Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Columnist Adam Candee: Even with riches coming, free time is not a luxury Moore can afford

Adam Candee covers golf for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Ryan Moore itches to get back to practicing and working on the steely focus and deft touch that made him the nation's amateur golf sensation last summer.

And right after all of the photo shoots and interviews with Golf Digest and Golf World magazines, more of the same with the United States Golf Association, a few return e-mails to people researching golf books, a meeting with yet another potential agent, a UNLV class or two and a phone call from a pestering Sun reporter, he'll do it.

"It's definitely gotten a little bit more difficult with all these obligations, plus school, plus golf," Moore said Tuesday. "Minus the school part, it wouldn't be that bad."

What a fortunate happenstance, then, that Moore is readying for his final four months on the Rebels' golf team. At the end of it will be the beginning of his professional career -- accompanied by a colossal pile of endorsement cash -- as well as the college degree in communications that Moore put off the PGA tour to earn in the first place.

Before he even gets to the enormous task of becoming a successful pro, Moore must survive these few months of quasi-adult life that will likely include seven college tournaments, as well as berths in the Masters and the U.S. Open (yawn, his second time through both) and the British Open at St. Andrews in Scotland. The demands on his time, whether through golf, school or any number of interview and appearance requests, even catch Moore by surprise.

"It's just the little stuff," Moore said. "It's just amazing how fast it all adds up."

The Moore family -- always diligent, always level-headed -- is thankfully already plotting the course ahead, having spent a good part of Ryan's well-earned winter break talking about agents and endorsements and other issues that most 22-year-old guys are lucky enough just to spell correctly.

"While I'm home, we're planning for everything ahead," Moore said. "I've got to do it now. I don't want to be bombarded with it all this summer when I turn pro."

Exactly when that will be is something Moore is not yet revealing, reverting to an oft-repeated refrain of "sometime after the British Open." Because he earned his spots in the majors by winning the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links (again) last summer, Moore must retain his amateur status through at least the end of the British Open on July 17 to use them.

And just how large will that hard-earned mountain of sponsorship money be? Moore is coy about discussing the numbers (which are likely to climb at least into six figures, if not higher), revealing some of the wit and humility that helps him deal with all the attention.

"It's definitely a little crazy," Moore said, pausing for a moment before deadpanning, "I'm not worth that much."

Not that it will stop him from asking for that much and more, nor should it. Moore is already in the process of taking meetings with prospective agents, with NCAA blessing. Coming through those lovefests with any humility is as much an accomplishment as any tournament Moore has won, but he does it pretty well.

Really, though, it's a fine line that Moore is so far walking with skill. He speaks in a genuinely unassuming manner about himself as a person, but a firm confidence grabs you by the ear when the conversation switches to his golf game. It always has, from the time I first asked him about turning pro as a prodigious sophomore.

No, he said, he was staying to finish his degree. The pro career would be there later. And he didn't doubt either part of that. Both pieces are about to collide, and Moore only recently has had time to give that much thought.

"It definitely takes a different meaning when you start discussing you career, where you're going, what you're going to be worth, all that good stuff," Moore said.

Moore played almost non-stop from May through November, but hasn't competed in a tournament since finishing off his superb year with a win at the World Team Amateur. He took some time away from golf during winter break at home in Washington, clearing his head and decompressing to prepare for what's likely to be a grind -- albeit a lucrative one -- through to the end of 2005.

While the pulls on his shirt in different directions continue -- heck, he's even been entertaining family and friends in town on the weekends -- Moore finds it hard to practice and prepare for the UNLV spring season. In fact, he said that he only began the kind of practice he'd like to do in the past week.

Let's just say that rust is not a concern.

"I know it's there," Moore said. "It's just a matter of tapping into it."

The Rebels leave Saturday for their second tournament of the season in Hawaii, as they prepare to kick off the spring on Wednesday. Moore is just looking forward to doing something he hasn't in so long -- being a college senior.

"It's nice being around here, still being a kid, not having to grow up all that fast," Moore said.

Find some time to soak it in while you can, Ryan. Even though the road ahead appears to be lit with shining sun and paved with gold bricks, you deserve at least a little bit of time to enjoy the last of the insulated low-pressure days that make college so beautiful.

Then again, maybe those days are already over.

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