Gore wins 84 Lumber Classic
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John Heller, Post-Gazette photos
Jason Gore celebrates his win after sinking final putt on the 18th hole at the PGA's 84 Lumber Golf Classic at Mystic Rock yesterday.
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John Heller, Post-Gazette photos
Jason Gore celebrates with fans after sinking his final putt yesterday.Forget the 84 in the U.S. Open meltdown.
As if playing in a Sunday afternoon skins game on a public course in Anytown, U.S.A., Jason Gore gathered himself for the biggest par of his life on the final hole to win his first PGA event and provide a flash of inspiration for every duffer who ever teed it up.
Having seen a four-shot lead with five holes to play evaporate to the slimmest of margins, Gore needed to get up and down from nearly 92 feet on the 18th and toughest hole of the 84 Lumber Classic at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa.
"It felt like six miles," said Gore, who alternately joked and cried after a final-round 70 and a one-shot victory over Carlos Franco yesterday. "I had to go up and down two elephants and through the windmills. It was the best putt I ever hit in my life."
Gore, 31, putted to within 22 inches of the 72nd hole, then tapped in for a win that was worth $792,000, or more than twice the amount he won combined in three Nationwide Tour events this year.
In May, Gore had thought about hanging it up after failing to break through on the tour -- his previous best finish was a tie for 18th four years ago -- because he had to scratch and claw to afford baby formula for an infant son and was worried about making his mortgage payment. But his wife, Megan, and his mother, the former Kathy Fulmer of Monroeville, urged him on.
"After all you've been through you're going to give up now? Give it one more try," advised his mother. Yesterday, she was holding a bouquet of flowers after her son's biggest triumph, which coincidentally came on the eighth anniversary of his father's burial.
Until yesterday, Gore was known as much for his booming drives and expansive waistline as his fairy-tale moment in the U.S. Open. An upstart from a secondary tour, he was in second place and in the final pairing at Pinehurst, but a painful 84 dropped him into a tie for 49th. He was the 318th-ranked player into the world and needed a sponsor's exemption to get into the 84 Lumber Classic.
In addition to winning a whopping purse and a trophy for his mantel, Gore now has a two-year exemption on the tour.
First Published September 19, 2005 12:00 am
