Monday, June 20, 2005 | 9:13 a.m.
PINEHURST, N.C. -- Most of that compact 5-foot-9 frame of Ryan Moore's is muscle, but even that build could not protect him from the contact version of golf Pinehurst No. 2 presented all week.
"I feel like I played a football game for the last four days in a row," Moore said after a final round of 3-over 73 pushed his total to 16-over. "I feel beat up right now."
A good night of sleep and a couple of six-figure checks should heal those bruises like magic fairy dust.
Moore will chase a U.S. Open performance long on guts and short on results with a Tuesday press conference to formally announce his decision to turn professional. Accompanying that announcement will most likely be word on Moore's cash-stuffed endorsement deals, as well as his choice of an agent.
Draw your own conclusion from the fact that Ping hats topped the heads of Moore, caddie Kirk Brown, father Mike and brother Jeremy throughout the week. Executives from Gaylord Sports Management, the Arizona-based company that represents Phil Mickelson and about 30 other PGA and LPGA players, also trailed Moore around Pinehurst.
His time as an amateur ended here Sunday at 12:23 p.m. EDT with a two-putt bogey at No. 18. Moore's approach shot spun back off the unreceptive false front of the green, forcing him to pitch up and work hard for even the disappointing finale that summed up his four days.
"Good shots aren't good enough on this golf course," Moore said. "You have to hit it perfect, right where you want it. Or, you have to miss it amazingly well and get really lucky to keep it there."
Moore never came near contention and attracted nowhere near the attention he did at the Masters in April. At Augusta, Moore hung around the lead for three days and earned a return trip to the Masters by finishing tied for 13th at 1-under. Here, he barely made it to the weekend, needing late Friday implosions by leaders Retief Goosen and David Toms to bring the cut line down to 8-over.
"I (felt) very fortunate to make it at 8-over," Moore said. "Very fortunate. I didn't really feel like I deserved to make it, the way I played."
Even this subpar 57th-place effort in which Moore failed to hit 45 percent of either fairways or greens would have earned him more than $15,000. He will need to make the most of his seven sponsor's exemptions to earn his way into the top 125 on the money list, which would circumvent a trip to qualifying school.
Moore takes the first of those exemptions this week at the Barclays Classic in Harrison, N.Y., where he expects to feel a bit more relaxed with the stress of setting up his year behind him.
"I think it will be (easier) after this week," Moore said. "There's been a lot of emotion this week. I've had quite a bit of stuff on my plate. I'm not making that an excuse for why I haven't played very well. I just didn't play as well as I could have.
"But after this week, I think I'll be definitely a little bit more relaxed and just go play some golf and not really worry about anything else."
Fellow UNLV alumnus Chad Campbell, who played Saturday with Moore, cautioned that having to take individual responsibility instead of relying upon others is one of the biggest changes in coming on tour.
"In college, you're playing for a team," Campbell said. "But out here, you're playing for an individual. In some ways, that can be good. In some ways, that can be not as good. You don't have anybody else to depend on, but also, everything's on yourself.
"In a way, you don't feel quite as much pressure. I mean, you don't have the whole team depending on you. In another way, there's more pressure. It's kind of a catch-22, I guess."
Naturally, Moore downplays the transition from amateur to professional, except for saying that playing the U.S. Open in this final week of negotiation and preparation left him "pretty worn out."
Golf is golf, Moore feels, and he will not look at it any other way.
"It's just a golf tournament," Moore said. "I don't really think of it any differently. I don't feel any different out there. I don't really see what the purpose of feeling any different would be. I'm just going to go play golf. Pretty simple.
"This is my fourth major and I played in Greensboro (last year), so I know what the weeks are like. I understand how it works, so I'm just going to go play."
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