Birdie chances are key to Masters win for ex-Rebel Ryan Moore

By Brian Hurlburt Special to the Review-Journal

7 years ago

Ryan Moore watches his shot from the third fairway during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament Sunday, March 18, 2018, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Ryan Moore tees off on the third hole during the third round of the Genesis Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Kang)

Ryan Moore reacts after making a putt for birdie on the 17th green during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament Sunday, March 18, 2018, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Charley Hoffman, right, shakes hands with Ryan Moore after finishing on the ninth green during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament Friday, March 16, 2018, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Ryan Moore watches his tee shot on the fourth hole during the second round of the Genesis Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Ryan Moore watches his approach shot on the third fairway during the second round of the Genesis Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Ryan Moore, a 5-time PGA Tour champion, doesn’t know exactly what he needs to do to win his first Masters, but has an idea about how to improve on his career best ninth-place finish of a year ago.

The tournament is scheduled to start Thursday at the historic Augusta (Georgia) National Golf Club.

“If I had won here already maybe I would know what to tell you about what I need to do to win here,” Moore said via telephone Monday. “I have to do everything well through the bag, including driving the ball well. But I would say the thing that needs to be more elevated for me than I’ve done historically here is my iron play.

“I need to give myself better birdie chances when hitting a six or seven iron into the green on the par 4s, which I have to hit a lot here. Giving myself more opportunities is probably what needs to happen to have a chance to win.”

Moore played at UNLV from 2001-2005 and won the NCAA individual title in 2004. He capped his Rebel career at the 2005 Masters when he finished 13th and was low amateur.

Moore is making his ninth Masters appearance and spent Monday afternoon playing a practice round by himself, just ahead of Tiger Woods.

Last year, Moore, 35, shot rounds of 69 on Friday and Saturday and was tied for fourth with Jordan Spieth and fellow Rebel alumnus Charley Hoffman entering the final round, two-shots behind eventual champion Sergio Garcia. Moore and Hoffman played together on Sunday.

The two were also paired together two weeks ago during the first two rounds of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Florida and then played together again on Sunday. Moore finished tied for fifth and Hoffman finished tied for 14th at the Palmer so both players are showing good form.

“It was a great pairing (in Augusta) last year,” said Moore, who is listed at 100-1 to win the Masters by Westgate Superbook. Hoffman and Scott are 60-1. “At Bay Hill, we were joking around saying, ‘man, we have been playing together a lot’. I enjoy playing with him and it was great having a fellow UNLV guy there with me. We were one of last couple groups and that is where you want to be on Sunday at the Masters.”

Moore shot 74 during last year’s final round while Hoffman shot 78 and faded to a 22nd place finish. Another former Rebel, Adam Scott, was in the group ahead of Hoffman and Moore on Sunday and shot 73 to finish tied with Moore in ninth.

Moore said he is comfortable with his swing and spent his Monday practice round getting re-familiarized with Augusta’s nuances and fine-tuning the swing thoughts he has worked on with Drew Steckel, his swing coach for the last year. Steckel is relocating from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and will be working out of Southern Highlands Golf Club, where Moore is a member.

Moore is also healthy and has worked extensively with Brian Chandler of Elevate Fitness in Henderson. He will also have newer clubs in his bag this week. In 2015, Moore was the first player on the PGA Tour to use the PXG line of clubs that were created by GoDaddy.com founder Bob Parsons. Moore put the PXG Gen2 clubs that aren’t available to the public until later this month in play about two months ago.

Freelance writer Brian Hurlburt is a two-time author who has covered golf in Las Vegas for more than two decades. He can be reached at bhurlburt5@gmail.com or @LVGolfInsider.