TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Moore beats Woodland in playoff to win CIMB Classic

Sportsmanship: Ryan Moore, (left), of the US is congratulated by his compatriot Gary Woodland after winning in a playoff of the CIMB Classic golf tournament at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday

Musthofid (The Jakarta Post)
Kuala Lumpur
Tue, October 29, 2013

Share This Article

Change Size

Moore beats Woodland in playoff to win CIMB Classic

S

span class="inline inline-center">Sportsmanship: Ryan Moore, (left), of the US is congratulated by his compatriot Gary Woodland after winning in a playoff of the CIMB Classic golf tournament at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday. AP/Lai Seng Sin

Ryan Moore became the fourth different player to win the CIMB Classic golf championship after defeating fellow American Gary Woodland in the playoff in the fourth edition of the US$7 million tournament at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club on Monday.

He joins the CIMB champions club that includes inaugural winners Ben Crane, Bo van Pelt (2011) and Nick Watney (2012). Van Pelt and Watney returned to this year'€™s tournament but they were the shadow of their past winning forms with the former ending up tied in 20th place and the latter tied 35th.

It was Moore'€™s winning start of the season and his third PGA tour title since winning the 2009 Wyndham Championship and 2012 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. The victory marked his 40th career top-10 finish.

 '€œTo get a win early in the season is just incredible. It'€™s the tournament I'€™ve enjoyed and I look forward to coming back to it every year,'€ he said.

Monday'€™s showdown between Moore and Woodland was the first sudden-death playoff in CIMB Classic history and the first playoff since the 2013 Wyndham Championship won by Patrick Reed.

The playoff was inevitable after the two players topped the leaderboard on Sunday tied at 14-under par 274 after four rounds in the field that featured 78 professional golfers.

Entry procedures were relatively loose on Monday with a security barricade already removed from the main gate. The ticketing booth was also cleared as the organizers announced earlier that spectators with Sunday tickets were admitted to Monday'€™s match free of charge.

Not as many spectators as compared to previous years attended the match on the 18th green as Moore held his nerves to seal the victory. Woodland'€™s defeat seemed destined when he swung his second shot through the rough while Moore made it close to the hole.

Woodland gave himself another chance, trying to tackle the distance only to find his chipped ball fall short of the target. Knowing his destiny was in his own hands, Moore looked relieved and nervous at the same time. He negotiated the distance, took a striking pose but stepped back, looked up, cleaned his putter, perused once more before finally rolling the ball home to the applause of the spectators.

He acknowledged the crowd and gave a big smile while Woodland was left in dejection.

'€œI was a little bit jacked up because I just made an amazing up-and-down on the 18th hole to just tie and even get into it. So I just had that little bit of adrenaline,'€ he said.

'€œPlaying a playoff with someone like Gary Woodland, I know I don'€™t want it to last very long. I had a great opportunity there on 18 with my third shot and it was just an absolute perfect number,'€ he added.

Woodland, from Orlando, tried to mask his disappointment in the defeat by looking to his whole week of play.

'€œI really enjoyed my time here. Obviously I played pretty well, just came up one short shot. All in all it was a great week, something to build on and look forward to coming back,'€ he said.

About the playoff he said: '€œIt was tough. It was a long hole, I had to lay up. Ryan hit a great shot there and obviously made a good birdie. But I thought I hit a pretty good shot on the third shot. I would have liked to have it on the fairway,'€ he said.

Moore, from Las Vegas, was entitled to the winner'€™s $1.26 million purse as well as 500 FedExCup points that will move him inside the top five in the rankings after playing three events.

He was also granted a two-year exemption through the 2015-16 season with an invitation to a number of tournaments, including the 2014 Hyundai Tournament of Champions, 2014 Masters Tournament, 2014 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and the 2014 PGA Championship.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.