CIMB Classic Recap: Moore of the Same

Note to all fantasy golf owners: Ryan Moore and Gary Woodland play only one tournament per year in Kuala Lumpur.

For the second straight season, Moore won the CIMB Classic, followed by Woodland, who this time was joined by Sergio Garcia and Kevin Na as runners-up.

Before you get too excited about having them on your team or potentially taking them in your draft, keep in mind that Moore's only win last year came at the CIMB, while the playoff loss was also Woodland's top finish. (And, for those of you holding out all hope against hope, yes, this is the PGA Tour's only tournament in Malaysia.)

The CIMB Classic is a unique PGA Tour stop -- it's the only one outside of North America, not counting majors and WGCs. The WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai takes place this week, so that accounts for the timing. But the CIMB featured a no-cut, 78-man field with a large $7 million purse. Ten spots go to Asian Tour golfers, with eight sponsor exemptions, leaving 60 spots for the top golfers from last season's FedEx Cup standings to secure guaranteed points.

And with that, you'd think the lure of "free" points would generate a superb field, especially with a WGC the following week. But not only were Tim Wilkinson (No. 119 in last season's standings), Brice Garnett (121) and James Hahn (123) in the field, so was Nicholas Thompson, who finished outside the top 125.

It's not easy to get to Malaysia, of course, and it's a pricey jaunt, but organizers did offer golfers a free business-class ticket on Air Malaysia as enticement. (Actually, in past years, it was two business-class tickets, presumably the other one for the caddie, so maybe the enticement looked stingy).

"They run a great golf tournament. You get police escorts to and from the golf course. It's a first-class event," Kevin Chappell told reporters last week at the McGladrey Classic before flying to Asia, without saying whether they let the golfers play with the police siren.

MONDAY TAKEAWAY

Ryan Moore

Moore is a perennial second-tier golfer (that's a compliment) carving out quite a career for himself, with this being his fourth win. He birdied No. 14 to wrest the lead from Na, and never gave it back, even with a bogey on 16, to finish with a three-stroke advantage. Moore's full arsenal was on display, with a driving accuracy of more than 70 percent and nearly 80 percent GIR. That type of playing will keep you in a lot of tournaments. Yes, he was aided by a couple of wayward back-nine drives from Na and Garcia. But even then Moore showed he's a good guy, aiding in the search for Garcia's ball, which was never found.

Gary Woodland

Woodland three-jacked 18 for a disappointing finish, but all it cost him was solo second. He was tied for the lead as late as No. 15 before Moore pulled away. Woodland had a number of chances to win last season, but was sunk largely by a final-round scoring average of 71.18, tied for 116th. While a Sunday 67 was surely welcome, we already knew Woodland plays well at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club. Nobody knows better than Woodland he's needs better to be better on Sundays. But we know it, too.

Kevin Na

Na had a second career victory in his sights when he came to the 13th on Sunday. But he bogeyed there, then settled for par on 14 after putting for eagle. A double bogey in 17 following a lost-ball drive was the final dagger. Still, Na has made steady progression every year, outside of 2013, when he was limited to eight events. He might also be in that complimentary second-tier status of golfers, those somewhere outside of top 30/Tour Championship status but inside the top 60 or so.

Sergio Garcia

Garcia, who surely is a top-tier golfer, was in contention until a bad break on the par-5 10th resulted in a double bogey. He hooked his drive, for sure, but after it hit the cart path and bounced high, no one could find it in the allotted five minutes, forcing the Spaniard back to the tee. Garcia went from two off the lead to four back. Bad Sergio would've collapsed at that point, but Good Sergio birdied the next hole, and then one more coming home.

Davis Love III

Love turned in his first top-25 since the 2013 Greenbriar, closing with a bogey-free 68 to tie for eighth. A week after being the playing host at the McGladrey Classic, with a T41 showing, then flying halfway across the world, it was quite an effort for the 50-year-old.

Lee Westwood

Westwood had actually won more recently than anyone else on the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club course, taking the European Tour's Malaysia Maybank Open in April, ending a nearly two-year- drought for the Englishman. This time around, Westwood tied for 13th, piggybacking on his season-opening T12 at the Frys for a good start to 2014-15. He'll tee it up this week at the WGC event in China.

Kevin Chappell

The aforementioned Chappell did enjoy the tournament, tying Westwood for 13th. It continues his busy, early schedule, having already played three times. Chappell, with a T8 at the McGladrey, is also off to a good start to 2014-15.

Nicholas Thompson

Thompson's trip surely was worth his while, as he tied for 21st to pick up 48 FedEx Cup points. That would've been his third-highest total last season, constituting more than 10 percent of his 2013-14 total. Through four events, Thompson has made two cuts and is 43rd in the standings.

Jason Dufner

After withdrawing from the PGA Championship with bulging disks in his neck, Dufner was idle until playing a couple weeks back in Australia. He tied for 23rd there, then followed that up with a T26 in Malaysia. His health issues may seem like a thing of the past, but with anything as sensitive as a neck, fantasy buyer beware. Dufner will give it a go this week in China, too.

Luke Donald

Donald didn't play in Malaysia, but he was still in the news this last week in advance of teeing it up in China. With his world ranking, not to mention his game, in fast decline, the soon-to-be 37-year-old Englishman has returned to his longtime swing coach, Pat Goss. That follows an unsuccessful 13-month stint with Chuck Cook, coinciding with Donald's steady drop to, currently, 36th in the OWGR (and 89th in last season's FedEx Cup standings). As recently as August 2013, Donald was still in the top 10. But his drop reached an embarrassing new depth a couple months ago when he was left off of Europe's 2014 Ryder Cup squad. Normally a change of this magnitude would be a red flag, at least initially, but this can only help Donald. Will he return to his former No. 1 status? Of course not. But Goss at least should slow the slide, if not turn it around a bit to allow Donald to perhaps even win a PGA tournament for the first time since 2012. After all, Donald did have a runner-up finish last season, at the RBC Heritage.