Mr. October Does It Again

Ryan MooreWhen the PGA TOUR made radical changes to its schedule following the 2013 season — adding six fall tournaments to the list of those eligible for FedEx Cup points, and creating a true wraparound schedule running from October-September — perhaps no one on Tour was as excited as Ryan Moore.
The Puyallup native, who honed his craft on his father’s Classic Golf Club, has traditionally saved his best golf for the year’s fall slate. In 2012, Moore won the Justin Timberlake Shriner’s Hospitals for Children Open in October, then followed that up almost exactly one year later at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia.
Last week, Moore made it three in a row, defending his CIMB Classic title and earning him the unofficial title as golf’s “Mr. October.”
“I’ve been thinking about that for a while trying to figure out why,” Moore said of his October success. “Maybe it’s because the end is near. I see that I’m going to have six or seven weeks off pretty soon and it’s like, `It’s the home stretch, just play some good golf and finish off the year.’ I’ve got to figure that out and try to approach every tournament that way.”
Moore’s win — the fourth of his PGA TOUR career — was one of his most impressive. The 31-year-old entered the final round at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club in a tie with fellow young gun Kevin Na, who birdied three of the first four holes to take an early two-stroke lead. When Na began to falter on the back nine, however — three-putting an eagle opportunity at 14, missing a two-footer for birdie at 16 and hitting his tee shot at 17 into the top of a palm tree — Moore stayed solid, carding eight birdies and three bogeys for a final-round 67 and a one-stroke win.
“It was my tournament, I thought,” Na said. “But Ryan played fantastic.”
Na, Sergio Garcia and Gary Woodland — who lost a playoff to Moore at this same tournament last year — finished in a three-way tie for second, just one stroke back.
“It was incredible to finish the way I did coming down those last few holes,” said Moore, whose clutch approach shots at the 14th and 17th holes each led to birdies. “I like to tell myself all the time that, `I am a closer. Let’s just do what we can, hit good shots and let’s close this thing,’ and I was able to do that.”
In addition to adding $1.26 million to his nearly $20 million in career earnings, Moore also made a bit of history, becoming the first PGA TOUR player to successfully defend a title since Tiger Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2012 and 2013.
“It’s been a great week, I’m a little bit lost for words,” Moore said moments after the victory. “To come back and defend a title, it’s something I’ve never done before.”

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