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VALERO TEXAS OPEN

October 9, 2008

Jason Gore

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

CHRIS REIMER: Jason, good round today. Good save there at 18 to keep it at 5-under. Talk about the day, if you could.
JASON GORE: Started to hit it better, finally. Started to hit a few fairways and just something I didn't do last week but, you know, it's the time to put up or shut up, so got to keep playing well.
CHRIS REIMER: Few Top-10s here late in the season, the Viking Classic. Kind of okay, time to start playing or is it just figured some things out?
JASON GORE: I was sick for most of the year. I finally started to feel better and was able to go out and last all 18 holes so -- and I started to hit it a little bit better, too, but just put myself in this position and you just have to do it.
Justin won last week at 128. I don't see what's wrong with 129.
CHRIS REIMER: I know you keep talking about the sickness. It was something that was just there for awhile and then a lot of uncertainty? Is that accurate?
JASON GORE: I just never knew if I was ever going to feel 100 percent again. Was tired all the time and wasn't able to do what I wanted to do. I played decent for about six, seven holes and just kind of fall over. Now that I'm 100 percent healthy, I never realized how bad I felt.
CHRIS REIMER: Some questions.

Q. Tough course to come to when you have that kind of a malady, I guess, as you know this course --
JASON GORE: I'm totally fine now. I couldn't have done it.

Q. This is validation of that?
JASON GORE: Couldn't have walked here three months ago.

Q. What was the situation?
JASON GORE: I had some thyroid disease or I still do, but it's little medication for the rest of my life, I'll be okay.

Q. I know you come in here on many off weeks just to do some things at Valero and some different things so you know this event and how important it is or shift to May and all those things.
JASON GORE: It's a great event. I had to miss it last year because my son started preschool so -- I love coming here. It's a great place. They treat you wonderful. It's really a good golf course. I like it. It's not the easiest walk. I like it. They've got great Mexican food (laughter).

Q. Jason, this event has been kind of a resurrection for a lot of players in the last few years. Eric won here his first time, Robert Gamez, Bart Bryant got going.
Are you hoping I guess you can kind of follow in those footsteps and be another guy that either gets a win or gets a high finish to propel the next --
JASON GORE: Sure. It's the Fall Series event. All the big guys, if you will, are recovering from either the Ryder Cup or strenuous playoffs and, you know, it's a chance to -- one week can make a year.

Q. Or two.
JASON GORE: Or two, you know. You have one good week, you can turn a bad year into a good year. For me, I'm driven on confidence so much. Once I get a little confidence going, it gets kind of fun. So, yeah, any week is a great week just to start all over.

Q. Shooting 5-under here, you take any other week, 5-under is great. Here, 5-under you're going to have 15 guys at 5-under because this course is just there for the taking for a lot of guys. Does that weigh on you at all knowing that I've got to shoot low here or do you just go out and take care of business?
JASON GORE: You know, there's plenty of opportunities to make birdies because you have a lot of wedges in your hands and if you hit it off line here it's very penalizing. Everything kind of runs into the garbage. And the rough is just long enough that you don't know if you're going to get a flyer that comes out or one that comes out slow.
You have to hit it in the fairway to have a chance and the greens are tough to putt. They're bermuda. Being a California guy, it's tough for me and my caddy usually helps me read the greens every week and I haven't even seen him. "You go you go after it, do what you got to do (laughter)."
Bermuda is tough. Grainy greens here. You just have to be patient and know that you're going to hit some good putts that don't go in and hit some bad ones that do.
Just have to be patient and try to give yourself as many opportunities as he can.

Q. How many tournaments do you go to every year where you say I have to shoot 20-under to win this thing? You know going in --
JASON GORE: You love to shoot 20-under every week and see how you do. Tommy Armour set the scoring record here, 26?

Q. The average is 19-under for the winner. You got to do it.
JASON GORE: It's out there. You got to play well, period. The story doesn't matter what par is. Say par is 68 here. Still got to go out and play well.
There's just lots of opportunities where you're going to have a lot of wedges in and you have to take advantage of them.

Q. Was last week you or was it the course, you know --
JASON GORE: No, it was all me.

Q. Because it seemed like you were playing well and then kind of seemed to be a little hiccup there.
JASON GORE: I stunk. No excuses. It was all operator error (laughter). I wish I could blame something but --
Q. Something, your swing or short game or what was it?
JASON GORE: Yes.

Q. All the above?
JASON GORE: I hit I terrible, chipped it bad and putted crappy. Other than that, it wasn't bad. I hit a good 3-wood one time.

Q. You had a nice stretch here at the start, 3 birdies in a row and seemed like you were kind of zoned in right away.
That first long putt, did that -- talked about confidence, when you nailed that first one, did that kind of okay, jump start it?
JASON GORE: Yeah. You know, the second hole of the day. To be quite honest, I was kind of nervous this morning. You try to let -- try not to think about your job for next year but, like I said before, I've put myself in this position so, you know, you try to forget about it and make a really good par on 10, got it up and down and hit a good shot on 11 and Vaughn Taylor had the putt right behind my ball and I kind of scooted right in there to watch it and saw it didn't go left and hit it -- banged it right in the back. Thank goodness it hit the hole.
Yeah. You just kind of find anything, especially from last week. I wasn't brimming with confidence coming in here so you just try to find any little thing that you can find to just build on and keep getting better and better.

Q. The Mexican food.
JASON GORE: Papacito's works, too.

Q. When you have a putt that you can't read and your caddy says it breaks left or right and you're not sure but you make a putt after his read, does that help the confidence or are you still guessing on it every time you get over the next putt?
JASON GORE: No. You kind of start to figure it out. You really have to pay attention to what's going on. Look at the hole, see which way the grain is going.
Lot of times it's always breaking to where the water would funnel to and, you know, you get a little right to lefter that can get going cross-grain, you mishit it a little bit and it can get rolling down that hill and they're sneaky fast.
You just got to pay a little bit more attention and then try to hit a really solid putt.

Q. Little, "Oh, crud" on the last hole off the tee?
JASON GORE: I didn't say "crud". It was a four letter word, yeah.

Q. I wasn't going to be in the transcript with that word. But, no, just the fact that you played well most of the day and then tee shot just --
JASON GORE: I kind of toed it a little bit and slipped a little bit. It happens. What are you going to do?

Q. Can you talk about playing that hole and saved par?
JASON GORE: Hi, Patrick. Nice playing, buddy.
I had kind of a funny little lie over there. I thought it was going to jump and kind of came out slow and skirty (sic) and that's really about it. Just didn't come out the way I thought, and I was aiming a little right.
I didn't want to short-side myself left and kind of coming in at that angle so it wasn't exactly death over there but definitely don't want to be there the next few days.
CHRIS REIMER: Good par, though.
Anything else, guys?

Q. Was there one particular shot that kind of defines the round, one that kind of salvaged it pretty well?
JASON GORE: I would probably say the chip shot on 10. I pulled a drive in the left rough and shanked a 6-iron up there and hit a great chip and short right of the bunker and hit it to like two feet and just like at that point, "Okay."
CHRIS REIMER: Thanks, Jason.
JASON GORE: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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