18 is also right back into the wind. That's not an easy golf hole, let alone straight back into the wind. It definitely toughened things up on the back side. Q. What's been working for you the last couple of months? You've been in a real nice groove with the way you're playing. RYAN MOORE: Yeah, I've been hitting the ball much better the last month and a half or so. But you know, the putter has kind of been missing at some of those other tournaments. I finished fourth at Bay Hill and just honestly putted average at best but hit the ball great, was really, really happy with that week. And the same thing kind of in San Antonio. I think I finished seventh or eighth there, and I think I had five or six three‑putts that week, which is just not like me. I made enough birdies, but the putting has kind of been what hasn't allowed me to be right there on Sunday. And finally this week, I've been avoiding three‑putts, and when I have a reasonable birdie chance, I'm converting. Q. Are you surprised it's been a long time since your last win at Greensboro? RYAN MOORE: No, I'm not surprised at all right now. I don't have the best track record necessarily at this golf tournament, but that's never really been‑‑ made a difference one way or another to me. I've almost won a number of different tournaments, and some of them, it's like I've won and then never really played well, at Greensboro. So for me it's all about how I'm playing. It's not necessarily about the golf course or the venue. You know, I've been playing. I've been progressing nicely over the last month and a half, and I've just been kind of waiting for the putter to kind of wake up, and it did this week. Q. You say you're hitting the ball well. Have you made any adjustments with your swing? RYAN MOORE: You know, not really. I started working with a new guy about a month and a half ago, and really, it's about as untechnical as possible. I mean, we're really just working on being just a little more athletic, honestly, in the end. That's really what we're working on, just kind of a more basic, athletic motion, just kind of allowing my body to move how it should. Q. Anything you attribute your increased putting to? RYAN MOORE: I went back to my old putter that I used the majority of last year. I kind of took a good long look at my stats a couple weeks ago from over the past few years, and I didn't play as well as I would have liked to last year, and I think the putter is maybe the easiest thing to switch out when you're a little frustrated with your playing. But I looked at the numbers and looked at the stats, and my stats were really good with my putter last year, so I figured I should probably give that one a try again, and hey, here we go. Q. With every shot being pretty precious at this point, are you able to put the penalty thing behind you? RYAN MOORE: Well, yeah, until you just brought it up. Geez. Yeah, I mean, there's nothing you can do about it. It's obviously frustrating, especially when you think that they've dealt with that. I thought that was the whole point of changing that rule was that if the player is obviously not at fault and the ball moves, it's not a penalty. And me and my fellow competitor who was standing a foot and a half away from me, because it was a six‑inch tap‑in, he was fixing a pitch mark, I'm halfway through my stroke, the ball moves, and I look up at him, and he's like, yeah, there's no way you made that ball move. That's obviously a little bit frustrating, but just because my putter had touched the ground behind it, it's simply my fault. It's a weird rule, and it's really bad wording, and I don't blame the guys out here or anything. I mean, that's just how it's written, unfortunately, and it's just maybe not written very, very well or very clearly. But no, you know, today just started out good. I birdied the first hole, just got that shot back in my mind and just kept moving forward. Q. Do you consider yourself a veteran or a young player? RYAN MOORE: Well, I've been out here for‑‑ I think this is my eighth year, so I have no idea what exactly that makes me. I'm still somewhat young. I'm still under 30, but I've been out here for quite a while, so I've seen all of these tournaments at least six times apiece at this point, so I guess that kind of gets me into slightly veteran status. Q. What are you still learning out here I guess is a different way to ask? RYAN MOORE: Gosh, you learn stuff every single week, every single tournament. It's hard to say. You know, for me, it's just learning how to just get as much out of every single round, every single golf tournament I possibly can. It's easy to get frustrated and get down and kind of carelessly give up a shot or two here or there, and you just know in the end every shot matters, and just over the years you just see just how much the little things can‑‑ one shot here and there can affect you. It's being able to just be more patient and be able to put stuff behind you better and just get the most out of every tournament I can. Q. Is the 17th hole much different when you stand on that tee now? Can you think birdie instead of avoiding‑‑ RYAN MOORE: No, there's still a lot of water out there. Q. They didn't reduce the lake. RYAN MOORE: No. I personally like the angle a little bit better. I think it rewards‑‑ the green rewards shots a little bit better, where the angle where we were hitting across always before, you know, it was just‑‑ the green wasn't built to play from that angle. You can just tell. The slopes and the contours, everything just kind of kicked away from you and towards the water, which made that hole extra mean late in the day when it was firm and fast. I like it. I think it's a good place for the tee box, and I think it's a little fairer golf hole. Q. What did you hit in there today? I think you were one of only eight players with birdies. RYAN MOORE: I hit an 8‑iron. Q. And it was playing 174? RYAN MOORE: 174, so it was tracking nicely, just‑‑ and the wind was swirling at that point. I thought it was behind me, but then I kind of felt it across me and then I felt it into me a little bit and then I felt it back behind me. So those last three holes it was kind of doing that. It's one of those holes where you've got to step up, pick your club and hit it and hope somehow it doesn't turn back into you. I gauged it right that time. Q. It was mentioned it's a bunched‑up leaderboard. When you think about a number tomorrow, how do you distinguish yourself from everyone else? RYAN MOORE: You know, I don't think that way. That's just not how I approach my rounds of golf. I'm just trying to start out hitting good golf shots and just get some momentum going, hitting fairways, hitting greens and just giving myself chances. I mean, in the end that's what matters for me is I just need enough birdie chances throughout the day. I know I'm going to make some, so... Q. Will you probably go to the range or just give yourself a break for tomorrow? RYAN MOORE: Oh, right now? Yeah, I'm done. I liked how I played today. I liked how I hit it. I'm not one of those got to go grind it out because I hit one bad shot on 11 or something kind of people. I felt good overall today. I liked how I controlled my ball, and I'm going to rest up and hopefully be 100 percent by tomorrow afternoon. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Ryan Moore, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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