Saturday
Sep112010
Throwback Moore leads crowded field entering final round
Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 12:07PM
Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Saturday, September 11, 2010
“I’m here to win the Western Open,” Ryan Moore said.
Then he’s come to the right place. The final round of the 107th Western Open is Sunday at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club. Western Golf Association and PGA Tour officials call it the BMW Championship these days, since the German motorcycle and car maker is paying the tab, but beneath the white canvas veneer, it’s still the Western Open at heart.
And Moore is the type of fellow who can see through the stage set. A student of golf history, he’s gone about Dubsdread wearing a sweater and tie this week. He’s also gone around in fewer strokes than anyone else. Saturday, under light rain and gloomy skies, and before a less than capacity crowd, he scored 5-under-par 66 and stands at 8-under-par 205 through 54 holes, a stroke better than Matt Kuchar, Charlie Wi and Dustin Johnson.
For Moore, the last year has been a return to the form he showed during his amateur career, especially in 2004, when he won almost everything he entered, including the Western Amateur, at Point O’Woods Golf & Country Club in Millburg, Mich.
“It was a great event,” Moore said. “I only played it one time, and I’d always wanted to. I was on a limited schedule, so I saved up some money. It was a long week, 72 holes of stroke play and 16 players in match play. You’re very tired at the end of it, very, very tired.”
Moore looks fit as a fiddle with a round to go in the quest for his second win on the PGA Tour, not to mention stylish. With the deep red cardigan sweater and white tie he sported on Saturday, Moore lacked only a watch fob in his pocket to look like the second coming of Willie Anderson, the Western’s first four-time winner.
“Bobby Jones is pretty classic with the look,” Moore said. “Who was another one? Sam Snead I always liked. It’s just that general look, though. It’s not after somebody specifically.”
At 58th in the PGA Tour’s season point standings, Moore’s believed by the computer projection to need to finish fourth or better to secure a top-30 placing and a berth in the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta two weeks from now. Thankfully for his sake, he’s playing as good as he’s looking.
Moore rebounded from Friday’s 3-over 74, chopping eight strokes off that number in the course of making six birdies and only one bogey. For Moore, the big swing came on the seventh hole, where he bellied a wedge into the cup for birdie from the fringe, a better play than the putt that prompted a double-bogey on the same hole on Friday.
“I learned my lesson,” Moore said.
Moore also birdied the first, fourth, ninth – allowing him to go out in 4-under 31 – 10th and 15th holes. Only on the par-4 13th, where he found a bunker where birdies go to die, did he bogey. A one-putt birdie on the par-5 15th was followed by three pars to finish.
For Moore, winning at Quail Hollow in 2009 was the first proof that he’d come back from a serious injury to his left hand that occurred during the 2005 U.S. Open, his final tournament as an amateur. The pain became worse and worse, and he finally needed surgery, followed by a long recovery path.
“My career took a detour,” Moore said. “Now I’m back to being consistent. Really, the last year and a half, maybe two years, I’ve started feeling a lot closer. Then it’s getting back the confidence side of it, too, because you’ve hit a lot of really bad golf shots for a long time, and you’re standing over every golf shot, and you look up and you think, I have no idea how it even went there.
“It’s not easy.”
Speaking of confidence, Dustin Johnson announced his presence with a 3-under 68 to join that crowd at 205. The man who tossed away a shot at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, and then saw an apparent playoff berth in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits lost thanks to grounding his club in the bunker he didn’t know he was standing in, now has a shot to win the third-oldest championship open to professionals in the world.
“I love it,” Johnson said. “That’s why I’m out here, is to win. I’m not out here to just play. Any time you’ve got a chance to win, it’s a great opportunity.”
Johnson’s chance has come about thanks largely to a splurge of five straight birdies. And runs of that type are happening, he thinks, because he’s become more consistent in his play.
“My misses aren’t as bad anymore,” Johnson said. “When I miss the ball, I’m maybe just off the fairway or in a sand trap, whatever, but I’m not hitting any wild shots. I’m getting more consistent with my irons, getting them dialed in better. They’re on the green now instead of a spot where I can’t get up-and-down.”
