LAS VEGAS – Ryan Moore was making a strong bid to match his best PGA Tour finish of second place Sunday.

Then he arrived at the final hole.

He ended up suffering through a 9 on the par-4 18th hole and finishing in a tie for 24th place in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin.

Moore, a Puyallup native who played his college golf at UNLV, was only three strokes behind leader and eventual champion Marc Turnesa (25-under 263) at 22-under when he came to No. 18. But he suffered two penalty strokes off the tee when he hit them out of bounds to the left, then had a fairway shot land in the primary rough.

The hole was costly for Moore in two big ways. It caused him to fall from a tie for fourth place to finish in a tie for 24th at 1-over 73 for the round, and 17-under 271 for the tournament.

The final hole was also financially costly, as he would have earned $213,200 if he had remained 22-under, but instead he had to settle for $29,059 – a tumble of $184,141.

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” said Moore. “I made a 9. That’s what happened.”

Moore stayed two strokes behind leader Matt Kuchar when he birdied the par-5 16th and parred the par-3 17th to go 22-under.

Moore first came as close as two strokes from the lead when he birdied three of five holes between the 10th and 14th and was 21-under after 14 holes on a mostly sunny, mildly windy day.

Earlier, Moore birdied the par-5 third hole to go to 19-under, but he didn’t have another birdie until the par-4 10th.

On Saturday, Moore dropped from seventh to eighth on the leaderboard, but gained one stroke on leader Turnesa, a PGA Tour rookie.

For the first three rounds, Moore made birdies on the par-4 sixth and par-5 ninth holes, and ended his third round by canning an 11-foot putt for another birdie. His 28 birdies after three rounds tied him for sixth in the field, and he finished with 33 birdies over four rounds.

Moore is currently ranked 114th in the world and had earned $1,185,841 – 80th on the PGA Tour – entering this tournament.

After two rounds Friday, Moore was glad to return to a course he played frequently as a member of the UNLV men’s team.

“This is probably the nicest time of year,” said Moore. “I always love the end of October, early November. It seems to be when the wind calms down around here. Calm is 10 to 15 (mph) around here, so to have nothing, like it’s been the last couple days, it’s actually rather enjoyable.

“I think they’ve done a great job with the schedule to bring us back out (to the western U.S.) this time of year. I just love playing out here, especially on a golf course I’m comfortable with and played so much in college. You don’t feel like you have to go out and research a whole lot.”

Despite the finish, Moore’s return from an extended layoff has been fruitful, resulting in a pair of top-25 finishes.