Ryan Moore

Ryan Moore roared to 10 and 9 victory over Lee Williamson in the final of the 2002 Amateur Public Links Championship. It was the second-largest margin of victory in the 77-year history of the championship.

Moore, 19, of Puyallup, Wash., grabbed the lead on the second hole of the 36-hole final at the 7001-yard par-72 Orchards Golf Club and never let Williamson, 23, of Crawfordsville, Ind., back into the match.

With the victory, Moore won custody of the national championship trophy for one year, and a champion's medal.

After stumbling at the start of the match, Moore strung together 10 birdies in the first 18 holes, including the last four in a row, to finish 6 up at the turn. His 18-hole score was equivalent to 63, breaking its own competitive course record of 65 at The Orchards, set in the quarterfinal round.

"I've played in quite a few USGA championships," said Moore, who competed in the 2002 U.S. Open and was runner-up at the 2000 U.S. Junior Amateur. "It feels good to finally win one."

Moore, a sophomore at UNLV, kept up the pressure in the afternoon portion of the match, adding three more birdies before the match ended with Williamson conceding the hole and the match on the 27th hole. All told, Moore had 13 birdies on the final day.

"I would have hated to play me today," joked Moore. "But when you have thoughts of going to the Masters you don't think about being tired. I just kept pressing."

"When he birdied 15, 16, 17, and 18 (of the morning round) I didn't even come close to matching that." said Williamson, the Big-10 Player of the Year and first team All-American at Purdue. "That's pretty tought to come back from.

"I gave him a soft lead early on. To make him feel so comfortable the way he was playing, that was it. I really regret the start."

Prior to the last two days of the championship, Moore had been striking the ball well, but it was his putting stroke that was suffering. Nothing seemed to be going in the hole.

Fortunately for Moore, a late-night phone conversation with his father some 2,000 miles away in Washington changed that.

"My putting, well, it finally showed up," said Moore. "A little tip my dad gave me the night before the semifinal on the phone did the trick. He said I should try to change my ball position a little bit. I made a 30-footer on the first hole of the quarterfinal the next morning and I was off from there."