Jason Gore Fighting Back, Leads the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Jason Gore shot a five under par 65 to take the lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, presented by MasterCard at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida. He had four birdies and eagled the par-5 12th hole. The only blemish on his scorecard was a bogey on the difficult dog-leg-right par-4 15th hole.

Out of seven starts this year, Gore missed three cuts, had one W/D, and his best finish was a T44 in Puerto Rico. Winner of the 2005 84 Lumber Classic and six-time champion on the Nationwide Tour, he struggled to finish 136th on the 2008 Money List, losing his exempt status for 2009. He played 33 events last year—an unheard of number for any golfing professional. He finished T32 at Q-School last fall again on the outside looking in when it came to fully exempt status on the PGA TOUR.

When asked to comment on his round today, Gore replied “Well, it's the first time in a long time I didn't suck.”

Not one to mince words, Gore was in the zone and birdied three of his last four holes.

“I guess I didn't even realize what I was doing. I was just trying to stay focused over the shot and try to execute it the best I can. I think most of my goofs come from lack of focus, and I just hit these 'well, anyway' shots, and I'd just get over it and hit it and before I know it, it's gone. Just tried to stay focused and stay in the shot that I was executing.”

So far this year, he has relied on sponsors’ exemption for three West Coast tournaments. Having been born in Van Nuys, Calif., and a 2000 psychology graduate of Pepperdine University, he is popular on the West Coast.

He is also popular with one Mr. Palmer, who gave him a sponsor’s exemption to his tournament.

If the Invitational is named after you, giving out invitations is one of your prerogatives.

The genesis of that invitation occurred when Jason Gore was an 11-year-old, visiting family back in Pittsburgh, Penn. and learning how to play golf from his uncle. His mom drove him up to Latrobe CC, and as he put it, they were “trespassing,” when he politely waited to meet Arnold Palmer.  

“I just remember he was nice enough, he took a picture with us, signed a scorecard, and he said, 'Son, I'm going to go hit balls. Would you like to come watch?' I sat right on the little slope right behind the first tee and watched Mr. Palmer hit balls for about 45 minutes, and from that point on I knew I wanted to be a professional golfer.”

Because that hour changed his life he told the story to Palmer last year at an outing. He saw him again a couple of weeks ago after he had received the sponsor’s exemption to play at Bay Hill and thanked him for it. Palmer winked at him and said “I never forgot that story."

Tim Herron won at Bay Hill in 1999, beating Tom Lehman in a playoff in second place, along with Jeff Overton after shooting a 66. His six birdies-two bogeys round included a birdie on the difficult 441-yard par-4 finishing hole.

When asked about the difficulty of playing Bay Hill in the wind, and with the purplish greens already firming up, Herron replied, “I know I can play it well if I'm playing well. It's one of those golf courses where if you're just off a little bit, this golf course can eat your lunch. You have to be smart at times and be aggressive at times, and that's probably the hardest thing for a pro is to figure out when to be aggressive and when not to.”

Only 21 of 120 players broke par during the first round.

Jeff Overton, a 25-year-old golfer from Indiana who finished 118th on the Money List last year, played Hole No. 2 through No. 7 without any pars. He birdied five out of the six holes and bogeyed the other one—No. 4.

Overton, who gutted out an emergency appendectomy late last year to make the top 125, has got game, and has been knocking on the door. He tied for ninth at the Honda with a 70-73 weekend. His performance included a triple bogey, where he elected to take a penalty shot to avoid getting his white clothes dirty when his ball rolled down into the muck in a water hazard.

He also finished eighth at the Puerto Rico Open with a solid 68 on Sunday. If he shot that 68 at the Honda, and got it up-and-down from the muck on No. 11 on Saturday, he would have forced a playoff with Y.E. Yang.

Nick Watney, winner of the 2008 Buick Invitational and second place finisher to Phil Mickelson at the WGC-CA at Doral two weeks ago, leads a group of six golfers who shot 67 and are two behind Gore, Sean O’Hair, Lee Janzen, Mark Wilson, Stuart Appleby, and Hunter Mahan. Lee Janzen, now 44 years old, is an eight-time winner on the PGA TOUR, including two U.S. Opens in 1993 and 1998 and the PLAYERS Championship in 1995.

Wilson, who won earlier this year at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico, played with Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington, who together have won five of the last six Major championships. Some guy on the first tee mentioned that there were 17 major championships among the threesome. He beat them both.  

Five-time API winner Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate, his nemesis from the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, last year led another group of seven golfers who shot 68 and are three behind Gore, Skip Kendall, past champion Chad Campbell, Swede Daniel Chopra, Brian Gay, and J.J. Henry.

Woods is back and continues to improve. After a birdie start, he double-bogeyed the par-5 sixth hole, then birdied four holes in a row on Nos. 11 through 14 before bogeying the par-3 17th hole. Interestingly enough, Rocco’s five birdie, three bogey 68 on a match play basis would have resulted in an all-square match with Tiger.

Maybe this week will bring another historic playoff between Rocco and Tiger, East Coast style?

Another sponsor’s exemption is Ryo Ishakawa the 17-year-old golfing phenom from Japan. The Daily News and Pairings booklet distributed on Thursday at Bay Hill had a picture of Ishakawa and Palmer on the cover with the caption “The Prince Meets the King.” Half of the media center is Japanese news people covering the youngster known as the "Bashful Prince" for his unassuming demeanor. Though he struggled to a six over par 76 in only his third PGA TOUR event, Ishakawa found out that orange juice tastes great, and he loves American hamburgers. He is candid about media coverage when he plays poorly—“I don't want media to report about my performance in detail.”

The tee times, and which tee golfers start on, flip-flop tomorrow for the second round. It will likely be a similar day weather-wise—mostly sunny, breezy, with a high in the low 80s and gusts up to 25 mph. There will be birdies, pars and bogeys along with higher and lower numbers. At the end of the second round a cut will be made. Some will go home with no pay. Others will compete over the weekend for the trophy and first place check of $1,080,000. Stay tuned for round two.   

P.S.—the Al Gore picture is a joke: It's late, I am tired, and Getty didn't have any pictures of Jason Gore today!

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]