Return to Deere Run is best medicine for Moore's aching back

Every little movement, even the slightest twist or turn, can send pain rifling through your abdomen. Swinging a golf club can be excruciating. Doing it several dozen times with any degree of precision can be impossible.

But Ryan Moore seemingly found a cure Thursday: TPC Deere Run.

The 38-year-old PGA Tour veteran returned to a course where he has had an abundance of success and looked a lot like the Ryan Moore who won the 2016 John Deere Classic, recording a 6-under-par 65 that left him only two strokes off the first-round lead of this year’s event.

The 65 matched Moore’s best round ever at Deere Run although it was the seventh time he has had that score on the Silvis layout and the 31st time he has shot in the 60s here.

"It always gets you excited mentally going back to a place you know you can play well on and you know you've shot good scores on," Moore said. "It's tough showing up at places where you're like, ‘Well, I've finished 28th here and that's about it.'"

Those good feelings extended all the way down his spine. It’s funny how feeling good mentally can impact how you’re feeling physically.

"It's almost that side of it that helps just kind of get you excited to go out and say, ‘I know I can shoot 6-under on this golf course. I've done it before, so let's go out and do it again,’" Moore added.

Moore actually has done it again and again. He also shot 65 in the first round of the JDC in 2016. Then he did it again in the second round. And the third round. He needed only a paltry 67 on Sunday to finish off a two-stroke victory over Ben Martin.

There have been two other occasions in which Moore shot in 60s four straight days at Deere Run. He did it when he tied for eighth in 2012 and when he tied for seventh in 2014.

So you get why he's comfy at Deere Run, right?

It’s something Moore really needed in only his 13th Tour event of the year, only his second since mid-May.

He first strained a muscle in his back playing golf — what else? — in the second round of the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., last August and it ultimately ended his 2020 season.

"I just hit a shot and just didn't feel right and kind of kept getting worse and worse and worse throughout the day," Moore said. "I tried to go ahead and play the next week and I just couldn't make it happen. Had to take some time off."

He hasn’t been the same since.

The Tacoma, Wash., native has been one of the steadiest guys on Tour for the past decade or more. He is one of only nine players to make the FedEx Cup playoffs every year.

His best year was 2016 when he not only won the JDC but finished seventh in FedEx Cup points and made the Ryder Cup team.

He hasn’t won a tournament since then and he hasn’t been close to the top of a leaderboard this year. His best finish was a tie for 26th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am back in February and at times he hasn’t even been able to practice much.

"There's been some stretches lately where I haven’t been able to do a lot," he said. "It's frustrating because I feel like every time I gain a little momentum, I kind of get derailed a little bit."

The back felt a little better at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago, where Moore shot a second-round 65 and finished 54th. It has continued to improve since then although he said it’s still not 100%.

He has his work cut out for him if he is going to extend his streak of making the FedEx Cup playoffs every year. He currently is 194th on the list and he needs to get into the top 125 with only a handful of tournaments remaining after the JDC.

But if he can continue to string together pristine rounds like the one he had Thursday — he missed only one fairway and hit all 18 greens in regulation — he has a chance.

"It's hard to find a rhythm sometimes," Moore said. "But like I said, it felt pretty good a couple weeks ago, so it's nice to kind of carry that through into today and go out and start with a good solid round."