U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 18, 1997

Jason Gore

JASON GORE: Okay. Hit it into No. 1 my first hole, hit it about 8 feet and left it short right in the heart. Then I knocked -- I hit 2-iron, 7-iron No. 2 one foot and made that luckily. And then I hit a driver, 3-wood, had kind of a bad lie in the first cut of rough, and I kind of hit it short left to the green. I hit it up there about 3 feet and missed it. Then hit a 9-iron into the next hole about 12 feet behind the hole and made it on the par 3. And on 5, I hit it through the fairway, underneath the tree, and didn't get up-and-down from just short of the green for a bogey. Then I got up-and-down from over the green on the next hole. Then I hit 3-wood in the left rough, hit a 9-iron just on the back fringe, and hit a little 3-wood -- Tiger shot is what I call it -- down there about a foot and made it. And on 7, I hit 6-iron about 15 feet and 2-putted. And then 8, I hit 2-iron, 7-iron, just short of the green. Didn't get it up-and-down. Missed about a 7-footer or 6-footer there. Then on 9, hit a drive down the right side in the first cut of rough, and hit 5-iron layup in lieu of a 40-yard wedge to about 8 feet and made it. 10, I hit 3-wood, 7-iron about 30 feet left of the flag and 2-putted. 11, I hit driver almost kind of down the hill into the hazard. Hit 3-iron on the front of the green and had about 115-foot putt and left it about 20-feet short and 2-putted. Then the next hole, I hit 2-iron just into the -- almost through the fairway in the first cut and hit 117 yard sand wedge about 2 feet. Then 13 -- what's 13? Oh, 13 is a short par 4 up the hill. I hit driver up the left side, had about 60 yards in, hit my third, a wedge, about 15 feet behind the hole and made par. The par 3, I hit pitching wedge just short of the hole, about 25 feet and 2-putted. Then 15, hit 2-iron over the corner, and then hit 7-iron about 15 feet left, 2-putted. Then hit 2-iron off the next tee, hit a 9-iron in there about, I don't know, 12 feet, made it. Then 17, I hit 4-iron, pitching wedge about 20 feet, made it. Then I hit driver, sand wedge on 18, landed about a foot from the hole and ended up about a 30-footer short of the hole and 2-putted. That's it. Isn't it exciting?

JASON GORE: I kind of just want to play well. I figured it -- you know, I think it would just be a great ending to the summer. I mean, I've had a summer that I've never even dreamed of having, and I just want to go out and play well and try to get through tomorrow and try to get into match play and then see what happens. I figure I'm a pretty good match player, obviously. I make a lot of birdies, so it helps. And the golf course is wet, so it helps me because I fly maybe a little bit longer than everybody else.

JASON GORE: Very. Starting with NCAA, it was something that I thought -- I knew I could do, but, you know, you never really think about it happening. You know, after leaving Arizona, I figured we'd never win a National Championship, and then all of a sudden little Pepperdine wins Nationals, and it kind of made me stop and think, you know, well, maybe this could happen. Because I was planning on turning professional after California Amateur, and then all of a sudden, it became a battle to try to make the Walker Cup team, and it's just been tremendous. I mean, my mind just jumps all over the place obviously, because this question is going nowhere. It hasn't been expected, but it's been well appreciated, to make a long story short or a short story long.

JASON GORE: About what?

JASON GORE: I like Cog Hill. I think it's a great golf course, a lot of sand on Dubsdread. So hopefully, try to keep it in the short grass tomorrow, and we'll see what happens. I like it. It's real wet, you know, had a lot of rain, but I think it's in -- the conditions are getting much better as the week goes on.

JASON GORE: I think the people at USGA can make anything a good U.S. Open golf course. I mean, they can -- I think the layout is long. I think it -- you know, as soon as they harden it up, you know, they just dry it out a little bit, I think it could be great. There might be a couple too many bunkers for what they like. Because I think it takes a lot away out of the rough. I think pros now try to hit it in the bunker instead of the rough. But I think it's a tremendous golf course. I think it's a great challenge. I mean, I could see them making this golf course so hard that nobody would ever want to play it. But I like the golf course. I think it's a very good golf course.

JASON GORE: I don't know. It's just something that I've always liked. I just think that maybe I have a couple things that I can use to my advantage. You know, maybe I hit it a couple yards longer or I make, you know, a couple more birdies than anybody else does, and I don't know, I just -- it's just fun. You can play very aggressive, and that's kind of the way I like to play.

JASON GORE: You don't lose two shots like you do in stroke play. You only lose one hole, which could be tough, but I like that better. You know, I can use a little bit more -- I could play with a little bit more aggressiveness.

JASON GORE: Well, sure. Tiger uses it just the same. When you walk up and a guy hits it way by you, all of a sudden, you're thinking uh-oh. But I think it might. It depends on who you're playing. There's guys that can hit a lot longer than I can, and it might actually work against me. I mean, you never know. But right now, you just want to get through with your stroke play, and then we'll see what happens.

JASON GORE: Not very, because all these tournaments are the same. You go through qualifying rounds, then you go into match play. So there's never really any just straight match-play tournaments, so you kind of have to go through qualifying and seed yourself, and --

JASON GORE: I told my caddie that somebody is going to shoot 64 today on that golf course, and he said, no, probably 66 is more realistic. But all that really matters is you just want to be in the top 64. I don't care if I'm 63rd or 64th or first, you know, because it doesn't matter. It's all erased. And you're up against the best in the country. They're all right here. So, I mean, basically you want to go out on No. 2 and try to get some in the bank before you go out to Dubsdread and get beat up all day. That's kind of what -- that's kind of what I was trying to do, just put a good number up so you can have something to fool around with. And, you know, whatever happens, you go out and shoot 74 or 75 and you're fine or you go out and shoot 69. You know, it doesn't matter one way or another as long as you get into match play.

JASON GORE: Whatever it takes to qualify would be a great number.

JASON GORE: I think 4- or 5-under would be great. I would take even -- you know, I mean, before I teed off, I would take even and just sit around and wait for everybody to come through. But anywhere 140 -- I was kind of -- you have to kind of check the first day's scores and -- but I would think that 147 to 149 is going to make the -- probably make the cut. U.S. Am always seems to be around 147, 148, 149. That's pretty straight. Dubsdread plays so long. You have --

JASON GORE: Yeah.

JASON GORE: Yeah. That was the only one.

JASON GORE: I shot 76, 74, 76 at Spyglass and 74 at Pebble Beach.

JASON GORE: What's that?

JASON GORE: Yeah, the match play part of it.

JASON GORE: 32-draw.