Ryan Moore has never played in THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. And he's not really planning on it this year, either.Reverse pyschology? Of course it is. But it worked in Moore's favor on Thursday as he fired a 65 that left him one stroke off Matt Kuchar's lead after the first round of the BMW Championship.
Moore came to Cog Hill this week ranked 58th in the FedExCup, which means he has a pretty big climb to get into the top 30 to be eligible to play at East Lake. If he can ride the momentum he gained with that round of 6 under, though, Moore just might have to change his travel plans.
And maybe that's why Moore has the psychological edge this week. He's not giving in to the pressure that others may be feeling in the third event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.
"In my mind this is my last tournament of the year and I'm just playing hard," Moore explained. "I'm just going to see what I can do. Obviously I have to do exactly what I am doing just to have a chance. That's kind of my mindset is I'm here to play hard and try and win a golf tournament, and wherever it falls from there, I mean, that's out of my control."
Moore, who set a tournament record with a back-nine 29, is playing in his sixth straight tournament in a season that has seen him win $1.8 million. As such, it's no surprise that he's looking forward to a break, and he's been able to use that to his advantage this week.
"So the thought to me in my mind that I'm kind of done after this is just kind of a relief, and just let me relax and just go play," Moore said. "Just kind of in my head, this is it, and just play hard. That's what I'm trying to achieve.
"It seemed to work pretty well today. We'll see if I can keep it up."
Even so, Moore had something of a Jekyll-Hyde round on Thursday. He made the turn at 1 over and parred No. 10 before he turned things around at the par-5 11th where he hit a "horrible" tee shot, an "even worse" layup and a "terrible" third shot into the greenside bunker.
Moore holed the bunker shot, though, and not coincidentally, "got a little positive momentum going" as he made a 7-footer for birdie at No. 12, parred the 13th and then closed with five straight birdies. His birdie putts in that streak came from 19, 6, 9 and 11 feet, as well as 2 inches, after a deft wedge at the par-5 15th.
Moore said he had no idea what kind of a roll he was on, though. Dapper, as always, in a black cardigan, khaki slacks and burgundy tie, Moore was just enjoying his stroll around Cog Hill with Marc Leishman, last year's PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, and the putts finally began to fall.
"They were just very straightforward putts," Moore reported. "Some days you get putts that are easy to read from 10 feet and some days you get five-footers that have three breaks in them somehow. It's weird. But I just kind of had really straightforward putts."
Moore was better equipped to make those putts, too, after he and his brother, Jason, who is his caddy, did some extra work on the practice green. He had started last week strong, too, with a season-low 64 but went on to shoot 76-70-76 and ended up tying for 67th. Hence, the frustration set in.
"We just kind of tweaked the grip to get my hands relaxing on the putter a bit more and really just kind of rolled the ball today again, which is how I normally like to approach it," Moore said. "I was just definitely getting a little too tense on there.
"It doesn't surprise me that I played this good of a round. You just never know when you're going to make five birdies in a row. That's just golf, and it's nice it happened at the end of the (round) so I didn't have to do anything after I did it. Just a great way to finish.'
Speaking of great ways to finish -- what about a berth in THE TOUR Championship? Even if Moore has to prolong that much anticipated break.
"(The Playoffs seem) to be making it interesting, which is, I think, the goal -- to make it kind of an everything-on-the-line-almost-every-week kind of a thing," he said. "That's truly what playoffs are in other sports, so making it a little more volatile and you can move around a lot, I think that's great. For someone like me who's played horrible, it's not so great.
"But I still have a chance. I like that. I still have a chance to get in that last tournament."
