Changing ball helps Moore in the wind

Ryan Moore lives in Las Vegas, so naturally he rolled the dice a few weeks ago on playing a different golf ball.

He hit the jackpot Friday.

Moore’s bogey-free round in the brutal, wind-swirling conditions led to a 3-under 69, leaving him at 1-under par at the midway mark of the Masters Tournament after opening Thursday with a 2-over 74.

The 69 was Moore’s fifth round in the 60s in his nine years playing the Masters Tournament, and he gives credit to the switch in his golf ball.

“Honestly, this is going to sound a little bit weird, but I changed golf balls two weeks ago, and this golf ball is so much better in the wind,” said the 34-year-old Moore. “I’ve been struggling in the wind a little bit, and it was really windy at the Match Play, so I tested new golf balls there. … I’m a lot more comfortable in the wind right now with this golf ball.”

That was obvious Friday when he collected birdies at Nos. 2, 10 and 13, while stringing in 15 pars.

Moore said the windy conditions made controlling his golf ball – especially off the tee box – a priority. Moore handled the tricky winds, hitting 9-of-14 fairways and 14-0f-18 greens in regulation.

“I played a really solid round of golf,” said Moore, his top finish at the Masters a tie for 12th in 2015. “I controlled it off the tee. Today I just got my iron shots a little bit closer to the hole it felt like. The wind makes it tough out there. This golf course is difficult enough and you add 15- to 20-mile-an-hour gusting winds that are changing directions slightly every single hole.”

Moore said he did go ahead and set a score he wanted to achieve before Friday’s round started. He beat it.

“My goal starting the day, I knew it was going to be tough, but I felt like I could go shoot a couple of under and let’s get back to even, or kind of get into an interesting place going into the weekend,” Moore said. “I knew it was going to be a tough day and I bettered it by one.”

Thanks, in part, to gambling on a new golf ball.