Media Center Interviews
April 20, 2018
Second Round Interview with Ryan Moore
RYAN MOORE: My distance control has been great and really my ball-striking's been really nice the last few weeks, last few events. The putter just kind of hasn't been cooperating. It hasn't felt bad, they just haven't been going in. So it was nice to kind of capitalize on the good opportunities the last couple days and made some good par savers when I need to and just added up to some good scores.
Q. The putter was working today and I think in particular on 14 when you probably hit it a little shorter than you wanted to on the eagle putt, but you converted that seven-footer for birdie and then carried it on to 15, similar putt?
RYAN MOORE: Yeah, yeah, exactly. That was a huge momentum putt there. Hit a pretty good shot in there, just kind of got through the green a little hotter than I wanted. It was a tough putt from down there with a lot of wind. That green's pretty exposed and left it, yeah, really short and committed to that second putt really well and knocked it right in the middle.
Again, I had a very similar putt the next hole. I was able to convert that one, so just good positive momentum. Missed a couple good opportunities on 10 and 11 that I had early in that back side so it was nice to get those and get going in the right direction on the back.
Q. 68-67 looks great on the scorecard. Well played.
RYAN MOORE: Thank you.
Q. Who says you have to hit a lot of fairways on this very difficult golf course to play well? Ryan, just eight fairways hit but 15 greens. How solid were the irons today?
RYAN MOORE: The irons were great. My iron play really has been great ever since switching to the new set of irons, the PXG GEN2 irons, my distance control's been incredible. And really, around this golf course that's what matters is the right distance. You can get in some pretty tough spots if you're long and short. So I kind of hit it the right distance all day and give myself plenty of good birdie opportunities and didn't stress myself out too much with too many up-and-downs.
Q. Knowing it was a little cooler today and a lot windier than what you may have had yesterday, what was sort of the strategy, the mindset going into this round?
RYAN MOORE: You know, kind of do the same thing I did yesterday. I played some really nice golf yesterday, I just controlled the ball nicely all the way around and was bogey free yesterday, so thought let's go try and do that again, was able to go moving forward today, which I don't expect on this golf course with no wind. So to play in tough windy conditions, you know, to go bogey free, it was some good solid golf.
Q. You mentioned your scrambling a moment ago. Your scrambling number's very good after two rounds. How much does that sort of free up the iron play and the rest of your game on this difficult course?
RYAN MOORE: It's important out here because the greens are pretty small. In the wind like this you're not going to hit every single green, so to have comfort in that, I made some great improvements this year in my short game. Working with a new coach, Drew Steckle, and it's felt very, very comfortable. Around a golf course like that, it matter a lot.
Q. You mentioned PXG. There's a lot of PXG representation at the top of this leaderboard right now. Just from an equipment standpoint, is there anything --
RYAN MOORE: It's great equipment. The new irons that they've made that we've been playing now for a little while are phenomenal, they really are. The new GEN2 irons are incredible and my iron play's been showing it this year. It's definitely improved a little bit, my distance control's improved a little bit and that makes a difference out here. Just being able to be closer to the hole and being the right distance on a golf course like this matters a lot. Long or short, you can get yourself in some serious trouble, so hitting it and controlling it the right distance around a place like this is really, really important.
Q. How would you sum up the year to date? You had a few top-10s, you obviously played well at Bay Hill (inaudible.)
RYAN MOORE: Yeah, I've had three top-10s so far, a couple top-25s. It's been solid golf, especially the last few weeks. I haven't got a ton out of it. I've been striking it really, really nicely off the tee and I think last week I was like second in greens in regulation, second in fairways hit for the guys who played four rounds. So around a golf course like that, that's really important.
The putter just wasn't there. So this week just got a little more comfortable with the putter and knocked a few putts in that kind of matter kind of early in my rounds and it's going in. That's kind of what's been missing lately. I've hit the ball really nicely.
Go back to Bay Hill, I finished fifth there, I was top few of all tee-to-green stats, and again the putting just was okay. But I was hitting it so nicely that it was kind of hard to play too bad, so I guess that's a good thing. There's been a lot of positives. Been working with a new coach since December, which is a little different for me. I had worked with the same guy for a long time. Seems to be helping.
Q. Speaking of your putting, anything that you did this week, any tweaks that you made?
RYAN MOORE: Not really. For me it was comfort. Let's stop trying to do this or that and let's just get comfortable over it, let's get our line and hit it. I think sometimes you can get a little too mechanical or you're trying to work on this position or that position. In the end it was just let's get comfortable this week.
