Ryan Moore reflects on his superpower during historic amateur golf run

When you look up the greatest runs in amateur golf history, Tiger Woods’ stretch of six consecutive USGA titles undoubtedly tops the list. But it doesn’t take long to get to Ryan Moore and his dominant 2004 summer.

Moore started the run by routing the field at the NCAA Championship. He then won the Sahalee Players Championship and his second Public Links title before hoisting the Western Amateur trophy. That led to Winged Foot and the 2004 U.S. Amateur, where Moore defeated Luke List to cap off one of the greatest runs in amateur golf history.

On the latest episode of the Subpar Podcast, Moore discussed his “superpower” during that winning amateur stretch. Looking back now, Moore knows his game was solid. But it was his mindset that allowed him to rack up win after win, even with a target on his back.

“I’ve tried to kind of pin it down to, like, what was it at that moment, why was I playing that good, and even trying to recapture that professionally,” Moore told co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. “I played some pretty phenomenal golf there in 2004-2005 and honestly probably a good or better than I ever played professionally to some extent. The way that I like to think about it, to be a really good, high-level golfer, whether that be professional or high-level amateur, you either have to be really good at one or two things, or you can just be pretty darn good at everything. I kind of fit into that second category. I didn’t do anything that I thought was exceptional, but I did everything really well. I was a long enough driver of the golf ball and I was very accurate. I was a solid iron player and a solid wedge player. I just consistently gave myself chances. It was not theist short game but I got up-and-down a lot. If I did get in trouble, I escaped pretty well. 

“I just felt like I was very well-rounded, and I didn’t feel like I had any weaknesses at that point in my game. My mental game was very strong. I just got to that place, especially in 2004, when I was winning everything that summer, it was just that I showed up not trying to beat anyone else because I knew they were all trying to beat me to some extent. I was just trying to play golf and play as good as I can knowing that that would give me a really good chance going into the last round or last match, a good chance to win. I feel like I wasted very little energy on other people, and I just focused on playing my best golf possible. It’s nice when you can get to that point and feel like it’s just kind of simple and right there in front of you and just go shoot a round and see what happens. That’s how I felt at the time. It wasn’t overconfident, like, I’m going to go win this tournament but I’ve kind of proven it over the past couple of years that I’m one of the best players in college and amateur golf, and like Let’s just go relax and go play.”