Ryan Moore

Ryan Moore
Personal information
Full name	Ryan David Moore
Born	December 5, 1982 (1982-12-05) (age 27) Tacoma, Washington
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Nationality	United States
Residence	Las Vegas, Nevada
Career
College	UNLV
Turned professional	2005
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	1
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	1
Best results in Major Championships
The Masters	T13: 2005
U.S. Open	T10: 2009
Open Championship	T42: 2007
PGA Championship	T9: 2006

Ryan David Moore (born December 5, 1982) is an American professional golfer, currently playing on the PGA Tour. He has gained notoriety for not accepting sponsorships or wearing any branded clothing.

Amateur career

Moore was born in Tacoma, Washington and grew up in nearby Puyallup. He is a 2001 graduate of Cascade Christian High School, a small Class 1A school which did not have a golf team. Moore competed for Class 4A Puyallup High School, where he lettered all four years. He was the runner-up in the U.S. Junior Championship in 2000, and won the Washington high school individual championship in 2001, beating fellow UNLV golfer and Capital High School alumni Andres Gonzalez for the championship. He accepted a scholarship to UNLV, where he lettered for four seasons for the Rebels and graduated in 2005 with a degree in communications and public relations.

During the summer before his senior year of college, Moore had one of the most impressive seasons in the modern era of amateur golf. He captured multiple titles in 2004, including the U.S. Amateur, the Western Amateur, the U.S. Amateur Public Links (also won in 2002) and the NCAA individual championship.

Professional career

2005

Moore won the Haskins Award in 2005 as the outstanding collegiate golfer in the nation. He placed 13th at the 2005 Masters, winning low amateur and a spot in the 2006 field. (In 2003, he also made the cut at the Masters, finishing 45th at age 20.)

Moore's final tournament as an amateur was the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, which concluded on June 19th. He made the cut and finished tied for 57th, then turned professional, playing the next tournament at Westchester, New York, on a sponsor's exemption, where he finished in a tie for 51st. Turning professional meant that he had to forfeit his slot (as reigning U.S. Amateur champion) in the 2005 British Open, played at the home of golf, St Andrews. In August, Moore earned a special temporary exemption to the PGA Tour with an impressive tie for second at the 2005 Canadian Open in Vancouver.

In 2005, playing on sponsors' exemptions, Moore earned a total of $686,250 in just 14 official PGA Tour events. This placed him the equivalent of 113th on the money list, making him the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to go from college to the PGA Tour in the same season without going to Q School. The only other players to do that since 1980 were Gary Hallberg, Phil Mickelson, and Justin Leonard. As a non-member, Moore needed to collect more than the 125th place finisher on the 2005 money list in order to earn his card for the 2006 season.^[1] During 2005, Moore's world ranking improved from 718 to 142.^[2]

2006

In 2006, Moore played on the PGA Tour as a regular member, and his best outing was a tie for second at the Buick Championship in Connecticut. He was sidelined for two months in the spring following surgery on his left wrist, which kept him from competing in the Masters. He returned to the tour in late May and finished 81st on the 2006 money list with $1,222,118. With a top ten finish (tied for ninth) at the PGA Championship at Medinah on August 20, he broke into the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time, vaulting from 110th to 79th. He climbed as high as 68th in early September, and finished the year at 79th in the world.^[3]

2007

In 2007, Moore finished solo second place at the Memorial Tournament, hosted by Jack Nicklaus in early June. He entered the event as an alternate and earned $648,000, the largest paycheck of his brief pro career. With six holes to play, he birdied five consecutive holes (13-17), but scored a par on the 72nd hole to finish one stroke back. Following this runner-up finish, his third as a professional, he climbed from 87th to 33rd on the PGA Tour money list, and his world ranking improved from 110th to 59th. Two days later, he qualified to play in the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont near Pittsburgh, where he shot 8-over in the first round and 3-over in the second. He missed the cut by one stroke. He finished the year with $1,544,901 in winnings, ranking him 59th on the PGA Tour money list and 51st in the FedEx Cup standings. Moore finished the year at 74th in the world rankings.^[4]

2008

Moore reached the first playoff of his career in the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, which he lost to Adam Scott on the third playoff hole. Moore began the day three shots behind Scott in a four-way tie for second place, but took the lead as Scott dropped three strokes on the front nine. The lead changed hands multiple times before Scott forced the playoff with a birdie on the 72nd hole. On the third playoff hole, Scott beat Moore with a 48-foot birdie putt; Moore then missed his tying birdie putt from the fringe.^[5] Moore picked up his largest check of his career, winning $691,200 for second place. It was his fourth runner-up finish on the PGA Tour in as many seasons.

Moore continued to have pain in his surgically-repaired wrist and took time off at different points in the 2008 season because of a sore shoulder and to improve his fitness, particularly in preparation for the FedEx Cup.^[5] He ended the year with $1,214,900 in winnings, ranking him 88th on the PGA Tour money list and 87th in the FedEx Cup standings; his world ranking fell to 158.^[6]

2009

Moore's inconsistent golf continued in the first half of 2009. In his first 16 tournaments, Moore missed the cut eight times, including four times by a single stroke. In March and April, Moore made four consecutive cuts, with two top-20 finishes. In May, Moore only managed one made cut in The Players Championship, where he struggled on the weekend to a 71st place finish, last among those making the cut.^[7]

After missing the cut at the Memorial Tournament, Moore qualified for the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black with a tie for seventh place at sectional qualifying in Columbus, Ohio.^[8] He made a strong showing, finishing in a tie for tenth place at 2-over par 282. As a result, his world golf ranking rebounded from 193rd to 152nd.^[9]

On August 23, Moore won his first career PGA Tour event at the Wyndham Championship, defeating Kevin Stadler and Jason Bohn in a sudden-death playoff, earning $936,000.^[10] He finished the season having reached the top 50 of the world rankings and in 31st place on the PGA Tour money list.

He signed a deal with Scratch Golf in which he will not only use their equipment, but become part owner of the company.

Amateur wins (6)

• 2002 U.S. Amateur Public Links
• 2004 U.S. Amateur, Western Amateur, U.S. Amateur Public Links, NCAA Division I Championship, Sahalee Players Championship

Professional wins (1)

PGA Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runners-up
1	Aug 23, 2009	Wyndham Championship	-16 (64-65-70-65=264)	Playoff	Jason Bohn, Kevin Stadler

Results in major championships

LA = Low Amateur
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

References

External links

• Profile on the PGA Tour's official site
• Profile on UNLV's official athletic site
• Article from the Seattle Times