The coolest thing for Puyallup’s Ryan Moore about advancing to next week’s Tour Championship in the FedEx Cup playoffs cannot be found anywhere in the PGA Tour handbook.
The perks are substantial for the top 30 golfers remaining, from earning berths in all the major championships next season, to getting a shot at the $10 million bonus for winning the entire playoffs.
No, when next April comes around, and Moore is driving up Magnolia Lane to play in the Masters again – for the first time, he will get to share the experience with his first child. The due date for his soon-to-be-arriving son is next month.
“I am excited to take him everywhere,” Moore said Friday from his home in Las Vegas. “He will be coming on the road pretty much right away.”
At the outset of the four-tournament playoffs, beginning with The Barclays in August, Moore was ranked 64th. And he had ground to make up to stay in it.
He finished tied for 24th at The Barclays, then followed with a tie for 10th at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Heading into the last round of the BMW Championship, which finished up Sept. 9, Moore lingered right on the bubble.
He got off to a fast start with four birdies on the front nine, fell back with a few back-nine bogeys – and walked to the 18th tee with one goal in mind.
“I thought I had to make a birdie,” he said.
And, indeed he did en route to another tie for 10th.
Now with a newborn on the way, and parental obligations on the horizon, Moore is relieved to know he is automatically in all the majors and the World Golf Championship tournaments next year.
“It is huge to be able to plan my schedule of 23 or 24 tournaments around the (big) ones I know I am in,” Moore said. “That took a huge load off my shoulders – a lot of stress off of me.
“I can’t wait to be a dad. … I made it to play next week (at the Tour Championship) and then I am home.”
GONZALES CHARITY EVENT MONDAY
It is round No. 2 of the Andres Gonzales Charity event, and virtually a whole new cast of characters will be around at Tacoma Country and Golf Club.
Last year, Gonzales was on the PGA Tour – and invited a group of golfers from that tour to help him raise money for pancreatic cancer awareness and local youth golf programs.
In 2012, he has been on the Web.com Tour – and many of those in this year’s event are among the money leaders and have clinched their PGA Tour cards for next season.
Headlining the field Monday is Luke List, the Web.com Tour money leader and driving-distance king.
“He is going to be a big name,” Gonzales said.
Rookie Hudson Swafford is also a star-in-the-making, Gonzales said. Others teeing it up include Paul Haley II, Peter Tomasulo, James Hahn, James Love and Aron Price.
Besides Gonzales, three others are returning to the event – University Place’s Michael Putnam, Jim Renner and Nate Smith.
Eventually, Gonzales said he wants to give the participants an appearance fee. Most of them are taking a chartered private jet from the Boise Open to the charity tournament.
The golfers tee off in a shotgun start at 11 a.m. It is not open to the public.
todd.milles@thenewstribune.com 253-597-8442 blog.thenewstribune.com/golf @ManyHatsMilles
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.