Columnist Adam Candee: Long-awaited and much-needed rest should rejuvenate Moore

Adam Candee

Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005 | 9:18 a.m.

Adam Candee covers golf for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at candee@lasvegassun.com.

That Ryan Moore you saw missing back-to-back cuts before pocketing some PGA Tour chump change in July?

Yeah, that wasn't Ryan Moore. Forget you saw that. He was, uh, not so much himself.

Rested, relaxed and finally given a chance to breathe, Moore resumes his schedule at the Canadian Open, eager to make amends for a false start to his professional career. The Ryan Moore that plans to show up in British Columbia is going to be the one we all recognize. That imposter with the three-putts will be gone.

If he's not, then all of the momentum Moore built in getting to this point will vanish. He needs to make some serious money in the next three months - in just a handful of starts - to augment his $21,000 take thus far in order to avoid a trip to Q-school, where college studs go for humility.

We're a long way from that, though. Next week is likely to truly start Moore's career, much more than the seeming extension of his amateur track that ran from the NCAA championship in June on through his debut in Westchester, N.Y.

Mike Moore, Ryan's father and one of his business managers, gathered his family on the Mexican coastline for some long overdue vacation last week. And Mike swears there was just a tiny little bit of golf on a trip more concerned with sand between the toes than sand in a fairway bunker.

After living a senior year of college more demanding than your average CEO's schedule, Ryan needed the break, even if the Moores don't really like to admit it. Tired is not a word Ryan wants associated with him.

But really, anyone who watched him play during the charmed amateur run that set up the endorsement riches and tour exemptions could see the kid's nerves starting to fray a little on the course from the Masters through the end of July. Dad said the demands of being anointed the Next Big Thing - the time demands and the lack of sleep - became a Big Headache for his boy.

"The problem was, he simply had no time on the golf course," Mike Moore said.

Mike said there was a stretch of nearly three weeks surrounding the conference championship when Ryan played just one round of golf as he jetted to Reno and Texas and wherever else he was to be feted.

"There's been an awful lot going on because of the interest in him commercially," Mike Moore said. "That takes a lot of detail work to get comfortable."

Reality break: a lot of us would offer up a spare finger or toe to live the lifestyle of a 22-year-old golf phenom sunning in Los Cabos and moving into a home with our buddies in the exclusive Southern Highlands community. Many would throw in their first-born child if you tossed a Hummer or two into the pot.

For a young man with Ryan's low-key personality, though, adjusting to the spotlight life came with its challenges. There is some normalcy attached with the new house and the end of college, though, especially with longtime friend and fellow tour rookie Michael Putnam moving in with Moore. At least there is someone else front and center who gets it.

With a little bit of the world he recognizes re-established, Ryan is set to go again. We'll take Mike's word for it, as Ryan is still not so hot on interviews after the media blitz that filled his past year.

"He's feeling really good and hitting the ball really well again," Mike Moore said.

The only exemption Ryan is certain to take after the Canadian Open is the Michelin Championship at Las Vegas, to the delight of tournament director Charlie Baron and company. He will have at least one other exemption to take, but a top-10 finish one of these weeks would certainly ease some of the pressure.

After all, Putnam posted a T4 finish worth more than $177,000 last week, meaning Moore is six figures behind on the Southern Highlands money list. Sounds like it's time for Ryan to get down to business again, and it sounds like he's ready for it, too.