Gore heeding Rocket's advice to be TAD  PGATOUR.com Contributor HUMBLE, Texas -- He's so not technical.  Jason Gore is very comfortable being himself. (Sam Greenwood/WireImage)
Couldn't tell you how to hit a hook to save his life. Just aim right. Knows what loft and lie are, but that's about it. Want specifics? See the guys in the equipment trucks. Thank goodness for them. They're lifesavers. Want to know if he's playing the right club and ball? Just watch. Does it go straight? And once you hit a shot? He's just a spectator like everyone else. Might as well have bought a ticket. Crazy crap -- his words -- happens. Jason Gore doesn't reach. For answers. For great sound bites. Or for perfection. He's comfy, thank you so much, in his own skin. And he's come to terms with the fact that, along with this so-not-technical thing, he's never going to be a perfect 10 like his old junior and college golf buddy Tiger either. And that has nothing to do with his 52-inch chest or short arms. More like his amazing highs and so-so lows, his streaky putting and his slow starts on the west coast. They're just part of his life. His pro career started on a low note when, on the day he was to play in his first tournament, he woke up to his mother's screams. His dad had died of a heart attack. Fast forward to the U.S. Open at Pinehurst where he burst onto the scene, made it into Sunday's final pairing and closed with 84. Three months later, he won his lone PGA TOUR tournament -- the 84 Lumber Classic. Symmetry anyone? And then there's this year, which went from a T65 at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic to five missed cuts and a W/D. And now? A second-round 68 has him in contention at the Shell Houston Open where he was tied for the lead midway through Friday's round. "Want to put these shoes on?'' he laughed when someone asked about his EKG strip of a career. "I think Magic Mountain is going to name a roller coaster after me.'' And as for those slow starts? "I'm the only guy who lives in Southern California who can't read a poa anna greens,'' he chuckled. "...And, you know a man of my stature is what I'll say, shouldn't like the heat and humidity. For some reason I play better in it.'' Right now, he's playing just fine in the wind and humidity here in the Bayou City area. He's also doing just fine with his "clubs du jour" -- a mixed bag he's assembled since splitting with Nike a month ago. He's gone back to an old Titleist Pro V1-X, tossed in a Cobra driver, Cobra irons and a 3-wood and rescue club from TaylorMade. How did he come up with that combination?
"I threw every set to the bottom of the lake. Whichever one floated. '' he smiled. "...You know, being out here you have the opportunity to hit a lot of stuff and a lot of stuff is thrown in your face. I just picked a set that just visually looked good to me. And they happened to work pretty well.'' He paused. "I mean so far. It's been two days.'' Two days, we might add of birdies. And not 60 foot bombs. The close kind. Like his 7-iron to eight inches at the fifth hole. "I'm 6-for-10 from that range,'' he said. The old/new golf ball is helping. When he was with Nike, he was playing the same ball Tiger does, but it wasn't for him. "The ball didn't fit me,'' he said. "I'm not saying it's a bad product or anything like that. It's a great product. The best player in the world uses it. It just didn't work for me.'' So is a change back to his old swing coach Mike Miller. "I wanted him to slap me pretty hard. It was just one of those things. I was trying to do something that I'm not physically able to do,'' he said. "This is the way I swing. This is it. Just get some of the bugs out of it... I think I'm a pretty good ball striker. When I try to be something I'm not, it just starts to throw another problem in the hole.'' This week, Gore is taking things as they come. His hero-turned-friend Roger Clemens dropped by and tucked an Astros cap and some shirts in his locker. He's sporting the cap this week and Clemens' motto -- Tough All Day or TAD. That's what Gore has written on his golf ball this week. There's a signed Clemens jersey from his Boston days on Gore's wall and, well, when the two met two years ago at the ADT Skills challenge... "I don't get star-struck, but that was Roger Clemens. I was freaked out,'' he smiled. "I'm a pretty big guy, but he's a monster.'' The two email back and forth and Clemens dropped by this week with the cap and TAD shirts. And no, Gore doesn't know what decision he'll make about one more season. "I don't think his wife knows.'' Gore is nothing, if not genuine. He can laugh at losing 20 pounds in the off-season, working hard and coming out and stinking up the early season. He's honest when he says that final round at Pinehurst was a blur. He admits there was a time when doubts crept in. But Pinehurst changed all that. The media, the competition and being in the final group with former Open champ Retief Goosen. "It was one of those things as a professional golfer, that's our drug. That's our addiction to get into that mode and be so nervous that you can't see straight and hit something and feel that... I can't even describe.'' This may not be the U.S. Open, but it's Gore's next chance to get that feeling. To jump into the weekend mix. To give himself a chance -- for the first time since last fall's Southern Farm Bureau Classic. He's got the swing going. Now, if the putter will behave. "My putter has got a mind of its own sometimes, but it doesn't mean I'm a bad putter," he said. "I didn't make a lot of putts yesterday, but I hit a lot of good ones. It's golf. It's outside. It's on the grass. These things aren't suitable for scoring, you know... If we're on a pool table, I can make putts all day.'' Not the best answer, he said. But all he had. And now, after putting in the hard work for the last five weeks, he'll see if this week might just belong to him. "We always have that glimmer of hope that this could be our week. One person is going to walk away being the 2007 Shell Houston Open winner and you sit in your room and lie in bed and think, 'Why can't that be me?'" Maybe this week, it will be. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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