Being in contention at the National Open and PGA would confirm that. Winning Sunday would underline it. Of course, there were those wild tee shots that led to a double and a triple – bogey, that is – at Pebble Beach, plus that tee shot right of sideways at the last at Whistling Straits, which brought about the fiasco in the bunker. That, Johnson gets nothing but love about.
“I hear, ‘It wasn’t a bunker’ every time, about every hole,” Johnson said. “That’s the one I get mostly.”
Wi and Kuchar, co-leaders through 36 holes, are are also a stroke back of Moore, and will play in the pairing directly in front of Moore and Johnson on Sunday. For Wi, it’s his second straight week in contention. He was tied for sixth entering the final round last week, and but shot 74 in the final round and tied for 18th.
He’ll want to follow Saturday’s 1-under 70 with something more spicy on Sunday.
“I know everybody is jockeying for position to get into the top 30 tomorrow on the FedEx Cup points list,” Wi said. “I know where I stand (37th through last week, 10th projected) and I know what I need to do (finish ninth or better), so it’s almost never-wracking knowing what you have to do and that if you don’t perform, you might not achieve that goal.
“It’s going to be a tough test of nerves and emotions out there, but that’s why we’re here and what we do.”
Kuchar, feeling much better from what might have been a bout of 24-hour flu, had three birdies and two bogeys. As Tiger Woods might say, he just plodded along. Considering he felt so bad the first two days he didn’t want to be there, he’s in good shape, on the board and otherwise.
“I wanted so bad to just pull out of the tournament and go home,” Kuchar said. “The last thing I wanted to do was be out here trying to play golf. But I’m very pleased with the way I’m feeling at the moment.”
There are 16 players within five strokes of Moore, with Ian Poulter and Paul Casey lurking two strokes back at 6-under 207, Ernie Els and Kevin Na at 5-under 208, Zach Johnson and Retief Goosen among those at 4-under 209, and no less than Steve Stricker, Tim Clark, Luke Donald and Justin Rose hanging around at 3-under 210.
That’s what’s known as a logjam. Meanwhile, eight strokes back at even par 213, and paired together at 10:56 a.m. Sunday, are Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the duo occupying the No. 1 and No. 2 places in the world rankings. Remember them?
– Tim Cronin
Saturday, September 11, 2010
“I’m here to win the Western Open,” Ryan Moore said.
Then he’s come to the right place. The final round of the 107th Western Open is Sunday at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club. Western Golf Association and PGA Tour officials call it the BMW Championship these days, since the German motorcycle and car maker is paying the tab, but beneath the white canvas veneer, it’s still the Western Open at heart.
And Moore is the type of fellow who can see through the stage set. A student of golf history, he’s gone about Dubsdread wearing a sweater and tie this week. He’s also gone around in fewer strokes than anyone else. Saturday, under light rain and gloomy skies, and before a less than capacity crowd, he scored 5-under-par 66 and stands at 8-under-par 205 through 54 holes, a stroke better than Matt Kuchar, Charlie Wi and Dustin Johnson.
For Moore, the last year has been a return to the form he showed during his amateur career, especially in 2004, when he won almost everything he entered, including the Western Amateur, at Point O’Woods Golf & Country Club in Millburg, Mich.
“It was a great event,” Moore said. “I only played it one time, and I’d always wanted to. I was on a limited schedule, so I saved up some money. It was a long week, 72 holes of stroke play and 16 players in match play. You’re very tired at the end of it, very, very tired.”
Moore looks fit as a fiddle with a round to go in the quest for his second win on the PGA Tour, not to mention stylish. With the deep red cardigan sweater and white tie he sported on Saturday, Moore lacked only a watch fob in his pocket to look like the second coming of Willie Anderson, the Western’s first four-time winner.
“Bobby Jones is pretty classic with the look,” Moore said. “Who was another one? Sam Snead I always liked. It’s just that general look, though. It’s not after somebody specifically.”
At 58th in the PGA Tour’s season point standings, Moore’s believed by the computer projection to need to finish fourth or better to secure a top-30 placing and a berth in the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta two weeks from now. Thankfully for his sake, he’s playing as good as he’s looking.
Moore rebounded from Friday’s 3-over 74, chopping eight strokes off that number in the course of making six birdies and only one bogey. For Moore, the big swing came on the seventh hole, where he bellied a wedge into the cup for birdie from the fringe, a better play than the putt that prompted a double-bogey on the same hole on Friday.
“I learned my lesson,” Moore said.
Moore also birdied the first, fourth, ninth – allowing him to go out in 4-under 31 – 10th and 15th holes. Only on the par-4 13th, where he found a bunker where birdies go to die, did he bogey. A one-putt birdie on the par-5 15th was followed by three pars to finish.
For Moore, winning at Quail Hollow in 2009 was the first proof that he’d come back from a serious injury to his left hand that occurred during the 2005 U.S. Open, his final tournament as an amateur. The pain became worse and worse, and he finally needed surgery, followed by a long recovery path.
“My career took a detour,” Moore said. “Now I’m back to being consistent. Really, the last year and a half, maybe two years, I’ve started feeling a lot closer. Then it’s getting back the confidence side of it, too, because you’ve hit a lot of really bad golf shots for a long time, and you’re standing over every golf shot, and you look up and you think, I have no idea how it even went there.
“It’s not easy.”
Speaking of confidence, Dustin Johnson announced his presence with a 3-under 68 to join that crowd at 205. The man who tossed away a shot at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, and then saw an apparent playoff berth in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits lost thanks to grounding his club in the bunker he didn’t know he was standing in, now has a shot to win the third-oldest championship open to professionals in the world.
“I love it,” Johnson said. “That’s why I’m out here, is to win. I’m not out here to just play. Any time you’ve got a chance to win, it’s a great opportunity.”
Johnson’s chance has come about thanks largely to a splurge of five straight birdies. And runs of that type are happening, he thinks, because he’s become more consistent in his play.
“My misses aren’t as bad anymore,” Johnson said. “When I miss the ball, I’m maybe just off the fairway or in a sand trap, whatever, but I’m not hitting any wild shots. I’m getting more consistent with my irons, getting them dialed in better. They’re on the green now instead of a spot where I can’t get up-and-down.”
Being in contention at the National Open and PGA would confirm that. Winning Sunday would underline it. Of course, there were those wild tee shots that led to a double and a triple – bogey, that is – at Pebble Beach, plus that tee shot right of sideways at the last at Whistling Straits, which brought about the fiasco in the bunker. That, Johnson gets nothing but love about.
“I hear, ‘It wasn’t a bunker’ every time, about every hole,” Johnson said. “That’s the one I get mostly.”
Wi and Kuchar, co-leaders through 36 holes, are are also a stroke back of Moore, and will play in the pairing directly in front of Moore and Johnson on Sunday. For Wi, it’s his second straight week in contention. He was tied for sixth entering the final round last week, and but shot 74 in the final round and tied for 18th.
He’ll want to follow Saturday’s 1-under 70 with something more spicy on Sunday.
“I know everybody is jockeying for position to get into the top 30 tomorrow on the FedEx Cup points list,” Wi said. “I know where I stand (37th through last week, 10th projected) and I know what I need to do (finish ninth or better), so it’s almost never-wracking knowing what you have to do and that if you don’t perform, you might not achieve that goal.
“It’s going to be a tough test of nerves and emotions out there, but that’s why we’re here and what we do.”
Kuchar, feeling much better from what might have been a bout of 24-hour flu, had three birdies and two bogeys. As Tiger Woods might say, he just plodded along. Considering he felt so bad the first two days he didn’t want to be there, he’s in good shape, on the board and otherwise.
“I wanted so bad to just pull out of the tournament and go home,” Kuchar said. “The last thing I wanted to do was be out here trying to play golf. But I’m very pleased with the way I’m feeling at the moment.”
There are 16 players within five strokes of Moore, with Ian Poulter and Paul Casey lurking two strokes back at 6-under 207, Ernie Els and Kevin Na at 5-under 208, Zach Johnson and Retief Goosen among those at 4-under 209, and no less than Steve Stricker, Tim Clark, Luke Donald and Justin Rose hanging around at 3-under 210.
That’s what’s known as a logjam. Meanwhile, eight strokes back at even par 213, and paired together at 10:56 a.m. Sunday, are Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the duo occupying the No. 1 and No. 2 places in the world rankings. Remember them?
– Tim Cronin
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